PROGRAMMING

Addiction and Recovery Counselling

SOS offers counselling for individuals struggling with addiction, whether this be support with the beginning steps of or support in maintaining your recovery. We practice from a harm reduction or abstinence perspective, working with the client on their path towards recovery, and developing a recovery plan that works best for you and your life. Therapy will focus on understanding the factors in your life that contribute to addiction, exploring how addiction has impacted your life, learning to recognize risk factors for relapse, and developing tools/strategies for developing and securing a healthy life path free from the impact of addictive substances/behaviours.

Cognitive-behavioural therapy

Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) is a practical, short-term form of psychotherapy. It helps people to develop skills and strategies for becoming and staying healthy. CBT focuses on the here-and-now—on the problems that come up in day-to-day life. CBT helps people to examine how they make sense of what is happening around them and how these perceptions affect the way they feel. CBT is structured, time-limited (usually 6-20 sessions), is problem-focused and goal-oriented, teaches strategies and skills and is based on a proactive, shared therapeutic relationship between therapist and client. In CBT, clients learn to identify, question and change the thoughts, attitudes and beliefs related to the emotional and behavioural reactions that cause them difficulty. By monitoring and recording thoughts during upsetting situations, people learn that how they think can contribute to emotional problems such as depression and anxiety.

Depression Counselling

Did you know that approximately 8 per cent of adults will experience a major depression at some point in their lives? Often resulting in social isolation, depression symptoms range from sadness and loss of interest in activities to feelings of worthlessness and difficulty concentrating. Depression is treatable. Our counsellors can help you identify the cause of depression and help you learn coping strategies to overcome isolation.

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)

DBT is a type of talk therapy (psychotherapy) based on cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), but it’s specially adapted for people who experience emotions very intensely. DBT focuses on helping people accept the reality of their lives and their behaviours, as well as helping them learn to change their lives, including their unhelpful behaviours. Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) is especially effective for people who have difficulty managing and regulating their emotions. DBT has proven to be effective for treating and managing a wide range of mental health conditions, including: Borderline personality disorder (BPD), Self-harm, Suicidal behaviour, Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Substance use disorder, Eating disorders, specifically binge eating disorder and bulimia, Depression, and Anxiety. Rather than depending on efforts that cause problems for the person, DBT helps people learn healthier ways to cope.

Emotionally-Focused Therapy

EFT is a tested and proven relationship therapy for couples and family therapy. It is also used to address individual depression, anxiety, and post traumatic stress. EFT facilitates the connection of human feelings and the physical needs in relationships. It typically helps with emotional awareness, self regulation and helps to establish secure bonds in relationships.

EFT helps to establish safe and more compassionate communication with self and between each other. At the beginning of EFT you may identify primary concerns and establish triggers for conflict. Together we identify any fears or unpleasant feelings contributing to the negativity in the relationship. The counsellor helps to facilitate a change in the interactional pattern by allowing them to give voice to their feelings. Then the counsellor facilitates how to express and accept the other party’s needs.  New bonding of self and with other happens when more positive interactions are developed.

EMDR (Eye Movement Restructuring and Reprocessing)

EMDR is a structured therapy that supports the client in processing experiences in their life (past, present, future fears) the contributes to emotional distress and results in impacting present moment functioning.  The therapy process involves briefly focusing on a trauma memory or activating experience while simultaneously experiencing bilateral stimulation (the use of eye movements and other forms of rhythmic left-right (bilateral) stimulation (e.g., tones or taps), which is associated with a reduction in the vividness and emotion associated with the trauma memory or fear inducing event.

EMDR is based on a model that disturbing experiences cause distress in our mind and body because the experience is not adequately processed. These unprocessed experiences are understood to contain the emotions, thoughts, beliefs, and physical sensations and are held in the mind/body. When we are triggered, these stored disturbing elements are experienced in the present moment and cause the symptoms to resurface. EMDR therapy focuses directly on the experience and is intended to change the way that the it is stored in the brain, thus reducing and eliminating the problematic symptoms.

Family Counselling

Families fight about all manner of issues. It’s a normal part of being in a relationship. Finances, illness, infidelity, life transitions, job loss, blending of families are just a few of the areas that tend to lead to larger conflicts. Where it becomes more challenging is when arguments become overly heated and more frequent. Our counsellors will help you explore your difficulties in a non-judgemental, safe, confidential and caring environment.

Grief and Loss Counselling

We are all impacted by grief and loss at some point in our lives. Whether it be the death of a loved one, pet or the loss of a friendship or romantic relationship. Experiencing a miscarriage, abortion or struggling with infertility can also be felt with grief. Counselling can help you move through the difficult emotions of grief, finding ways to remember and honour the loss and look for a new meaning and direction in life. 

Grief and Loss Support Groups are available. Click here for details on the upcoming session or call 780-743-8605.

Life Transitions Counselling

Life transitions are all about the changes in life. Some are sudden, tragic and overwhelming, like the loss of a loved one, while other life transitions may seem more predictable, such as a move. Regardless of the situation, life transitions force us to examine our life as we know it. Examples of challenging life transitions may include, death, aging, relocation, divorce, parenting, moving from home, and questioning gender and sexual identity.

When life transitions prove difficult and lead to stress, anxiety, and depression a counsellor can help treat those conditions and help you explore coping strategies.

Mental Wellness Counselling

Did you know the best time to see a counsellor is when you’re not in crisis? Crisis prevention is about taking care of your mental health when life isn’t challenging. Then you’ll have the emotional resiliency built up to tackle whatever heads your way.

Mindfulness

The goal in mindfulness is to be fully present in the moment to the mind, the body and the surroundings with a level of curiosity and kindness.  The therapist uses mindfulness as a strategy to teach clients how to reduce stress and improve self compassion. The therapist also embodies a mindful presence to hear fully without judgment and with curious openness to what is being said and felt.

NARRATIVE THERAPY

Narrative therapy is a counselling approach that embraces the client as an expert in their own stories. Each of us develops stories about our lives and our experiences; these stories are given meaning and they can deeply influence how an individual views the world. Techniques used in narrative therapy can help clients heal and overcome their traumatic stories by examining their narratives and retelling them. Narrative therapy can benefit anxiety, attention-deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), trauma, and grief.

Play Therapy

Play is to the child what talk is to the adult. Play therapy is a medium for expressing feelings, exploring relationships, describing experiences, disclosing wishes, and self-fulfillment. Children express themselves and their needs, relive their past, and connect with others through play. The use of toys enables children to transfer anxieties, fears, fantasies, and guilt to objects rather than people. In the process, children are safe from their own feelings and reactions because play enables children to distance themselves from traumatic events and experiences. Play therapy is an evidence-based approach to help children with social or emotional deficits learn to communicate better, express underlying feelings they may be struggling with, change their behaviour, develop problem-solving skills, and relate to others in positive ways. 

Self-Esteem Counselling

There are many areas of life that can impact our self worth. Sometimes our past experiences and relationships leave us feeling devalued and that you have received too much criticism. In addition, our thoughts can play a huge role in the struggle with low self esteem. All these factors can influence our tendency to focus on our weaknesses or flaws.

The goal in counselling is to help you identify your negative core beliefs - often automatic - which may show up as thoughts, feelings, and action tendencies. We look at how to recognize these automatic reactions and explore preferred experiences that build onto your confidence in your abilities. The aim is to restore healthy self esteem to a balanced, accurate view of yourself, both in your abilities and flaws.

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT)

SFBT is a short-term goal-focused evidence-based therapeutic approach, which incorporates positive psychology principles and practices and helps clients change by constructing solutions rather than focusing on problems. In the most basic sense, SFBT is a hope friendly, positive emotion eliciting, future-oriented vehicle for formulating, motivating, achieving, and sustaining desired behavioural change. This form of therapy involves first developing a vision of one’s future and then determining how internal abilities can be enhanced in order to attain the desired outcome. Therapists who practice SFBT attempt to guide people in therapy through the process of recognizing what is working for them, help them explore how best to continue practicing those strategies, and encourage them to acknowledge and celebrate success. Developed with the primary intention of helping those in therapy to find solutions to challenges, the approach has expanded to address issues in other areas of life, such as schools and workplaces. Individuals from different cultures, backgrounds, and age groups have all been shown to benefit from this type of therapy.

Stress Counselling

Stress happens when the demands on our exceed our personal and social resources - and everyone has a different threshold for how much they can handle. A certain amount of stress can motivate us and keep us challenged; however, we may find ourselves unable to cope after a period of extreme stress. That’s nothing to be ashamed of. Counselling can assist with stress management by helping us to learn to slow down and be more mindful of our personal and social needs. Don’t let stress run your life. You can take control of it with our help. 

Trauma Counselling

“Traumatic events are extraordinary, not because they occur rarely, but rather because they overwhelm the ordinary human adaptations to life.” - Judith Herman, Trauma and Recovery

Many people seek help to cope with the painful consequences of trauma. Untreated, trauma can often lead to post-traumatic stress, behavioural problems, depression, anxiety and more. Exposure to trauma can often have a significant impact on a person’s day-to-day life. Counselling can help reduce the severity of symptoms and help you feel safe and take back control. The first step is to reach out for support.

Community Helpers Program

As a community, we are working together to break the stigma around mental health and those efforts start with our young population. 

The Community Helpers Program is introductory mental health training designed specifically for young adults. In addition to increasing the community knowledge around mental wellness, participants will learn practical skills to help others. This is an Alberta Health Services Certificate Program.

This program is geared for youth and young adults between the ages of 12 and 30 years, and adults who support youth. Topics covered include:

• Ethics of helping

• Labeling

• Active listening

• How to help

• Limits and strategies

• Healthy boundaries

• Managing stress

Click here to fill out the referral form.

friendship

This program is designed to help youth develop positive friendship skills and build confidence within their peer groups.

Topics covered include:

• What is a friend?

• Friendship questions and body language

• Friendship blockers and boundaries

• Friendships and conflict

• Maintaining our friendships

Click here to fill out the consent form for this program.

Click here to fill out the referral form.

mentorship program

We believe that a positive adult role-model is vital to the healthy progression of every child. Our mentoring program builds resilient children and youth by building trust, empowering young individuals, improving self-worth, communication skills and coping skills. Our mentoring program is wide spread through Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo as a preventative, intervention and resiliency based support for all.

Our Community Outreach Workers (mentors) build positive relationships and trust by meeting with mentees (Elementary to High school grades) on a weekly basis, for a determined period of time (up to a whole year). In these meetings, the mentors and mentees build rapport and trust through various activities that focus on self-esteem, communication skills, and coping skills. These sessions are one to one mentoring sessions or  group mentoring sessions.

Topics often discussed include:

• making friends

• anger

• teasing and bullying

• not being understood

• how family/home life affects mental health

One-on-One Mentorship Parent Consent Form

Click here to fill out the referral form.

junior mentor program

mindful minds

Mentorship is powerful and we want our youth to have the opportunity to be leaders and mentors in our community from a young age. In the Junior Mentor Program, youth will explore their values, interests, emotions and goals to learn how to make a difference and positively impact their peers and community.

This program is designed for young people aged 9-12. Youth will receive a certificate at the end of the program.

Mindfulness is something that can be learned at a young age. By giving our youth these tools early on, they are well positioned in life to face life’s challenges. Learn to be kind to your mind through building self-esteem, managing stress and coping techniques. Join us Summer 2021 for a six-session program for young people from 7 to 18 years.

Mindful Minds Parent Consent Form

Click here to fill out the referral form.