Mental Health Services

NSU Health’s Adult Services Program treatment providers are committed to working with individuals 18+ who are motivated to improve their level of functioning and mental health.

A comprehensive biopsychosocial diagnostic and treatment approach is used to help adults 18 and older deal with a wide variety of psychological problems.

We can help you with:

• anxiety
• social skills problems
• depression
• stress
• severe and persistent mental illness
• other mental health issues

Services

• individual and group psychotherapy
• psychological assessments as they relate to treatment recommendations

NSU Health’s Anxiety Treatment Center provides specialized, evidence-based treatments for adults (ages 18+) with the following conditions:

• social anxiety disorder
• panic attacks/panic disorder
• excessive worry
• agoraphobia
• specific fears and phobias
• obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
• body dysmorphic disorder
• hair-pulling disorder (trichotillomania)
• skin-picking (excoriation) disorder
• tic disorders

We also treat individuals with anxiety who have experienced trauma, have PTSD, or have mood disorders, such as depression.

How Does the Therapy Work?

Therapy usually consists of three evaluation sessions, followed by weekly, individual sessions. If needed, sessions may be conducted more frequently. Family members and significant others are sometimes included at the client’s request. You and your therapist will work together to determine therapy goals, session agendas, and length of therapy.

What Can I Expect?

Your therapist will not only teach you skills, but help you learn how to use the skills outside of sessions in your daily life. You will learn how to:

• better manage and tolerate anxiety
• learn new, healthy coping skills while reducing unhealthy or unhelpful behaviors
• face anxiety-provoking situations
• identify and challenge unhelpful thinking
• modify beliefs or behaviors that maintain your anxiety

Our therapists are specifically trained in several evidence-based treatments, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and exposure-based treatments. You and your therapist will discuss which treatment option(s) may be the best fit for you.

NSU Health’s Biofeedback and Health Psychology Center offers evaluation, intervention, and consultation for managing ongoing health concerns and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Services

The problems that we treat most often with biofeedback and other health psychology approaches include:

• anxiety
• migraine and tension headaches
• chronic pain
• TMJ
• tinnitus
• management of a chronic illness, such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, or HIV/AIDS
• management of high blood pressure
• sleep disturbances

Some treatments are enhanced by including physiological monitoring and biofeedback training. Our biofeedback equipment can be used to help someone become more aware of bodily responses, such as muscle tension or temperature change, that occur during periods of stress and relaxation.

Using biofeedback, people can learn to control bodily responses of which they are not usually aware.

In addition, health psychology treatments can reduce illness risks and promote good health. Over a lifetime, unhealthy habits, such as reacting too strongly to stress, overeating, excessive intake of unhealthy/ high-fat foods, and physical inactivity, can compromise health if they are not changed.

Physician Clearance

Individuals who are considering biofeedback or changes to their exercise or diet routines should consult a physician for a complete medical checkup and clearance before contacting the center. Our services are not a substitute for a medical evaluation. Collaboration with a health care team is welcomed.

NSU Health’s Counseling Center for Older Adults welcomes adults ages 55 years or older who are interested in developing more effective ways of managing the difficult situations and challenges that can occur in life. The overarching goal of the program is to help our clients age as well as possible, which includes maximizing their quality of life and level of functioning.

We can help you with:

• adjustment issues
• anxiety
• bereavement issues
• depression
• disease management strategies
• family problems
• improving quality of life
• loneliness
• relationship problems
• stress management

Assessment

All new clients receive a comprehensive assessment to determine their level of emotional, social, and cognitive functioning. Once the assessment phase is completed, your therapist will review the results and desired therapy goals and make treatment recommendations.

Therapy Goals and Treatment

Treatment recommendations are based on your interview, assessments, and therapy goals. You will determine your own therapy goals in collaboration with your therapist. Therapists are trained to offer a variety of options, including cognitive therapy, behavioral therapy, and supportive therapy. Other forms of therapy may be implemented when appropriate. 

Individual therapy is the primary modality used to serve our clients. In this method, the client and therapist meet regularly to work on the client’s therapy goals. Between sessions, the client may be asked to complete homework assignments, write in a journal, or engage in other therapeutic activities. Research has proven that individual therapy is effective with older adults in the treatment of a variety of difficulties, including depression, anxiety, and bereavement.

Other therapy modalities can include

• couples therapy
• family therapy
• group therapy

NSU Health's Family Violence Program offers people of all ages therapeutic interventions for issues involving all aspects of domestic violence. Individual therapy focuses on a wide variety of common symptoms resulting from abuse, such as depression and anxiety, as well as anger management training to help prevent domestic violence.

Services

We help victims of abuse with:

• crisis intervention and victim advocacy management
• identifying and overcoming effects of abuse
• empowerment for nonviolent, egalitarian life choices

Perpetrators of abuse can:

• get anger management training
• learn what coercive/violent behaviors are and how to identify their origins
• learn and practice alternative, nonviolent behaviors, social skills, and communication skills
• change attitudes and attributions that perpetrate coercive behaviors

Individuals and groups can benefit from:

• therapeutic interventions for anxiety and depression related to a history of trauma or abuse

The NSU Health Healthy Lifestyles Program offers evidence-based individualized treatment for individuals with concerns about their alcohol use, cannabis use, and other substance use, smoking (cigarettes and other tobacco products), gambling, and sleep issues. Individuals will learn to learn to use their own strengths and resources to resolve their problems. 

The program offers services consistent with a harm reduction approach. Provision of harm reduction services is advocated by the Office of National Drug Control Policy and by the Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Harm reduction emphasizes ways to avoid or reduce risks or negative consequences related to drug and alcohol use.

This program can help you

• lead a healthier lifestyle
• change your drinking
• quit tobacco products or e-cigarettes
• address concerns about your sleeping
• quit gambling
• change your drug use
• reduce your Internet or video game use 

Individualized treatment services are offered to help you

• evaluate your lifestyle choices and set goals
• strengthen your motivation and commitment to change
• identify your strengths and resources, and
• identify and overcome obstacles to change

NSU Health's Intensive Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Program provides diagnostic, in-depth and intensive treatment to anyone ages 10+ with moderate-to-severe characterological disorders.

Services

Psychodynamic Psychotherapy is based on the truism: “One who does not understand the past is condemned to repeat it.” Dynamic therapy allows the patient and therapist to look at the present and the past and foster a more adaptive, gratifying, and productive future. Individual, group, and couple therapy is offered.

How Does it Work?

During sessions, the patient is encouraged to reflect on past experiences and to become increasingly introspective to gain a better understanding of his or her needs, wishes, values, and desires. All information shared in treatment is confidential. Patients often report personal thoughts, feelings, fantasies, and dreams that can lead to greater awareness of the magnitude of their core conflicts. By being a sympathetic listener and empathetic facilitator, the therapist accompanies the patient on this voyage of self-discovery and personal growth.

NSU Health's Neuropsychology Assessment Center can diagnose disorders of the central nervous system caused by head injury, stroke, heart disorders, cancer, degenerative disorders, and other medical diseases which have a primary or secondary impact on the brain; provide consultation on the etiology, rate of progression, and prognosis of known or suspected cerebral pathology; and offer recommendations or referrals for treatment. The assessments are also useful for identifying adult learning disabilities or ADHD as well as differentiating between emotional and other disorders.

Referral examples include

• differential diagnosis of dementia vs. depression
• evaluation to determine cognitive, emotional, or behavioral symptoms subsequent to head injury including sports related disorders
• diagnosis of learning disability, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or intellectual disability
• determination of mental competence
• diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, seizure disorders, multiple sclerosis, stroke, and organic mood syndrome
• determination of appropriate school placement or accommodations in college or vocational settings
• Provide evidence for civil or criminal cases where emotional disorders or brain injury is suspected

Services

A complete neuropsychological battery takes approximately 12–15 hours to complete. You typically will meet with an evaluator once a week for a three-hour block of time, but this can be adapted to your schedule with shorter, longer, or more frequent sessions,   

After the testing is complete, the clinician will generate a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation report. This report will consist of relevant  history (obtained during the intake interview at the first appointment), test results in narrative and data formats, a diagnosis section, and recommendations for further treatment or appropriate accommodations.

During a three-hour feedback session, the clinician will be able to go over the information contained in the report and provide you with a copy of the report.

NSU Health’s Psychological Services for the Emotionally Distressed (PSED) program serves adolescents (ages 14–18) and adults who are distressed as a result of disturbances in their mood or patterns of thinking. We focus on understanding the subjective experience of our patients and collaborating with them toward a better understanding of themselves, improving their capacity to cope.

Symptoms that may prompt people to contact our program include:

• depression or mania
• hallucinations or delusions
• feeling like thoughts or behaviors are out of control
• difficulties in relationships
• frequent mood swings or difficulties regulating emotions
• social isolation or withdrawal
• difficulties performing daily activities
• unusual behaviors or beliefs that are risky or distressing 

Services

• individual psychotherapy
• group psychotherapy
• family therapy
• couple therapy
• psychological testing (as needed, to inform treatment)

The primary approaches that inform our individualized work with clients include contemporary relational psychodynamic therapy, trauma-informed therapy, dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), cognitive therapy, and existential therapy.

The NSU Health Sport Psychology Program provides psychological evaluation, intervention and consultation to help athletes and performing artists maximize their abilities under pressure.

Call NSU Sports Medicine Clinic: (954) 262-5590

NSU Health’s Trauma Resolution and Integration Program provides specialized psychological services to individuals age 18+ who have been exposed to traumatic situations and are currently experiencing problems functioning. Some examples of traumatic situations/events include:

• a history of child abuse and neglect
• combat trauma, other war-related trauma
• intimate partner violence, domestic violence
• physical assault
• sexual assault, unwanted sexual experiences
• military sexual trauma
• natural disasters
• political torture
• community disasters
• life-threatening accident or injury

Whether or not they have experienced a traumatic incident, we also treat individuals age 18+ with dissociative experiences that disturb them or that interfere with their ability to function effectively.

We also offer specialized affirmative care for individuals identifying as sexual and/or gender minorities (e.g., LGBTQI+) and who have experienced traumatic events.

Areas of Specialization

Trauma

Living through traumatic events – ones that involve witnessing first hand or facing the threat of sudden violent death, serious physical injury, or sexual violation – can lead to serious long-term difficulties, including:

• reliving the traumatic event in the form of unwanted repeated recollections, vivid flashbacks, nightmares, or physiological reactions
• avoidance of circumstances that act as reminders of the traumatic event
• periodic or constant anxiety, anger, shame, guilt, etc.
• difficulty sleeping, difficulty concentrating, irritability
• substance abuse
• depression
• difficulty in relationships

Dissociation

The term "dissociation" refers to a range of experiences that are common among survivors of trauma, although they can be caused by factors other than trauma as well. Examples of dissociation include:

• "spacing" or blanking out, having difficulty sustaining awareness of or staying focused in the present;
• extensive forgetting and significant gaps in memory;
• not being able to account for significant periods of time in the recent past, ranging from minutes to hours to days;
• not feeling real, not feeling "like oneself," feelings as if you are watching yourself from outside your body, feelings as if our surroundings are not real;
• finding evidence of or being told by other people about having recently engaged in activities of which you have no recollection.

Sexual and Gender Minority Affirmative Care

Sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals encompass anyone who identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, non-binary, and/or questioning. SGM individuals are at increased rates for traumatization, victimization, suicide, and other adverse experiences and outcomes.

Each of the TRIP practicum students has received specialty training in the area of trauma and trauma-related disorders, dissociation, and affirmative care principles in working with the LGBTQ+ community. This includes training in both assessment and providing flexible, and creative treatment aimed at targeting often persistent difficulties.

Clinical Services

• comprehensive psychological assessment and therapy for trauma-related and dissociative disorder diagnoses
• routine outcome monitoring to determine treatment effectiveness
• individual and group therapy
• couples and family therapy 

Group Services

• Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)—This group helps participants cultivate a mastery of behavioral, emotional, and cognitive stability through four skills modules (mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness).
• Male-Identifying Survivors of Trauma Group—Based on the Contextual Trauma Therapy model, this group helps with understanding the impact of trauma on one’s identity and masculinity, learning stress-related coping skills, addressing feelings of shame and guilt, building strong relationships with family and friends, dealing with the societal impacts of being a male trauma survivor, and creating stability in times of chaos.
• Sexual-and-Gender-Minority-Identifying Survivors of Trauma Group (SGM)—This group operates from a trauma-informed affirmative care model, highlights strengths, explores how trauma affects one’s sense of identity, and empowers individuals to express themselves safely and assertively.
• Women Survivors of Trauma Group - Based on the Contextual Trauma Model this group helps with understanding the impact of trauma on one’s identity and womanhood, learning stress-related coping skills, addressing feelings of shame and guilt, building strong relationships, and dealing with the societal impacts of being a woman.

Community and Consultation Services

We provide workshops and trainings for professionals in the community on topics related to trauma and trauma treatment, dissociation, LGBTQ+ affirmative care, trauma-informed care, as well as vicarious traumatization.

Contact Us

TRIP Clinic Coordinator: 954-262-5851

You had our back. Now we have yours. NSU Health's Veterans Health Care Clinic is proud to offer affordable mental health care to veterans and their families in our South Florida facilities. Our mental health professionals are trained to help ease the transition into civilian life and provide compassionate care you can count on. Speak with specialized representatives who are knowledgeable about veteran care: (954) 262-3524, select option 2 (Mon-Fri, 8:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m.).

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