Jeff Sullivan, MS,
Licensed Professional Counselor
Jeff Sullivan, MS,
Licensed Professional Counselor
Jeff specializes in treating a range of stress-related disorders including:
Full-blown addictions run roughshod through lives, often taking whole families down. These are the most obvious cases and require a lifelong commitment to recovery. However, the use of alcohol and some substances occur along a continuum, from possibly beneficial to unquestionably devastating. For many, the question becomes whether my alcohol or substance abuse is a problem? Do I need better control, or to abstain altogether? Am I using drugs or alcohol as a mask for other problems in my personal or professional life? Are they my solution to anxiety, depression, or other mental or emotional conditions?
The answers aren’t always clear, but if you or your family are concerned, an exploration is a worthwhile effort before a potential problem spirals out of control.
Living with anxiety is like living with an alarm constantly going off in your body and mind. Anxiety is a natural reaction to perceived threats — the psychological component of the stress response. Unfortunately, problematic anxiety results from magnifying or even imagining threats, and underappreciating your ability to cope with them. Anxiety leads to states of fear, dread, worry, anger, and to behaviors such as social withdrawal, lashing out, or turning to unhealthy relationships.
Treating anxiety involves increasing self-awareness and self-acceptance, reframing negative thoughts, building better coping strategies, and practicing new behaviors.
Depression is a natural part of life. When trouble hits, we often drop into a depression, regroup, reflect, re-strategize, and come back out. Unfortunately, sometimes we fall in too deep or do not see a way out. Depression is an active process; through our thoughts and ruminations on unpleasant memories and forecasts of more of the same, we inadvertently put in mental work depressing ourselves.
Treatment consists of challenging depressing thoughts and beliefs, generating new strategies, and putting those strategies into action.
Too often, we find ourselves looking for more out of life than we have achieved, or find ourselves in a situation thinking “this just isn’t how it’s supposed to be.” We even may be trapped in depression, anxiety, or addiction because we lack a vision for what to do next in life, a strategy for how to get there, or the confidence to move forward.
Your goal may range from as simple as learning a new skill to as personal as finding a relationship or as complex as starting your own company. You may need help navigating family dynamics or existing obligations. The Dream Reaching process helps you clarify or create your inner vision, identify your strengths, reduce inhibitions, and start to engage and enhance your inner creativity.
Insomnia is incredibly common and often complex. While a significant number of factors can be involved, stress, anxiety, and depression are usually the culprits. This short-term treatment covers basic sleep hygiene, including challenging unhelpful thoughts, managing stress, and reviewing possible substance abuse, and is designed to either provide helpful solutions or uncover more profound emotional circumstances that keep you awake.
The experience of trauma can overwhelm the mind, leading to emotional or behavioral instability, significant disturbances in forming or maintaining relationships, and negative emotions including anger, anxiety, guilt, and shame. Trauma can come from a single incident or a lifetime of abuse, and often leads to fragmented memories and flashbacks. Integrating traumatic memories at the cognitive, emotional, and physical level helps put them in perspective and reduce their emotional impact. Numerous mental conditions are commonly accompanied by some sort of trauma.
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