Welcome to AMPPS
Life is a highway; It is filled with ups and downs. Just like any other journey, there is a cup full of happiness and enjoyment so are the unexpected bumps and grimness that deprive us of the joy. With such unpredictability, life throws our way, so many characteristics and tools become important to navigate life and self-actualize our capabilities effectively as we attain all-around positive growth; psychologically, physically, emotionally, and so many other aspects of our lives.
Characteristics such as; educational background, social support, socioeconomic status, financial and, employment status, personality traits, attitude to seeking help, family history, and physical and mental health states are all important.
When navigating through life’s trials and tribulations, it is crucial that you seek support and professional help from a safe space where you are offered the utmost care and support to boost self-awareness and cope effectively and positively.
Individual psychotherapy of all kinds
Anxiety therapy
Anxiety to some people is referred to as the second voice in your head that makes you question everything you do, your capabilities, and/ or some aspects of your life. There are so many types of anxiety. But there is also the overreaching type called General Anxiety Disorder (GAD). At AMPS, we hustle and bustle all these types to help individuals function better, and productively in their environment.
Depression therapy
In simple terms, depression is a mood disorder. Depression cycles can be triggered by negative experiences or hardships encountered in life. Triggers can be both internal (painful feelings due to a breakup. External (losing a loved one). But, even with the above, an individual’s susceptibility to the condition differs due to so many different circumstances including; biological heritage, environmental, societal, and socioeconomic statuses, parenting styles, personality orientations, coping skills they engage, and thinking styles they integrate when coping.
At AMPS, every person who walks in the door is looked at as a unique individual regardless of the condition being similar. This is because we mentioned susceptibility in individuals differs due to different overall individual make-ups. So, the treatment is dependent on the individual’s unique presentation and needs.
Burnout Management
This is a work-related type of stress that leads to feeling worn out emotionally and physically either as a result of excessive demands at work or being assigned a position higher than your expertise. This condition may involve feeling powerless, useless, and incompetent.
Time Management
A more psychological term is procrastination, a condition that hinders you from doing what you should be doing. Instead, people tend to do something else and keep postponing the urgent and more important issues. For example: Engaging your social media instead of finishing an urgently required work project. With procrastination, we work with more behavioral approaches and formal conditioning theories.
Do you want to get started? Talk to our therapists today…
HIV/AIDS & other threatening physical health counselling
During therapeutic interventions when dealing with this client group, we focus on the anxiety, stress, and excessive worry that comes after the diagnosis. The depression and other mental conditions that the medication prescribed for the physical health condition induces. And then the stigma, lack of social support and emotional empowerment, and insufficient psychological and emotional support that may lead to isolation and social alienation.
Grief therapy
With grief, so many ideas interfere with someone’s thought processes from; confusion, negative thought patterns, loss of control, regrets, and extremely painful episodes. When an individual is bereaved, therapists meet them at the stages where they are and support them accordingly. Grief therapy success is better achieved when a therapist is following the client’s grieving process to map out all the maladaptive processes, replacing them with positive patterns.
Life testimony of one of our senior therapists:
I lost my husband recently and realized how complex bereavement and grief processes can be especially with dynamics you cannot bring yourself to put together. It is an experience associated with extremes of unexplained emotional, psychological, and physical pains. My husband was the center of my life and for some time I lost myself to the pain I could not explain to anyone in words. I felt like it was only my children and his clients and a handful of his close people (friends) who understood a little of what we were going through. I still struggle once in a while but, journaling my feelings and emotions helps me to release them, and move into another mood state hence functioning better.
NB: Through our bereavement and grief journey, I learned from my household how unique grief as a process can be to every individual regardless of going through a similar experience
Assertiveness/Self-esteem enhancement skills
We lose assertiveness due to so many factors that impact our lives significantly not limited to; our childhood experiences, low self-esteem both from childhood and toxic environments, excessive desire for approval, societal and cultural influences, and poor communication skills. We work with clients to integrate skills and theories to foster clients to learn skills to communicate assertively to help them live a healthy positive life hence reducing stress, anxiety, and other issues associated with giving in all the time.
Marriage therapy
For both those preparing to join the institution of marriage, we offer counselling for those preparing to join the institution of marriage, and those having resolvable issues with their partners. We also support those going through the divorce transition and the distress associated with it.
Relationship therapy
We investigate the dynamics associated with different types of relationships and individual needs, wants, and vulnerabilities; both met and unmet.
Domestic Violence
Note: If you are in immediate danger from domestic violence, please call 000 immediately. If you do not reside in Australia, please call the emergency services phone number in the country of your residence.
Domestic violence refers to the different forms of abuse that happen in home settings and interpersonal relationships.
Adolescent/Youth counselling and rehabilitation programs
When dealing with our “little not so little” anymore client group, we revisit Erikson’s stages of development theory (stage 5: Identity formation vs. Confusion). Collaboratively (client & therapist) looking at what the client's ideal self vs. reality. Then turn the focus on investigating the hindrances limiting the clients and working together to support them achieve their goals.
Emotional Deprivation Therapy
Individuals who seek this type of therapy are those whose personal reality is undermined by denying facts in their immediate environment (experiences) and feelings by those they hold dear.
It is a weakness in human nature to believe that those you love and care for are supposed to reciprocate the same unconditionally. Not until something happens that makes them realize that some people are only there to wait for opportunities “opportunists”. This may cause a mental breakdown.
Another dangerous situation is “gaslighting” where those around you manipulate your cognitions, emotions, and fundamental self into what they want you to be labeled as. Consequently, this leads to mental health disturbances.
Addiction
The first step to recovery is seeking help and support to deal with addiction and its negative consequences on both the individuals' lives and that of their families in general. We are experienced in different kinds of resources and techniques to help and best support someone experiencing any kind of addiction issues.
Men's Therapy (Interpersonal abuse & emotional therapy)
Counselling for men seeking professional support is almost impossible due to several barriers most of which are external expectations and influences. It is grounded in cultures and societal settings: girls are beautiful and sweet while boys are strong and brave. Such utterances stemming from a tender age can condition a brain’s way of taking in information, processing it, and influencing the action stage.
Why?
It is easy for a woman to verbally seek support, emotionally, psychologically, and mentally. And they will openly demand for the right to be heard or validated if at all they feel any threat which is very hard for men to do. Because of their masculine nature, men’s cry for help is interpreted differently across societies and different platforms. Some men even get called names (Sisi, cry-babies) to frustrate their need for emotional validation especially those experiencing Interpersonal abuse and violence in the form of emotional abuse.
At AMPS we offer men going through Intimate abuse and Violence a non-biased approach to navigating their emotional, psychological, and mental pains. This is achieved through a collaborative approach as we map out their strength and weaknesses to equip them with skills that enable them to cope with their experiences in a much more adaptable manner to enhance positive growth and development.
Men's issues we normally navigate include but are not limited to the following:
- financial difficulties and loss of self-esteem
- relationship issues
- dealing with separation and divorce
- grief over separation and the loss of day-to-day contact with their children
- anger and frustration
- conflict with their partners or ex-partners
- fathering issues
- anxiety and depression
- feeling disconnected or isolated
- midlife transitions
- sexual behaviours (pornography use and other urges).