What do we at the Baltimore Annapolis Center for Integrative Healing mean when we say we are an “integrative” psychotherapy practice?
To quote our homepage,
The “Integrative” part of our name refers to two things.
First of all, it references our integrative approach to psychotherapy, which is different from the traditional “top down” psychotherapy approaches most people think of when searching for a counselor. In an integrative approach, thoughts, feelings and behavior are part of our work, but not the whole story.
Our approach to healing includes “bottom-up” therapy approaches as well as traditional therapy methods. We use specialized bottom-up therapies based in Attachment Theories, Polyvagal Theory and relational neuroscience in our work.
These include:
Attachment Focused EMDR
Somatic Experiencing
Mindful Self-Compassion
Embodied Recovery for Eating Disorders
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy
Brainspotting
Psychedelic Integration
Expressive Arts
Sensory Modulation
We use mindfulness and breath to help with grounding and co-regulation
Yoga therapy, and more.
Additionally, we use trauma-sensitive “top down” therapy methods including:
Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT),
DBT,
Motivational Interviewing,
Parts Work/IFS and
Psychodynamic therapy
BA Healing opened in May, 2013 with myself as the only therapist. I was hesitant to open a trauma-focused psychotherapy practice in a conservative area where I feared people might not want to explore how trauma affected their lives.
Yet as a resident of this place, I knew that the young people, despite living in an affluent area where many of them excelled in creative pursuits, sports, academics and social life, were highly stressed. How did I know that?
There are many indicators that despite most adults calling our area a great place to live, the youth were struggling:
High youth suicide rates, such that the CDC was studying why there seemed to be a cluster of suicides in our local area. When this 2016 report was released, suicide was the 9th leading cause of death among youth in our area; now it is reportedly the 8th leading cause.
High rates of youth substance abuse - higher than the national average, according to this 2013 report from the Anne Arundel County Department of Health.
If the youth are struggling, it is a symptom of what’s going on in our community. Adults are able to hide it better, but youth have a lot of eyes on them at school and in the community.
In 2015, thanks to some help from my clients, I decided to learn more about complementary and alternative practices that help heal trauma, beyond traditional behaviorally oriented talk therapy for temporary symptom reduction.
In this article, which is updated to reflect how BA Healing has grown from an individual practice run by me, Laura Reagan, LCSW-C, to a small group psychotherapy practice, you’ll learn about how these changes came about and what we’ve learned.
In 2014, a client asked me about acupuncture to address depression. I really didn’t know anything about it. Another asked my opinion of using a flotation tank for stress relief. I wasn’t familiar with this either.
Their questions sparked my interest in learning more about other methods and holistic therapies which complement traditional talk therapy to help clients address the needs of the whole self: mind, body and spirit. I now know that combining traditional talk therapy with alternative and holistic approaches is called integrative mental health.
Previously, I frequently recommended massage and yoga for relaxation and stress relief – I really wasn’t too familiar with other options. However, in 2014 I learned that some of my clients had tried acupuncture and flotation tanks; I learned that a friend meditates regularly and attends a drumming circle.
Learning of their experiences led me to become curious about the benefits of these and other options to promote wellness. And there are many benefits! For example, this Huffington Post article discusses how integrative mental health (traditional talk therapy complemented by other health-promoting practices) may be beneficial for people with depression.
Throughout the year, as I have been more open to learning about these therapies, I’ve had opportunity to meet practitioners who use them and many others. I now know that there are quite a lot of options for those of us in the Annapolis area to try a variety of holistic practices, alone or as a complement to talk therapy. Since I didn’t know about them or their benefits before now, I am guessing some of you who are reading this were also unaware.
I decided to begin a monthly blog series on the topic of alternative and holistic healing practices. I will interview a number of practitioners who will tell you about what they do, and how and where they do it. Many of these will be local to the Greater Baltimore/Washington DC area, although the services they offer may be available through different practitioners throughout the U.S. and beyond. As I update this post in 2023, I’ll share that I now use most, if not all of these practices myself, and my sense of health and wellbeing has greatly improved.
I’ve used massage and yoga for years to help me de-stress, but there are many methods of massage and many types of yoga which I haven’t tried. This year I began practicing meditation on a fairly regular basis and I'm sold on its helpful effects. The Harvard Business Review acknowledges in this article that meditation and mindfulness have positive effects on the brain. You will be hearing from practitioners who offer these methods and many others which can be used in integrative mental health over the course of the coming year. I’m excited to share this with you and I hope you’ll learn about something new that you’d like to try! Most of us by now have heard of trauma expert Dr. Bessel van der Kolk’s 2014 book, The Body Keeps The Score, which describes how and why “bottom up” therapy methods are necessary to heal trauma.
Please comment below and tell me what you would like to hear about, or recommend something you’ve found beneficial! I look forward to hearing from you!
You can also follow me on social media. Although I’m spending less time there lately, I’m on Instagram and Facebook as well as TikTok. Listen to Therapy Chat anywhere you get your podcasts or go directly to the source!
Many of the therapists listed in the Trauma Therapist Network directory (which I created) use similar approaches to how we work at BA Healing. So if working with us isn’t a match because you’re outside of Maryland or we don’t have a therapist to fit your needs, please consider searching for a trauma therapist using our directory! There are also many articles posted on the site to help you learn more about trauma and what to look for when searching for trauma therapy. You can find my second podcast - Trauma Chat - there too.