Regardless if it is your first time or if you are a returning client to our office, meetings with a trusted professional allows you the freedom to explore emotional and/or behavioral conflicts. Usually, the mental health professional would identify a theoretical approach (science-based strategy) following the first visit as well as offer their understanding of the problem.

This would include diagnostic consideration and a plan for treating the condition. Each session would build upon the other and may include tasks and assignments that would foster insight and greater understanding. In some cases, a combination of talk therapy and medication management are effective for certain conditions.

Treatment goals are reached when symptoms or conditions are eliminated, reduced or become more manageable.

According to a (2004) Consumer Reports article, questions directed towards a potential therapist can help a person understand their options for mental wellness. Some questions can include: “What’s your understanding of the problem?,” “What training has prepared you to address the condition?,” “What treatments would you recommend and why?,” and possibly “How long will it take for me to have some relief from my symptoms?”

Additionally, steps such as: interviewing more than one helpful professional, researching the problem in advance of seeking help and keeping a record of prior treatment (for example, prior psychological testing and medication history) as well as documenting one’s current emotional state, can lead to better satisfaction with starting the therapy experience.

Reference

-Mental Healthcare Fact Sheet from Consumer Reports, (2004, September). Advocacy.Consumerreports.Orgs. https://advocacy.consumerreports.org/press_release/mental-health-care-fact-sheet-from-consumer-reports/

While we would not consider ourselves “unique” in what we do, our approach applies a “cultural lens” in helping individuals understand their circumstances and in-turn, provide a healing perspective guided by NTU (pronounced “in-too”) intervention, which works in tandem with psychoanalysis, narrative therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy to name a few.

Based on the Bantu people’s point of view, which assumes that human interaction is relational and enhanced by a prevailing source, the Ntu (pronounced “in-too”) approach to health and healing (see Gregory and Harper, 2001; Phillips, 2018) can help people lead more balanced, authentic lives.

Ntu is used at the Atlanta Center for Family Wellness via a range of experential and culturally-based techniques. For example, conversations based upon Kwanzaa’s principles (the Nguzu Saba) and “care-frontation” assessments assist with building insight and change of perspective.

According to Dr. Linda James Myers (1993), operating from this more optimal mindset allows one to assume a sense of oneness with nature, improved self-worth, enhanced interpersonal experiences and greater peace of mind.

References

-Phillips, Frederick. (2018). NTU Psychotherapy: Personalism and the Bodymind, Ghana Internationational Journal of Mental Health, vol. 6 & vol. 7

-Gregory, H., & Harper, K. (2001). The ntu approach to health and healing, Journal of Black psychology, 27(3), 304-320.

-Myers, Linda James (1993). Understanding an Afrocentric Worldview: Introduction to an Optmal Psychology (2nd edition). Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company.