Professional and Counseling Services
Individual Counseling, Marriage Therapy, and More
Professional and Counseling Services We Offer Include
Adult Sexual Abuse/Trauma Recovery
The Refuge 18-2 clinical staff uses a nine-stage model called Story-Informed Trauma Therapy (SITT) developed by a leading, national trauma expert, Byron Kehler. SITT is used to help adults who were sexually and/or physically/emotionally traumatized as children. Clients work on safety to processing their stories to developing healthy coping skills in the areas of relationships, sexuality, parenting, emotion regulation, and forgiveness. We also use other evidence-based trauma therapy models, such as Eye-Movement De-sensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Sand Tray Therapy, as well as Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy.
Emotion Regulation
Sometimes managing distressing emotions can be overwhelming. The Refuge 18-2 clinical staff uses a variety of treatment models and resources to help adults learn how to manage negative emotions in healthier ways.
Couples’ Therapy
We use Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT), the number one evidence-based therapy model for couples. We work with couples who have experienced trauma, infidelity, pornography, conflict, parenting challenges, and/or enrichment.
Family Therapy
We use Emotionally-Focused Family Therapy (EFFT) to help families grow in communication, conflict resolution, and emotion regulation.
Children Counseling
We have a comprehensive, fully-equipped play therapy room specifically designed for child clients. Our therapists are trained in various evidence-based models to help children struggling with issues, such as trauma, grief, anxiety, depression, behavioral challenges, and family and/or school challenges. We utilize Child-Centered Play Therapy, Trauma-Focused CBT, Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Sand Tray Therapy, and Trust-Based Relational Intervention.
Adolescent Counseling
Our adolescent therapists utilize evidence-based models appropriate to help adolescents struggling with issues, such as trauma, anxiety, depression, self-image, grief, sexual issues, peer, school and family struggles. We utilize a modified version of Story-Informed Trauma Therapy, Sand-Tray Therapy, Acceptance Commitment Therapy, and Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy,.
Trauma Training (4 Hours)
Therapists will be taught the overview of Story-Informed Trauma Therapy, the trauma model used by Refuge 18-2 counselors since Hurricane Katrina. The training will include a general overview of trauma and specific resources to help clients develop coping strategies, assess for PTSD, process and heal their story, work on sexual restoration, heal current relationships, and forgive offenders.
Sand Tray Therapy Training (4 Hours)
Therapists will learn through experience. Each participant will create his or her sand tray and process with a partner. A live demonstration will be done so that participants can experience how a therapist would process a sand tray in a counseling session. Specific training will be given on using sand trays with children, adolescents, and adults.
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Emotionally Focused Therapy (4 Hours)
Therapists will be introduced to the EFT model and will participate in experiential learning for a deeper understanding of attachment styles, couple’s dance, deepening feeling processing, and self-of-therapist issues.
Disaster Trauma and Living Hope Groups Training (4 Hours)
Therapists, pastors, and lay leaders will learn about trauma, stages of the disaster, collaborating after traumatic events, and a roadmap for recovery. This training will also cover facilitating a post-trauma small group called Living Hope Group.
Darkness to Light (2 Hours)
Adults who care about the protection of children from childhood sexual abuse should attend. This training is especially helpful for all youth-serving organizations, such as schools, as well as all parents. One in every ten children is sexually abused by the age of 18. The Refuge 18-2 staff provides two-hour workshops that help you prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to childhood sexual abuse. The workshop will cover facts about the problem of child sexual abuse, situations in which child sexual abuse might occur, simple effective strategies for protecting children from sexual abuse, and how to talk about sexual abuse prevention with children and other adults.
Our counselors love to supervise therapists who are in all stages of development – practicum, internship, PLPC, or professional. It is an honor to come alongside another helper and to share the wisdom that we have learned from working in the trenches. If you are interested in being supervised in your master’s work, as a PLPC, as a professional counselor, or in learning EFT or trauma therapy, please contact one of our team members to discuss possible supervision.
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- Each man-made and natural disaster will not only leave behind a “tsunami” of loss and destruction, but will also create years of emotional distress that will require churches and specialized counselors equipped to help heal the trauma. No community is prepared to handle the unimaginable disasters seen in our country today, such as mass shootings and catastrophic hurricanes. One of our counselors, Michele Louviere, LMFT, works with American Association of Christian Counselors on Project SUSTAIN, which is a road-map to help communities heal after man-made and natural disasters. This road-map was created from her experience working in the trenches in the Greater New Orleans community as the Celebration Hope Center Clinical director for 12 years following Hurricane Katrina. She received intensive trauma recovery training and treated complex trauma cases. Recovering from disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina, requires communities to have a strategic plan to handle the short-term and long-term disaster response.
- Most mental health programs trying to serve the community following a major disaster are not equipped to help people suffering from PTSD. Project SUSTAIN seeks to fill in the gaps in helping communities heal following natural or man-made disasters. Project SUSTAIN has been utilized in various communities, such as Texas with Hurricane Harvey, California with wildfires, Las Vegas with the mass shooting, and Puerto Rico with hurricanes Irma and Maria. Before Project SUSTAIN, Michele provided consultation and training in various traumatic events across the country, such as Hurricane Sandy, the Missouri police violence, the Alabama tornadoes, and recently, the Baton Rouge police shootings and 2016 flood. In the greater Baton Rouge community, training and resources were provided to over 175 professional counselors and pastors/leaders. Those training sessions directly helped over 25,000 people in the greater Baton Rouge community to recover. The specialized trauma training sessions have helped equip those communities to heal trauma for the years to come. Currently, focus has been on helping with churches and communities impacted by the Covid-19 Pandemic.
- Project SUSTAIN’s mission is to help with the long-term emotional/spiritual recovery of thousands of people.
- If you are a counselor impacted by a man-made or natural disaster and are interested in participating in training sessions or in need of consultation, please contact Michele at Michele@refuge182.com.
Contact Our Counseling Agency
At The Refuge 18-2, our team of well-trained counselors will be there to listen to you. Our counseling services are tailored to fit the needs and current situation of each client. Browse through the next page to learn more about our esteemed professional therapists. If you are interested in receiving counseling, please complete and submit the form below and you'll be contacted within 72 business hours.
“Trauma is personal. It does not disappear if it is not validated. When someone enters the pain and hears the screams healing can begin.”
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The Refuge 18-2
