Counseling & Therapy that actually fits what you’re working through
If what you’ve tried before hasn’t worked, the issue is often the fit, not you. SMHWI therapists are licensed clinicians trained in Brainspotting, DBT, CBT, EMDR, ERP, and trauma-focused therapy, so we can match the approach to what you’re actually working through. In-person and secure telehealth across Arizona and Texas.
What Is Counseling & Therapy
Therapy that’s matched to the problem, not just the diagnosis
Reaching out for therapy is often the hardest step. Once you’re here, the work is matched to you, not slotted into a template. Counseling and therapy at SMHWI isn’t a single room with a single couch and a single approach. It’s a practice of licensed clinicians trained in several evidence-based modalities — Brainspotting, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), and trauma-focused therapy — so your treatment plan matches the specific problem you’re working through, not just the diagnosis label.
That matters because the research is clear: the right modality for the right condition changes outcomes. Trauma that doesn’t respond to talk therapy often responds to Brainspotting or EMDR. OCD responds to ERP in a way standard CBT alone usually doesn’t. Borderline personality disorder has decades of evidence behind DBT specifically. Matching matters.
Every patient starts with an intake visit where we take time to understand what you’re facing (the full picture, not just a symptom list) and match you to the therapist and modality best suited to help. Sessions are typically 45–60 minutes, delivered in-office at your closest SMHWI location or by secure telehealth within your state.
When therapy is one part of a broader psychiatric picture, the same practice coordinates medication management, TMS therapy, Spravato, and IV ketamine, so nothing gets lost between providers.
Our Therapy Process
What the first six weeks actually look like
Therapy isn’t one long conversation. It’s a structured process with checkpoints. Here’s how it unfolds at SMHWI.
Therapy Modalities
The specific therapies our clinicians are trained in
Different problems respond to different approaches, which is why no single modality fits everyone. Each therapy below is backed by decades of research and matched to the conditions it treats best. Your clinician picks the right tool for what you’re bringing in. Sometimes one, sometimes a blend.
Brainspotting Therapy
A focused therapy that uses eye position to help the brain locate, process, and release unprocessed trauma, pain, and emotional reactions stored below conscious awareness. Developed by Dr. David Grand in 2003.
Best for: trauma, PTSD, anxiety that doesn’t respond to talk therapy, performance blocks, grief, dissociation.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy
Builds on CBT and adds four core skill sets: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. Developed by Dr. Marsha Linehan specifically for borderline personality disorder.
Best for: borderline personality disorder (BPD), emotion dysregulation, self-harm, chronic suicidality, intense relationship patterns.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Identifies and changes distorted thought patterns and the behaviors they drive. Decades of research. Typically short-term and skills-focused.
Best for: depression, generalized anxiety, panic disorder, social anxiety, insomnia, phobias, mild-to-moderate OCD.
Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing
Uses bilateral stimulation (typically guided eye movements) to help the brain reprocess traumatic memories so they lose their intensity. Endorsed by the WHO, APA, and VA for PTSD.
Best for: PTSD, single-incident trauma, complex trauma, chronic anxiety with a trauma origin, phobias.
Exposure & Response Prevention
A specific form of CBT. Gradually and systematically exposes you to the trigger of an obsession while preventing the compulsive response, breaking the OCD cycle at the behavioral level.
Best for: OCD (all subtypes), specific phobias, contamination fears, intrusive thoughts, health anxiety.
Trauma-Focused Therapy
An integrative approach drawing on EMDR, Brainspotting, somatic work, and parts work (IFS) depending on what the specific trauma presentation needs. Prioritizes safety and pacing.
Best for: complex trauma, childhood trauma, developmental trauma, trauma with co-occurring depression or anxiety, dissociative symptoms.
Couples Counseling
Structured work on communication patterns, conflict cycles, trust repair, intimacy, and shared goals. Draws on Gottman Method and emotionally focused therapy depending on the relationship presentation.
Best for: couples navigating communication breakdown, trust rupture, life transitions, differing parenting styles, pre-marital work.
Mindfulness-Based Therapy
Combines mindfulness practice with cognitive therapy to interrupt the rumination loops that keep depression and anxiety recurring. Especially useful as a maintenance tool after acute symptoms improve.
Best for: recurrent depression, chronic anxiety, stress, chronic pain with psychological component, relapse prevention.
Family Systems Therapy
Treats the family unit as the client. Identifies patterns of interaction, roles, and reactivity that may be maintaining individual symptoms, and works at the system level to shift them.
Best for: adolescent mental health, parent-child conflict, enmeshment, family after addiction, grief, blended-family transitions.
Conditions We Treat Through Therapy
What people actually come in for
Each condition links to specific modalities and clinicians who specialize in it. If what you’re facing isn’t on the list, call us. It probably still fits somewhere.
Depression & Mood Disorders
When the weight of a bad week turns into months, and the things that used to help stop helping, that’s depression asking for more than willpower. Depression counseling and depression therapy at SMHWI goes deeper than venting: CBT for the cognitive patterns, Brainspotting or EMDR when depression has a trauma root, mindfulness-based work for prevention of recurrence. Coordinated with medication, TMS, or Spravato when appropriate.
Depression careAnxiety Counseling & Panic
If you’re tired of waiting for the next wave, you’re not alone. Anxiety counseling and anxiety therapy at SMHWI covers generalized anxiety, panic disorder, social anxiety, phobias, and anticipatory worry: CBT for the thought patterns, exposure work for avoidance, Brainspotting when anxiety has a trauma origin.
Explore servicesOCD Therapy
The thoughts don’t feel like yours, and the rituals that quiet them only seem to get bigger. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder responds best to Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), the specific CBT variant with the strongest evidence base for OCD. SMHWI clinicians trained in ERP work with all OCD subtypes: contamination, harm, scrupulosity, relationship, pure-O.
Request evaluationBPD & Borderline Personality Therapy
Feelings arrive bigger than the moment calls for, relationships swing between close and cut-off, and the exhaustion of managing it is real. Borderline personality disorder has decades of research behind Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) specifically: the four skill sets of mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. SMHWI therapists trained in DBT work with BPD, emotion dysregulation, and the patterns BPD creates in relationships.
Request evaluationTrauma & PTSD
You know the memory is in the past, and your nervous system hasn’t caught up. When trauma doesn’t respond to talk therapy, body-based and bilateral modalities often do. SMHWI clinicians are trained in Brainspotting, EMDR, and trauma-focused therapy for single-incident PTSD, complex trauma, childhood trauma, and dissociation.
PTSD careADHD Therapy for Adults
ADHD in adults rarely responds to medication alone. Executive-function coaching, CBT adapted for ADHD, and skills work around time blindness, emotional regulation, and task initiation make the real difference. SMHWI therapists work alongside the psychiatric team managing medication.
Request evaluationAutism Spectrum Therapy
Therapy for autistic adults and teens that respects neurotype, focused on self-understanding, co-occurring anxiety and depression, sensory and communication coaching, relationship navigation. Not about changing who you are; about building the skills you want.
Request evaluationGrief, Loss & Life Transitions
Loss doesn’t follow a schedule. Divorce, death, career shifts, caregiver burnout, empty-nest, identity transitions. All of it benefits from a trained listener and a structured process. Not every life stressor needs therapy forever, and we’re comfortable with short-term work.
Request evaluationAlso treating: bipolar disorder (coordinated with psychiatric care), eating disorders (via our eating disorder IOP), substance use (via our dual diagnosis track), postpartum mental health, chronic pain with psychological component, insomnia, and workplace burnout. Not sure if what you’re facing fits? Reach out, we’ll help you figure it out.
Session Types
How you can see a therapist
Not every therapy need looks the same. SMHWI offers the full range so you don’t have to shop around.
Individual therapy
One-on-one weekly sessions, 45–60 minutes, in-office or telehealth. The core format.
Couples counseling
Communication, conflict, trust repair, intimacy, or pre-marital work. Together, in one room.
Family sessions
Family systems work for adolescents, blended families, caregivers, and parent-child conflict.
Secure telehealth
Video sessions on an encrypted platform. Available within AZ for AZ-licensed clinicians; within TX for TX-licensed.
Where To See A Therapist
SMHWI therapist teams near you
Each clinic has its own roster of licensed therapists specializing in different modalities and conditions. Pick your closest location to see the team.
ScottsdaleArizona
TempeArizona
GlendaleArizona
RockwallTexas
Why SMHWI for Therapy
Integrated care, not a solo practice
Therapy at SMHWI works alongside everything else your mental health might need — psychiatry, medication, interventional treatments, IOP — without the fragmentation of referrals between unrelated providers.
Trained in the right modality
DBT, EMDR, Brainspotting, ERP, CBT. Our therapists match the modality to the problem, not vice versa.
Coordinated with psychiatry
Your therapist and your psychiatric team are the same practice. No faxing records, no gaps in care.
Multiple locations
In-person at Scottsdale, Tempe, Glendale, or Rockwall. Telehealth within AZ and TX.
Insurance handled
We verify benefits and confirm out-of-pocket cost before your intake. No referral required.
Insurance
Therapy is covered by most insurance plans
SMHWI accepts major commercial plans, Medicare, and Tricare. Each location’s admissions team verifies benefits before your first session and confirms your out-of-pocket cost.
Frequently Asked Questions
Counseling and therapy, answered
SMHWI clinicians are trained in multiple evidence-based modalities: Brainspotting, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), trauma-focused therapy, and couples counseling. Your intake visit matches you to the therapist and modality best suited to your presenting concerns.
Brainspotting is a focused therapy that uses eye position to help the brain locate, process, and release unprocessed trauma, pain, and emotion stored below conscious awareness. It’s especially effective for trauma, anxiety, performance blocks, and emotional reactions that don’t respond to talk therapy alone.
Therapy at SMHWI treats depression, anxiety and panic disorders, OCD (with ERP), borderline personality disorder (with DBT), PTSD and trauma (with EMDR, Brainspotting, and trauma-focused therapy), ADHD, autism spectrum concerns, grief and loss, life transitions, relationship issues, burnout, and more. For every patient, treatment is matched to the condition and the person.
CBT focuses on identifying and changing distorted thought patterns and behaviors; strong evidence base for depression, anxiety, OCD, and more. DBT builds on CBT and adds skills for distress tolerance, emotion regulation, mindfulness, and interpersonal effectiveness. The gold standard for borderline personality disorder and conditions involving intense emotional dysregulation.
Exposure and Response Prevention is a specific CBT variant that gradually and systematically exposes you to the trigger of an obsession while preventing the compulsive response, breaking the OCD cycle at the behavioral level. Decades of randomized trials show it outperforms standard talk therapy and even medication-only treatment for most OCD subtypes.
Yes. Most SMHWI therapy modalities can be delivered securely by video telehealth within Arizona (for AZ-licensed clinicians) and within Texas (for TX-licensed), in addition to in-office sessions at each location. Your therapist will discuss which setting fits your needs.
Yes, for most adults. SMHWI accepts major commercial plans, Medicare, and Tricare. Your location’s admissions team verifies benefits and confirms your out-of-pocket cost before your first session.
No referral is needed. You can reach out directly through the Become a Patient portal or by calling your closest SMHWI location to schedule an intake consultation.
SMHWI therapists see patients at our Scottsdale, Tempe, and Glendale locations in Arizona, and our Rockwall location in Texas. Many clinicians also offer secure telehealth within their licensing state.
Medically reviewed
Reviewed by Roland Segal, MD
Double board-certified psychiatrist and member of the Arizona Psychiatric Society. Clinical oversight for SMHWI counseling and therapy services across Arizona and Texas.
Ready to find a therapist who fits?
Pick the SMHWI location closest to you. Each clinic’s team will match you to a therapist whose training and modality fit what you’re working through, and verify your insurance before your intake.
In a crisis
Get help right now
SMHWI is an outpatient practice and cannot respond to emergencies. If you or someone you know is in danger or thinking about suicide, use these free, confidential resources, available 24/7.
- Call 911Life-threatening emergency, or someone at immediate risk of harm.
- Call or text 988Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, 24/7. Chat at 988lifeline.org/chat.
- Dial 988, then press 1Veterans Crisis Line, or text 838255.
- Text HOME to 741741Crisis Text Line, free 24/7 support with a trained counselor.
