EVOLVE Mental Health & Wellness provides individualized, evidence-based therapeutic intervention to help you acquire the tools and coping skills you need to get through a difficult time.
When you are dealing with the stress of a cancer diagnosis, as well as trying to communicate with doctors, understand your treatment options, await test results, and make medical decisions, the experience can be overwhelming – and in some cases traumatizing. Whether you have just been diagnosed, are going through treatment, or are trying to find the “new normal” post treatment, we can help you through this.
Once you have heard the word “cancer” applied to you, everything starts to be analyzed through the lens of “is this cancer?” In other words, a headache is never just a headache again (even when it is!) Many people find they have persistent worry about the future or feel that they have lost control of important things in their lives. It is not uncommon to struggle with issues related to your own mortality or even have concerns of a religious or spiritual nature. We can help you through this.
Cancer can make you feel anxious, depressed, helpless, fearful, lonely, hopeless, angry or irritable. Symptoms and treatments can cause pain, nausea, trouble sleeping, or issues related to infertility, sexuality and body image. Some people have fears associated with medical procedures, such as claustrophobia during a scan or needle phobia. We can help you through this.
Cancer can impact your relationship or cause a change in roles and responsibilities. Some people find it difficult to talk with their family, friends, or children about their illness, and many worry about how their family will cope if something happens to them. Changes in relationships with friends and family may lead to feelings of isolation.
Let us help you through this. We are here to support you through all aspects of the cancer experience and beyond.
Illness intrusiveness refers to lifestyle disruptions resulting from an illness and its treatments, which impact your quality of life as well as involvement in valued activities and roles (e.g., work, active recreation, relationship with one’s partner, intimacy, loss of independence).
We provide therapy to individuals dealing with health and medical concerns across the lifespan. We also use non-medication techniques to help reduce symptoms, such as pain, nausea, anxiety, insomnia, etc.
Whether you are struggling with high stress/tension, coping with illness, disease or disability, navigating a new diagnosis, fear of progression/recurrence, reducing physical symptoms, body image/changes, impact on relationships, communicating with loved ones, coping with depression, anxiety, or isolation, spiritual distress, enriching meaning, or even support facing end of life, we can help you through this.
While an occasional night of bad sleep can happen to anyone, a pattern of poor sleep can lead to sleep deprivation and it is important to seek help.
Trouble sleeping is extremely common in the general population and can significantly affect physical and emotional well-being. Poor sleep is associated with higher rates of depression, anxiety, and impaired daytime functioning. It can also lead to poor work performance, motor vehicle accidents, cardiovascular and endocrine disorders, weight gain, or heightened pain perception.
The good news is that many sleep problems can be effectively treated in a short period of time without the use of medication. It does not matter if this problem has lasted a few months or many years. Maybe you’ve tried sleep medication and it didn’t work or you are still taking sleep medication and want to come off of it. Maybe this is your first stop or you feel like you’ve tried everything and nothing has worked. Maybe you want to promote good sleep in your newborn or have an older toddler who is still not sleeping well. Let us help you through this.
Led by Dr. Amy Lowery Allison, a behavioral sleep specialist, we provide treatment for the following sleep problems:
Insomnia
This can include trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or poor sleep quality, and may result in daytime fatigue or impairment.
Circadian rhythm disorders
These can look like insomnia, but a key difference is that your “internal clock” does not feel like it matches the actual clock time or the schedule you wish to keep. In other words, you might naturally feel increased energy when you should be winding down for bed, or wake up hours before you need to.
Shift work sleep disorder
When you are working a shift schedule (i.e., night shift, early-morning shift, or rotating shift), you may battle feeling sleepy during your work shift and struggle with trying to sleep during the day when most others are awake.
Chronic jet lag
Jet lag is caused by a mismatch between your normal daily rhythms and a new time zone. It can affect you most when you travel across multiple time zones (3 or more hours difference). Frequent travel can cause consistent exposure to jet lag causing sleep difficulties and daytime impairment.
Sleep training for infants and toddlers
The goal of sleep training is for your baby or young child to sleep through the night (and you too!) That includes helping them to independently fall asleep, stay asleep, and get an amount of sleep that promotes healthy development. Our approach, led by Dr. Allison (who is also a mom of 3), works within your existing parenting preferences and attachment style. We believe in and honor parent instincts and that you know what is best for your child. We can help you through sleep regressions or setbacks. We value the importance of sleep for the whole family.
When someone you love is diagnosed with a health or medical condition it can be hard to know where to go for support. Watching your loved one struggle or suffer can make you feel helpless. Attempts to offer help can be met with frustration. Many people find the dynamics shift in the relationship and even communication can feel challenging. We can help you through this.
Often those with the closest relationship find it the hardest because each person keeps their feelings and fears private in an effort to “protect” the other. You likely have your own feelings of worry, fear, or isolation. Roles can shift, intimacy can be impacted, you may worry about the future. Whether you are a partner, family member, friend or caregiver, we can help you through this.
Whether you are looking for support yourself or are interested in referring a patient, you have found the right place.
It can be hard to perform at your best all the time. With shifts in healthcare causing increasing demands, providers have higher rates of depression, insomnia, stress, discouragement, and may even experience burnout. We offer professional counseling to assist you in these areas so you can get back to feeling satisfied and fulfilled with yourself and in your career. When you have a lot of people relying on you, it is critical to make yourself a priority.
If you have a patient you would like to refer or have questions before referring a patient, please contact us. We work in collaboration with each patient’s existing healthcare team to optimize whole-person care.
What people are saying
“Dr. Allison has been invaluable to me as an oncologist in the care of my patients. I offer her services to ALL of my cancer patients at initial diagnosis, again after we construct their treatment plan, and once again at the completion of therapy.”
“She is highly respected by peers, patients and mentors, as a clinician and researcher and as a person who has faced difficult problems in her life and has overcome them with grace and dignity. She is exceptionally good with and well-liked by her patients. She is a superb clinician.”
“Dr. Allison is an excellent sleep psychologist with superb training and experience.”
