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What We Treat

The Guest House is a haven for all adults who are struggling with self-defeating behaviors brought on by traumatic life events and other underlying issues. We treat a range of conditions including addiction, anxiety, depression and mental health disorders. The symptoms and effects of traumatic life experiences and the maladaptive coping mechanisms that go with them can often be addressed with talk therapy and medication, but at The Guest House we seek and treat the root of your behaviors with holistic, experiential therapies alongside group therapy and one-on-one counseling. Here, we are committed to helping you find healing and recovery that can last your whole life. We believe in providing long-term solutions that target the core of your concerns while giving you the right tools to successfully manage your condition or symptoms.

Trauma and Other Underlying Causes

Trauma takes many forms — disaster, death or abuse; war, crime or violence; a serious injury or accident. Trauma can happen as a sudden, single event, or it can result from longer-term exposure to distressing situations. Trauma can also be life circumstances that create a feeling of high anxiety for an individual, including divorce, loss, neglect, adoption or any life event perceived by the individual as traumatic. It is particularly marked by the human brain and body’s stress reactions as an individual struggles to understand the deeply disturbing and difficult realities of what they have experienced or witnessed. Often, traumatic memories are compartmentalized in an attempt to forget or move beyond them. But when these memories are allowed to linger without true processing, counterproductive or unhealthy coping mechanisms often form. If these habits manifest as self-destructive, life-threatening or otherwise damaging behaviors, seeking trauma treatment programs like those offered at The Guest House may be the only way to prevent serious harm.

Attachment and Developmental Trauma

Early childhood trauma — often called developmental trauma — can result from a variety of circumstances including abuse, neglect, family strife, loss or violence. When this trauma is inflicted or ignored by someone the child trusts or relies on (e.g. a parent or older sibling), it can translate to attachment trauma in which relationships are deeply damaged and broken. Developmental and attachment trauma can prevent children from growing into adults who are able to have healthy, productive relationships, often struggling with trust, expressing love or processing rejection. These traumas are typically undiagnosed until adulthood, as the core of the problem usually occurs before a child is able to express itself or process events properly. At The Guest House, we specialize in treating deep-seated childhood trauma that many adults keep inside themselves for so long, including attachment and developmental trauma. We can help you reach back into your childhood and heal the events from so long ago in a safe and comforting environment, so that you can finally move forward to form strong, supportive relationships.

Self-Defeating Habits and Behaviors

Life changes drastically after a traumatic or emotionally difficult event. Personality shifts are common in victims of trauma, in those who have experienced loss and in people who have fallen on hard times — when these changes are noticeably for the worse, it can set a cycle of self-destruction in motion. Developing self-harm habits, drug or alcohol abuse, poor nutrition, exhaustion or even significantly lowered self-confidence can take a serious toll on your life or the lives of your loved ones. Dealing with traumatic life events can also create high anxiety in the individual, resulting in a need for coping mechanisms to relieve the stress. Often, these coping mechanisms are unhealthy habits that lead to addiction or behaviors that do as much, if not more, damage than the initial event that caused them. At The Guest House, we want to help you break the cycle by coming to terms with the underlying reasons for your behavior. We know that you are capable of taking control of your actions through learning to recognize unhealthy behavior patterns and establishing healthy, productive ways to avoid them. Our treatment programs are designed to guide and support you as you overcome your past and pave a new path to your future.

Substance Abuse, Process Abuse and Addiction

Substance and process abuse are common responses to an emotionally scarring experience. Drugs, alcohol, sex, eating disorders and other compulsions are often used to numb the pain of shock or grief, or to give someone who is suffering a feeling of being in control. But the transition from abuse to dependence to addiction is a fast and slippery slope. Once you have formed an addiction, you are likely to feel the effects for the rest of your life — though it is possible to treat and manage an addiction, true recovery is a conscious choice to avoid relapse and resist cravings every day. At The Guest House, we start by addressing the root of your addiction and focusing on healing the core concern. As you learn to cope with your emotions in a healthy way, you can come to an understanding of how to best live your life substance-free. The Guest House is fully equipped to treat addiction to a wide range of drugs and alcohol, including the detoxification phase, as well as process addictions. We always ensure that you receive discreet, top-quality clinical care through our in-house services.

Mental Health Disorders

Emotional trauma and triggers are known to cause depression, anxiety or compulsions or worsen existing mental health disorders. While some disordered behaviors are clearly related to a single incident, there is not always an apparent cause and effect if your trauma or trigger is far in the past or buried deep in your psyche. If you have been struggling with a mental health disorder for some time, it is possible that you are dealing with much deeper, repressed concerns that need to be addressed before you can truly find the best way to manage your disorder. The Guest House is equipped to treat mental health disorders, co-occurring disorders as well as mental health concerns in the presence of other self-defeating behaviors like addiction or self-harm. Our staff members are trained to provide for clients with disorders including but not limited to:

  • Depression
  • Anxiety
  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
  • Bipolar Disorder

Adoption Trauma

Adoption

We breathe as one, I am safe

I feel her pain, joy, compassion, anxiety, depression and live her life experiences

If she is anxious or fearful, I am born activated

If she is calm, I am peaceful

I push from her warmth into a cold, bright lit room

I am ripped away screaming and crying

It is not a natural cry but rather a primal sound. I cannot be consoled

I sit on my bed and cry, I want to be comforted. I don’t belong, life is too difficult, I want to be saved, where is my knight and shining armor, my biological mother

I am attached to everyone or I am attached to no one

I love or I am angry, I am good or I am bad

Who do I look and sound like, do I have siblings, who am I?

I have this pain that goes to my soul, it is a gaping wound that cannot be fully healed

It is a primal wound

This is not about speaking disparagingly about our adoptive parents

It is trying to maneuver adoptive family dynamics we are unfamiliar with or it is trying to maneuver biological family dynamics that we are strangers to, it can be both and we are trying to walk that fine line so family members are not hurt or become angry

It is about sharing our journey, discussing topics no one else would understand

It is grieving my biology and culture that has been forgotten

It is a pain to my core

–Baby Christine A./Dr. Sabra

This poem uniquely captures the experience of adoption trauma. Even in cases of loving and fulfilling relationships with adoptive families, it is still possible — even normal — for adopted children to experience a sense of deep loss or turmoil at the absence of biological parents. The bond between child and mother in particular is beyond everyday understanding. The connection forged in the womb cannot be broken; for better or for worse, everyone has their parents’ genes within them and carries this wherever they go and whoever they become. The inability to understand one’s biology and culture causes a crisis of identity that for many is a hindrance to living a full, free life comfortable in their own skin. The Guest House recognizes this trauma and is ready to help you move past it through holistic therapies and guided self-searching.