Here at the Ventura Counseling & Wellness Center, we spend a lot of time thinking and talking about wellness. What does it mean for us to help the people with whom we interact lead their healthiest lives? And how do we help them do that? Lately, a lot of our conversations have centered around holistic healing, so we wanted to explore it further here.
In recent years, more and more emphasis has been placed on mental health. Finally! We’ve been encouraged and energized to see people realize that mental health is just as important — and just as treatable — as physical health.
But we think that the same way physical health conditions shouldn’t be treated in a vacuum, mental health care should consider the whole person. That’s why we strive to deliver holistic healing.
Our take on holistic healing
By holistic healing, we mean care and treatment that carefully considers the entire person rather than just the condition we’re trying to address.
Say, for example, that you’re living with anxiety symptoms. Some mental health care practitioners could try to just treat those symptoms.
But we think the secret to lasting, life-transforming mental health care is to take a step back and work with you to see the whole picture. What makes you feel anxious? How does anxiety feel for you? Have you observed anything that helps you, or triggers you?
Beyond that, what activities bring calm and balance into your life? What are your hobbies? What do you do for work, and how does that affect your overall mental wellness?
By seeing you as a whole person, with the web of interconnected thoughts, activities, and preferences that make you who you are, we’re better positioned to address issues at their root cause. At the same time, we can deliver care that better integrates into your life, making healthful changes easier.
Answering the call for holistic healing
For us, the emphasis on holistic healing aligns with an urgent need we’re seeing in our community — and in our world.
Mental health challenges are on the rise. Even before the pandemic rocked all of our lives, more and more people were being diagnosed with mental illnesses. (Now, this could very well be because more people are finally seeking mental health care instead of living quietly with their suffering, but it’s still worth mentioning.)
Nearly a year into a pandemic that’s destabilized not just economies, but our daily lives, we’re seeing nearly twice as many people seek treatment for anxiety and depression symptoms.
In short, our mental health needs care. And to deliver the best, most compassionate, most effective mental health care, we believe mental health professionals should take a holistic healing approach.
By engaging with the whole person — with everything that makes them unique, with their wants and needs and goals — we think professionals can deliver care that doesn’t just alleviate symptoms short-term. Instead, it helps people create and protect their healthiest, most balanced lives possible.
That’s our goal here at the Ventura Counseling & Wellness Center. If you’d like to learn more about our holistic healing approach or schedule a telehealth call with one of our therapists, call or email us today.
