Many factors contribute to emotional and psychological well being. For general health maintenance or during times of stress, healing or medical crisis, managing mental states is vitally important. Nova offers psychological counseling and stress management programs that are customized to the individual needs of our patients. We recommend an initial psychotherapy assessment appointment or your primary care physician’s referral to select which program would be best for your wellness goals. This will allow us to work with you to create the best program for your individual concerns.

Click here to download a PDF brochure of our offerings.

PSYCHOTHERAPY
Psychotherapy refers to the helping relationship established between therapist and patient for the purpose of emotional care. Since a core belief of this practice is that separation of mind from body is artificial, emotional care is appropriate anytime any part of the body is under siege by stress, anxiety, depression, or chronic illness. A psychotherapeutic relationship has the potential to support coping strategies, decrease the intensity of illness, speed healing and decrease recovery time.

As practiced at Nova, psychotherapy utilizes a cognitive-behavioral approach. Cognitive therapy is an active, directive, time-limited structured approach based on the notion that distorted, automatic thoughts are the basis for many distressing emotional states. The approach involves learning to monitor automatic thoughts; recognize the connections between thoughts, affect, and behavior; examine the evidence for and against distorted automatic thoughts; substitute more reality based understandings; and finally learn to decrease the automatic nature of distorted thoughts and examine future emotional states based on new learning.

Individually based sessions covered by many insurance companies, or self-pay. After your first session other programs may be discussed as alternate approaches to your individual goals, such as Guided Imagery, Healing Visualization, Breathwork, Biofeedback or Heartmath.

One-hour assessment appointment
$292

45 minute subsequent sessions
$165

GUIDED IMAGERY
Guided Imagery is a process of deliberately using your imagination to help your mind and body heal, stay well, or perform well. Guided Imagery is a mental function where you think in pictures. It is a kind of daydream in which there is a positive use of the sight, smell, sound, or touch to achieve health. It is also an effective motivational tool for self-discovery and creating change. Progressive muscle relaxation readies the body for the imagination to flourish.

There are many forms of Guided Imagery based on the desired end goal. For example interrupting a disease process, changing how you feel, becoming something you desire, impacting physiological processes, harnessing energy, and connecting with something bigger than yourself. The positive benefits are achieved by taping into the unrealized internal strengths within us.

Sessions at Nova will teach you the process. Once learned, Guided Imagery is best practiced once or twice a day outside of Nova for 10-15 minutes.

Four 45 minute sessions, prepaid.
$450

HEALING VISUALIZATIONS
Healing Visualizations is a focused form of imagery whose purpose is to affect change in a person’s health. Visualizations are directed at specific ailments both physical and emotional, allowing patients to take an active part in getting well.

Healing Visualizations are based on the science of the mind/body connection where negative beliefs and emotions are intimately connected with illness and disease. Researchers have found a correlation between negative emotions and lowered immunity. Positive emotions such as humor, joy, appreciation, and happiness are tied to strengthened immunity. According to Gerald Epstein, MD there are four conditions to be met for Healing Visualizations to be most effective. The first is intention, loosely described as what we hope to achieve by the exercise. Second is quieting. External quieting, being in a quiet place, helps us to focus our attention and facilitate attention moving inward. The inner aspect of quieting is relaxation, letting go of tension or stress. The third condition is cleansing. Cleansing is the act of making oneself open to the power of imagery; letting go of disbelief, approaching the exercise with openness and mindfulness. The final condition is change, i.e. letting go of resistance to the changing nature of things. We avoid seeing change as a constant. We try to avoid unpleasant things and try to hold on tightly to good things instead of seeing both as part of the flow of life. It can be seen that “letting go” is an important element in the success of healing visualizations.

This practice is devoted to assisting patients to identify and remove blocks to letting go of negative emotions and moving into the stream of a healthy life. During your sessions you are led through each of the four conditions, learning how to maintain positive visualizations.

Four 45 minute sessions, prepaid
$450

BREATHWORK
A central belief of this practice is that each person has the capacity to affect their own health. Consistent with that belief, breath training is offered as a strategy to calm nerves, bring the systems of the body in balance (homeostasis) and achieve inner quiet.

The body is made up of regulatory processes and shallow breathing that is mainly in the chest disrupts the dynamic regulation of body systems vital to health. In contrast, breathing that is diaphragmatic and deep in the belly, maintains the regulatory process and is associated with balance and is protective against the effects of stress and illness. Hyperventilation is a maladaptive breathing pattern interrelating the emotions, perceptions, bodily arousal, and biochemical outcomes. Chronic subtle hyperventilation is coming to be understood as present in many disease states.

In your sessions we will teach you different breathing exercises all geared to utilizing the healing properties of deep, regular, calming breathing.

Six one-hour sessions, prepaid
$540

BIOFEEDBACK
Biofeedback uses the mind/body connection for therapeutic purposes. The patient develops greater awareness of, confidence in, and an increase in voluntary control over physiological processes and emotional states. Biofeedback is a group of interactive procedures with the goal for the patient of Self-Regulation through Sensory Awareness Training using non-invasive electronic sensors to amplify signals coming from the body.

Examples of the signals are heart rate, breathing, skin temperature, and muscle tension. The signals arise from the central and/or autonomic nervous system. Data from the sensors are gathered, measured, and reflected back to the patient.

Biofeedback has been used successfully as adjunctive treatment to reduce anxiety, control blood pressure, combat chronic insomnia and fatigue. Additionally asthmatics have used Biofeedback to decrease bronchial spasms and reduce the severity of attacks. Patients with auto-immune conditions, such as Raynaud’s, irritable bowel, and fibromyalgia syndromes have also benefited from Biofeedback and migraine headaches have responded to skin temperature training.

During the sessions you will learn to identify the signals and alter your responses to better maintain a balance of your body’s functions.

Eight to Twelve sessions are recommended
45 minute subsequent sessions, prepaid
Per session $165

HEARTMATH
There is a dynamic and reciprocal relationship between stress and emotions. Coherence is the state where bodily systems are integrated and operating at optimal levels.  Heart rhythms are particularly sensitive to changes in emotional state. Heart health is reflected in variability in heart rate. The analysis of heart rhythms or heart rate variability is recognized as a measure that reflects heart-brain interactions and autonomic nervous system dynamics, i.e. imbalance in the various systems of the body as a response to stress. The heart is considered to be in coherence when there is a healthy change in heart rate. HeartMath is a biofeedback program designed to teach physiological coherence where the body is more in sync and aligned and there is a gain in clarity, calmness, focus, and control of emotions.

Five 45-minute sessions, prepaid
$450

Resp-e-Rate
The resp-e-rate is a biofeedback strategy that detects initial respiratory rate and directs it using musical tones to one that is deeply calming. Clinical trials with this small machine have demonstrated a lowering effect on hypertension. The machine is rented to the client for home use for a three-week period for practice a minimum of three times a week.

An initial assessment and introductory session
30 minute $110

Program rental rate
$20/week for each of 3 weeks

STRESS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
Life in modern society immerses us in a perpetually stressful environment.  Lifestyle, job and life stresses, personal characteristics, and our interpretation of events lead to stress responses. Stress warning signs can be found in the cardio-vascular, digestive, immunological, muscular-skeletal, emotional and psychological systems. Health reactions to stress include asthma, anger, chest and back pain, coronary heart disease, diarrhea, fainting and dizziness, frequent urination, headaches and migraines, nightmares and insomnia, psychosomatic disorders, psychosis, diabetes, skin rash, ulcers, loss of sexual interest.

The Nova stress management program is a six relaxation-training sessions including exercises in the program include allowing development of a “muscle sense”, or conscious awareness of feelings of tension and relaxation in muscles. The program completes with guidance on generalizing the exercises to everyday life.

Six 45 minute sessions
Prepaid $540