Where is your office located?
I have two office locations: Corona and Riverside.
The Corona office address is 1451 Rimpau Avenue, Suite. 212, Itis located at the corner of Rimpau and Magnolia.
The Riverside office address is 5055 Canyon Crest Drive, Suite. 219. Itis located at the corner of Canyon Crest Drive and El Cerrito Drive.
How do I make an appointment?
You can call me at (951)287-5501 or send an email to pamelahenkellmft@gmail.com, and I will respond as soon as possible to discuss scheduling an appointment.
I like to do a phone consultation prior to the first appointment to ensure I am a good fit for you.
What will the first session be like for me?
The first session includes completing necessary paperwork, getting to know each other, discussing possible therapy goals and a little about how we will accomplish those goals together.
The first session is also a sort of interview for you to further decide if you feel comfortable with me. This is your therapy. You control who your therapist is, and it’s important for you to consider whether or not you feel you can accomplish your goals with me as your therapist.
What if I have to cancel?
I understand sometimes life gets in the way of our plans, and if you have to cancel an appointment, please give me at least 24 hour notice by phone, and I will reschedule your appointment with no fee.
How will I pay for my session?
You can pay with a credit card, a check, or cash.
Do you work with couples?
I specialize in couples therapy using Emotionally Focused Therapy. Emotionally Focused Therapy was developed by Sue Johnson and focuses on emotions that drive words and actions in relationships. In couples therapy the focus is on what is really going on with each partner underneath that leads to conflict or disconnection.
I use this particular model to work with couples, because it gets to the core issues which cause problems with communication, roles, trust, and issues of power and control between couples.
Do you work with individuals?
My work with individuals focuses on how to change underlying negative beliefs to relieve symptoms of depression, anxiety, and trauma based symptoms inherent to PTSD.
I also use other modalities of therapy depending on the goals of my clients:
- EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing) and the Flash Technique to reduce the disturbance of negative past experiences and help develop positive thoughts and feelings about self and others.
- CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and psychoeducation to help clients develop healthy coping skills to manage depression, anxiety, and other issues.
- Mindfulness techniques, like accepting thoughts and feelings without judgment to reduce negative feelings.
- Solution focused therapy for clients looking to solve short term problems.
All of the techniques that I use include seeing my clients in the most positive light possible, believing that they have it within themselves to make the changes they want for their lives.
Do you keep what happens in therapy sessions confidential?
Legally and ethically all therapists are required to maintain confidentiality with their clients. There are a few exceptions: reporting child abuse, adult dependent abuse, and elderly abuse.
Also, if someone is actively suicidal or homicidal therapists are allowed, and in some cases mandated by law, to act to ensure safety of clients or others.
Other than those exceptions sessions are confidential.
How can therapy help me?
Many studies have been done on what is helpful in therapy. Often the results of the studies indicate that the therapeutic relationship and sharing of burdens is therapeutic in itself.
Another benefit of therapy is that you become aware of your underlying negative beliefs and experiences. As your awareness of how those beliefs and past experiences have shaped you, you can work to process and change them so that they have less power over you.
Other benefits of therapy include learning new healthy coping skills, problem solving skills, and symptom management skills that you can take with you and use long after therapy is finished. Therapy not only helps with current issues, but often lays the groundwork for you knowing how to manage future challenges.
There are many other benefits which we can discuss together in sessions.
How long will it take?
The length of therapy is very much dependent on each individual and the goals they are interested in achieving.
Some people come into therapy with specific short term goals which can be accomplished in a few sessions and others decide to do long term therapy to change more basic underlying aspects of their lives.
Couples therapy can take anywhere from 12 to 30 sessions depending on the issues and the individual couple’s situation. I ask for a commitment of at least 12 session with couples, because it takes time to get to know you both as a couple and as individuals. From there, I will help you identify what has happened to cause difficulties and then what to do to make changes so that moving forward those old difficulties do not continue.
Do you work with people from diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, religions, traditions, sexual orientations, and belief and value systems?
Therapists receive knowledge and training in therapeutic interventions with diverse populations, and I have experience with a wide variety of diverse clients.
I believe that all clients are diverse as each person comes with their own individual differences along with their specific ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender roles, traditions, and belief and value systems. I like clients to teach me about themselves and to let me know what is special about them as we get to know each other. That helps me to understand them and their uniqueness much better which goes a long way toward enriching the therapeutic relationship and experience.