Approach to Therapy

I feel honored when clients allow me into their inner worlds to support, to witness, and to be of service. I believe that the best therapy is a collaborative process where therapist and client share in an open, curious, investigation of the client’s concerns, developing a broader perspective from which potential solutions can be seen. I take an experiential, client-centered approach combining Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) for Individuals and Couples, Motivational Interviewing, EMDR, Narrative Therapy, and Attachment Theory. I customize the therapy experience to each client’s unique needs, shifting focus between emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. I believe our feelings are like indicator lights on the dashboard of a car. They provide vital information about our needs and are the foundation of intimacy and connection. I help clients learn to read these lights, so they can develop comfort with accessing and expressing the information emotions provide. I help clients uncover and hone their under-utilized abilities which allows them to build on these strengths. I view clients as the experts in their lives. My role is to support and facilitate access to the innate wisdom and healing potential within, so clients can move towards their hopes and dreams.

In addition to providing more general therapy, I specialize in working with two groups: individuals with substance use concerns and couples. I conceive of problem substance use as an attempted solution to another issue. In my work with clients struggling with substance use, I help them reduce shame, explore ambivalence, and develop a personal pathway to recovery. With couples, I particularly like facilitating clarifying and respectful conversations which they are usually not having at home. I use EFT to help couples observe the patterns in which they have become trapped and to begin to open new options for relating.

I believe connection and belonging are fundamental human needs. I work with individuals, couples, and families to build more secure attachment. I work with young adults and adults. Clients in individual therapy are always invited to bring important people such as partners, parents, children, or friends into sessions either for support or to work on relationship repair.

I work with clients of all races, ethnicities, religions, socio-economic statuses, sexual orientations, gender identities, body sizes, and abilities. I take a stand against prejudice and the oppression of members of marginalized groups, seeking to contextualize individual problems in the larger systems within which a person is embedded including family, society, and culture.

Education and Work Experience

I received a master’s in clinical social work from Boston University. I completed clinical internships on the substance abuse service at Rhode Island Hospital and in the counseling center at Providence College. Before opening this private practice, I worked as a therapist at East Coast Mental Wellness and in the partial hospitalization programs at Butler Hospital, both in Providence, RI.

I have completed advanced clinical trainings and workshops in EMDR, Narrative Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, and Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) for Couples with developer Sue Johnson.

In addition to working as therapist for ten years, I am a behavioral health policy researcher. I have a master’s in social policy from the Heller School of Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University, where I am currently a doctoral candidate working on my dissertation. I study behavioral health-related criminal justice involvement and the effectiveness of harm reduction policies. My dissertation explores the relationship between structural racism and an alternative policing approach. I also help support multiple research projects at the Institute of Behavioral Health at Brandeis. One of my current projects is a National Institutes of Health funded study exploring the experiences of Black men and women in recovery from alcohol use

Issues and Concerns I work with:

Academic Issues - Study habits; procrastination; adjusting to the demands of college

Anger - Managing anger and rage and its impact on daily functioning, important relationships, and work responsibilities

Anxiety - Excessive worrying about events, activities, or situations that feel out of proportion and interfere with your everyday life; always picturing the worst occurring; muscle tension, feeling restless, on edge, or keyed up; feeling irritable, having difficulty concentrating or finding your mind going blank; fatiguing easily, restlessness, difficulty getting a good night of sleep

Artists’ & Creative Professionals’ Concerns - Resolving creative blocks; balancing your art with other needs; strategizing how to “make it work” financially; designing combinations of day jobs and creative work if needed

Coaching – Coaching available for clients who do not want to work on a mental health diagnosis, but instead would like to focus on personal growth

Couples Therapy – Use Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) for Couples to increase clarity and respect, to break out of destructive patterns, and to repair relationships

Depression - Experiencing a persistent low mood where you feel sad, empty, or hopeless; loss of pleasure in things you usually enjoy; sleeping too much or too little; intense guilt or feelings of worthlessness; difficulty with fatigue and concentration; thoughts of death

Existential - Wrestling with issues of mortality, freedom, responsibility, injustice, and searches for meaning

Grief & Loss - Loss of loved ones, relationships, pets, roles, identities, abilities

LGBTQ+ Concerns - Positive identity development, coping with lack of acceptance of sexual orientation or gender identity from family and loved ones, building resilience

Life Transitions - Beginning college, a new career, parenthood, marriage, divorce, loss, children leaving home, retirement

Relationship Issues - Chronic conflict, living separate lives, loss of passion, persistent disagreements about money, in-laws, sex, work, parenting, exploring whether to stay together or separate, when divorcing how to have the best divorce possible

Shame & Self-criticism - Developing a more fair, kind, and supportive inner dialogue

Substance use - Explore relationships with alcohol or other substances, reduce drives leading to problematic use, reduce negative effects of substance use on health, work/school, and relationships

Trauma & Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) – Healing from the impact of experiencing or being exposed to threatening or frightening events, such as accidents, disasters, illnesses, and assaults, or recovering from the impact of complex developmental trauma including childhood abuse, mistreatment, neglect, chronic misattunement or attachment ruptures to reduce present day distress

Practicalities

● Currently Accepting New Clients: No

●       Office Hours: Daytime, afternoon, and evening hours available Tuesdays and Thursdays

●       Location: Limited in-person available: 1 Richmond Square, Suite 350W, Providence, RI 02906. Telehealth: video sessions conducted over Zoom for Healthcare. Licensed in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

●       Fees & Insurance: $180/50-minute session. Insurance taken: Blue Cross Blue Shield and United Healthcare. Receipts for out-of-network reimbursement provided upon request.

●       Contact: Please contact me to schedule a brief consultation to discuss your needs, ask further questions, and see if we would be a good fit.

Email: adam@voseoneal.com; Telephone: (401) 203-4956