Anxiety. Depression. Relationship problems. We all have experienced it from time to time. If you feel overwhelmed by negative, unwanted feelings or believe you are dealing with anxiety, depression, trauma, or any combination of stress that has impacted your peace of mind or disrupted your relationships, then we would be a good fit. You are certainly not alone in your struggle and deserve to recapture the peace of mind and joy that escapes you these days. As such, my primary goal is to help you shift from feeling good to living well. I am Dr. Walter Prather, and I can help you live better. I promise. I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Board-Certified Behavior Analyst with over 25 years of experience. I apply the power of compassion and understanding to help adults and adolescents achieve their best selves. I view therapy as a safe place to explore mental health struggles or challenges while simultaneously helping you get out of your way. My work draws heavily from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), in combination with the solution-focused approach therapy (SFT), and most effectively treats addiction, anxiety, depression, anger, trauma, and individuals or couples experiencing relationship or parenting difficulties. Regarding anxiety and depression, the ACT stance is that thoughts, private events, and feelings are not problematic in and of themselves; only when we respond to them in rigid, inflexible ways, such as control and avoidance, do they have disturbing or unsettling effects. Through ACT, you will benefit from being more psychologically present, more in touch with your values, more able to make room for the inevitable pain of life, more able to take effective action in the face of emotional discomfort, and more able to appreciate each moment of your life.

What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?

The aim of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), in conjunction with Solution Focused Therapy, is to maximize human potential and meaningful life, while effectively handling the pain that inevitably goes with it. In our first session, I will help us clarify what's truly important and meaningful and teach you the skills that enable you to handle difficult thoughts and feelings effectively, engage fully in whatever you are doing, and appreciate and savor the fulfilling aspects of life. I will also ask, "What are your hopes for therapy?" "How will you know if our time together has been valuable and well-spent?" In our follow-up sessions, my first question is, "What is better?" "What is different?" "What has improved?"

Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.

Unlike other forms of psychotherapy that concentrate on present problems and causes, my work focuses on solution-building rather than problem-solving. Like positive psychology, Solution-Focused Therapy (SFT) is a form of psychotherapy that focuses more on what the client can do with solutions rather than the origin of the problem. As such, SFT practitioners focus more on when problems do not occur or the exceptions to the problems rather than on when problems do occur. With any presenting client concern, whether anxiety, depression, or relations difficulties, the technique in SFT is illuminating the exception - where things worked well despite the problem. This approach, in combination with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), stems from traditional behavior and cognitive behavioral therapy and most effectively treats anxiety, depression, addiction, self-harm, post-traumatic stress, and individuals or couples experiencing relationship or parenting difficulties. As such, I am most interested in behavior or what is objective or open to view, as diagnoses or labels are not goals or problems. The therapeutic relationship is a process of learning about the client's understanding and experience of a problem, whether the discussion involves a range of issues from loneliness, anxiety, depression, and anger to family conflicts. The key to therapy for my practice is being sensitive to a client's (or family's) way of understanding the problem(s) regarding age or stage.

About Dr. Walter Prather, Ph.D., LMFT, BCBA-D