Wooten & Associates Training Program
Our Training Philosophy
Through consultation and training we demonstrate a philosophy and practice that supports the development of each clinician in characteristics of compassion, insight and understanding. It is both our shared experience and clinical knowledge that energizes the work. We use the principles of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy together with trauma informed and integration of psychodynamically oriented introspection as our organizational framework. We encourage therapists to integrate spiritual truths and practical applications of available psychological constructs to help organize a persons’ experience and facilitate movement. We reflect upon the process that occurs in the therapeutic relationship and the manner in which those same dynamics manifest in a persons life and cause both the therapist and the patient to grow.
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The goals for our training program are to provide exposure to diverse clinical presentations through individual and group psychotherapy interventions, individual and group supervision, integrating didactics and multidisciplinary staffings. We offer access to multiple supervisors and seasoned therapists that provide consultation, support and divergent therapeutic perspectives to deepen our clinical applications. We use reflective and developmental supervision models as foundations for our work with trainees. Our clinical model evolves from Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Interpersonal Process, and contemporary psychodynamic principles.
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We provide practicum placement for psychology graduate students from institutions around the valley. We also support a Post-doctoral Resident position and post-graduate license seeking Masters level therapists. Dr. Wooten is an approved clinical supervisor with the Arizona Board of Behavioral Heath.
Our Clinical Training Tracks
Dialectical Behavior Therapy is a skilled based approach developed for treating significant emotion dysregulation and presentations consistent with the diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder. Its application is well established as the standard of care for presentations where emotional dysregulation is central and offers a wealth of tools applied to a cross sections of behavioral difficulties. DBT also provides a beautiful method for maintaining balance in life that we apply to our work in consultation and supervision that enables effective, compassionate and non-judgmental work in all our spaces. Dr. Wooten completed intensive training in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and has been facilitating DBT interventions and Training since 2001. Dr. Wooten has worked in the area of substance abuse treatment and evaluation her entire career, including providing direct clinical service in state corrections and substance abuse treatment facilities.
Integrated Applications of Trauma Based interventions incorporates practices from somatic psychology, creative art therapies and meditative-mindful disciplines along with traditional psychology techniques to co-create the necessary healing space. Through the integration of dialectics, Dr. Gina Lang leads in the development and training of this orientation for clients who have complicated histories and complex emotional experiences. Understanding the relationship between mind and body provides the right context for clients to deconstruct complexities and regenerate healthy connections. With small children, this specialized modality promotes awareness, self-regulation and cooperation by blending movement and other art forms with play and family therapies.
Perinatal Mood Disorder Assessment and Treatment is a cognitive behavioral track of our training program led by Dr. Pamela Barnes-Palty. It is during pregnancy, birth, postpartum and parenting that many experience great difficulty. Twenty percent of women experience Pernatal Mood Discorders (PMAD’s) which include symptoms of depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorders, post-traumatic stress and in some cases psychosis. The change in hormones, life roles and physical functioning contribute to this highly transitional period in a woman’s life and can impact the entire family. Screening and identifying PMAD’s and providing evidenced-based treatment can help women feel better, increase her ability to respond to her baby’s needs and improve her daily functioning and the bonding needed for babies to develop healthy attachment.
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Our Community Partnerships
We cannot do this work alone, we value and lean into our community partners to be able to extend our work beyond our individual spaces.
Arizona Women’s Recovery Center—A long term outpatient substance abuse treatment center that provides housing, vocational and therapeutic support to women deciding to enter into treatment and restore and recover relationships with their children and families. We strengthen their services through consultation, supervision and staffing primary and supplemental groups. Together, through sound DBT principles and integrative interventions we strive to support abstinence and harm reduction as a method for building new generations of sober living for our community.
South Phoenix Healthy Start—A federally funded agency that provides resources and support to reduce maternal and infant mortality in our community. We provide therapy services to their participants as well as staff training and support for effective program development that reduces risk and addresses the challenges facing new parents.
Faith Based Partners— We have longstanding relationships with various non-profit organizations in the valley where we provide consultation to leaders, training for lay counselors and volunteers, and receive referrals for community members needing services with limited resources. We acknowledge that spirituality is an individual experience that develops over time and often prompted by difficult circumstance. We encourage and support finding a pathway where openness to belief in something greater than our human experience can be central to healing oneself and our relationship to others.
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