Our Approach

Specializing in Stress and Anxiety

ECAS is a specialty clinic, focusing on the treatment of Stress, Anxiety Disorders, Obsessive Compulsive and Related Disorders, Posttraumatic Stress Disorders, and distress/trauma related to oppression.  While clients who seek treatment at ECAS may have difficulties beyond these issues, the focus of treatment should be within the scope of these specialty areas. Thus, appropriate clients to the clinic should be ready and interested in focusing on one of the areas of specialization, and address other issues as they impact the client’s ability to work on their presenting concern.

Evidence-Based

ECAS is committed to providing treatments that have been tested and found to be effective, with a particular emphasis on exposure-based principles and anti-oppressive practices.  Therapists use evidence-based approaches to help clients develop tools to manage their symptoms, identify ways that the American context may be impacting clients’s experience, and help them develop self-efficacy for managing symptoms after the course of treatment.

See “our services” to learn more about the types of therapy we provide.

Time-Limited

We think therapy should be goal-oriented and lead to measurable improvement. We know you want to feel better, engage more fully, and move forward toward what you truly value. With that in mind, our therapists will collaboratively develop a treatment plan with you and track your progress, and make sure we are helping you move in the direction of change. In this model, therapists see clients weekly for six-months before tapering to less frequent sessions and ending treatment for most clients within a year. By treating clients for a more limited period of time, therapists encourage clients to become their own therapists by developing self-efficacy, and will have openings in their caseload to meet the community’s great mental health needs. We expect that you will be making progress within a few weeks, and believe a “Course of Treatment” is somewhere between 18-30 sessions.

Committed to Multicultural Humility and Anti-Oppression

Stress and anxiety in America do not happen in a vacuum, but in the American context, which furthers white, heterosexual, cisgender, thin, and able-bodied ideals that set conditions for reinforcing trauma, shame, and self-blame in addition to perpetuating oppression and discrimination. We believe that this societal and cultural understanding is essential to help all people feel truly heard and understood. As therapists, we take into consideration not only how your intersecting identities impact you as a person but also how experiences of discrimination, bias, and marginalization impact your mental health. Our therapists use a multicultural orientation to invite all clients to share their cultural backgrounds and identities in addition to their societal impact as they feel comfortable doing so. At ECAS, we value and affirm diverse identities and are committed to creating a safe and inclusive environment for all clients.

We are explicitly anti-oppression as a core value in our work. We recognize all types of diversity that leads to oppression in the American context, including ethnicity, race, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, class, size, citizenship status, religion and ability. We acknowledge the systems of power that grant privilege and access unequally such that inequity and injustice result, and we are committed to dismantling these systems. As an organization, we show our commitment to anti-racism and anti-oppression through self-examination and organizational examination of internalized biases, ideas, and areas of privilege on a regular basis (in monthly meetings focused on developing a multicultural organization). With clients, we show our commitment by providing a context to talk about the impact of oppression on their lived experience, and naming oppression when racist or hateful statements are made. We also bring awareness to the physical space clients enter when coming into our offices. We have gender inclusive bathrooms that are also ADA-compliant, include chairs in waiting rooms and offices to accommodate clients of different sizes, and choose art that is inclusive.