At Circle of Life, we’re proud to provide the very best outpatient mental healthcare in Native America. People of all ages can find hope and healing at any of our three clinics. Our staff and treatment team live in the very communities that we serve in central and northern New Mexico – Santa Fe, Taos, Albuquerque and Española. Therefore, a great deal of empathy and understanding is brought to each customized treatment plan, given that we have personal investment and interest in the quality of life for our communities. Our knowledge, experience and respect of the cultural traditions that make living as a Native American so unique help us to usher in a successful treatment plan for each and every client, every time.
At Circle of Life, we take a holistic approach to treatment: that is, we focus on the whole client from mind to body to spirit. Often, Native Americans who’ve sought mental healthcare have found their lived experiences ignored, brushed aside or misunderstood. We are honored to change that story for our clients, and to hold space for the exploration of spiritual and cultural traditions important to Native American families and communities.
A focus on the importance of traditions, when melded with Western medicine, brings about transformation and change for both the client and his or her loved ones and community. Experiential, trauma-informed therapy is implemented in a unique way for each client, taking each one-of-a-kind lived experience into account to build the best path toward success. The beauty of honoring where one has come from brings out new confidence and resilience.
Mental Healthcare for Children: It’s never too early to get started on a path toward and healthy and stable life. The challenges faced by children are often due to the fact that they feel that much is out of their control and that adults don’t take them or their fears and concerns seriously. Our licensed clinicians bring kindness, patience and care to each individual counseling session, helping children to build strong communication skills and the confidence to face life’s challenges, leading to a head start toward an adulthood with a high quality of life.
Mental Healthcare for Teens: Being a teenager comes with its own set of challenges. Native American teens, in addition to these struggles and challenges, often have the added stress of their culture, traditions and lived experience being misunderstood by both peers and mental healthcare professionals. Our staff of licensed clinicians bring empathy and understanding to sessions with Native American teens, helping them to mature into healthy, confident adults with love, pride and appreciation for their culture.
Mental Healthcare for Adults: Mental healthcare is just as important as physical healthcare, and we understand the courage it takes to seek help. Our holistic, mind/body/spirit approach, when combined with the power of compassion, brings out self-confidence and newfound resilience. Since our staff and treatment team reside in the communities we serve, we bring a deep understanding of the lived experience of Native American adults, and we are honored to help each client rewrite his or her story and move toward a centered, content life.
No two clients are alike, and that’s why we take the time to get know each one in order to design a customized treatment plan that will help them to move toward a life of well-being, recovery and contentment. During the initial assessment, we take a trauma-informed approach, examining the client’s lived experiences and current coping mechanisms in order to best create a plan that will both meet their current needs as well as grow with them in recovery and wellness.
Integral to each and every treatment plan at Circle of Life is a focus on individual therapy. After an assessment, a plan is created that will help clients on their journey toward health and recovery. The privacy and confidentiality of individual therapy gives clients a feeling of freedom to truly open up, focus on current and past problems, and move away from problematic and harmful patterns and behaviors. As the client builds a relationship with his or her therapist, they will be working on developing a model for healthy and honest relationships with their loved ones.
Couples at who choose Circle of Life receive support in their partnered journey and are guided through the process of strengthening each other, regardless of whether the end result is a separation or a re-built relationship. Our licensed clinicians help to each couple to discover gratitude and compassion toward one another that may have been lost due to trauma, addiction, or other experiences. When gratitude and empathy flourish, it becomes easier to have the courage to communicate honestly and to bring constructive criticism to the forefront during conflict, instead of just animosity.
The support and encouragement of loved ones is key to a successful journey toward mental wellness. Circle of Life supports and encourages the participation of the families of clients in the treatment process, and families are given the opportunity to participate actively in the recovery of their loved one. Licensed clinicians work with families and discuss things like forgiveness, enabling behaviors, past traumas, and blocks in communication. In addition to opening the floor for clients to share honestly with their families about their struggles and experiences, family therapy sessions also keep loved ones abreast on treatment progress.
Group therapy sessions, led and mediated by a licensed professional, are key to the healing process for adults, children and teens alike. During sessions, clients discuss various topics relating to their lived experiences, and the challenges they face each day. Group therapy is one of the most important ways that those in treatment come to the realization that they aren’t alone in their struggles and that many others are going through similar strains and have similar triggers. Group therapy also helps Circle of Life clients grow in confidence about opening up to other people and being honest about issues they are currently facing as well as past issues and future possibilities.
In addition to therapists, Circle of Life clients have access to a psychiatrist who can provide medication management services. The appropriate combination of therapy and medication can make a life-saving difference when it comes to mental health. Our psychiatrist will partner with each client’s primary care doctor to get a medical history and ensure that all treatment provided will be safe, comprehensive, and effective.
Circle of Life provides a refuge of healing for those who have experienced trauma, including child and elder abuse and neglect; domestic/intimate partner violence; and historical trauma. Our trauma-informed approach takes into account that coping mechanisms don’t happen in a vacuum, and in addition to providing comfort, patience and empathy, our highly-trained staff helps those with PTSD to develop healthy skills to deal with their triggers on a daily basis.
Circle of Life Behavioral Health Network (COL) has incorporated Telehealth services to continue providing outpatient mental healthcare services individuals seeking help: for themselves or their families, for work or for relationship concerns, for drug and alcohol abuse, personal tragedy, depression or anxiety, parenting support and encouragement, can now receive counseling services in a secure, online, outpatient setting from our team of licensed professionals.
Telehealth conferencing provides the ability for our counselors and clients to continue with their treatment and for new clients seeking services to initiate treatment.
