BEHAVIORAL HEALTH

Shannon Matsko, LPCC-S

Q: I’ve gone to counseling in the past and have learned some helpful skills to get me through some tough times. Unfortunately, the skills have never stuck with me long term. I keep having periods of time where I am struggling and it is exhausting to keep going through this. What can I do to feel better more consistently?

A: My recommendation would be to try a different modality of treatment, and potentially a new theoretical approach, in regards to the skills you have learned. Ideally when it comes to counseling, you won’t need to be consistently involved in treatment for the rest of your life. The goal is to learn effective coping strategies that fit in with your lifestyle to allow you to feel confident and competent to handle whatever life throws your way.

Here at Premier Behavioral Health Services, we offer a service called Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP for short). Our IOP programs utilize Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, which is an evidence based treatment method, and they are skills based programs. As it states in the name, these programs are intense-they meet for 9 hours a week and last at least 8 weeks long. This intense program allows our clinicians to teach you many coping skills in a rather short amount of time. Our goal is to help you begin creating a life worth living, sooner rather than later! The goal within these programs is to give you the tools to manage emotions more effectively, get through crisis situations without making things worse, improve and maintain relationships, and learn how to be more present and focused in the moment. Throughout this program and after, our clinicians work to help you create a new skillful way of being in life, rather than just providing “band aid” fixes to problems. At Premier Behavioral Health Services we also provide medication management services and individual counseling. The first step is contacting us to schedule an initial assessment, from there we will work together to develop a treatment plan that fits your needs.

Shannon Matsko, LPCC-S Premier Behavioral Health Services 8701 Mentor Ave Mentor 44060 440-266-0770