Our Services
PSYCHOLOGISTS ARE DIFFERENT THAN OTHER THERAPISTS
As a Doctoral level Clinical Psychologist who has been practicing for about 30 years, Dr. Knowles has extensive formal education and training in comparison to Master’s degree level therapists like social workers and counselors in which formal academic education and supervised training concludes shortly after earning their Bachelors college degree (usually within 1 to 1 ½ years after graduating). Whereas Psychologists usually go an additional 4-6 years.
Another difference between Psychologists and other therapists is the type of education they received. Psychologists have specialized education and expertise in understanding human behavior and mental processes and may focus more on how thoughts and behaviors interact with your environment. Psychologists can also conduct academic-based clinical research, develop programs, and provide psychological assessments to aid in diagnosing someone with a mental health disorder.
Examples of some of the academic courses Dr. Knowles completed in college and graduate school:
Psychotherapy: Family, Behavior, Social Learning, Existential, Gestalt, Supportive, Psychoanalytic Psychological Testing: Intelligence, Academic Performance, Personality, Projective
Psychology of Stress and Relaxation
Infant and Toddler Development
The Analysis of Children’s Behavior
Psychology of Adolescence
Psychology of Aging
Advanced Developmental Psychology
Alcoholism: Dynamics and Treatment
Social Psychology, Consumer Psychology, Industrial Psychology
Human Sexuality
Principles of Counseling and Psychotherapy
Personality: Theory and Research
Learning and Memory
Research Design and Statistics
Dr. Knowles has completed 8000 hours of training & supervision through practicums and internships:
600 Hours at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Allen Park, MI
600 Hours at the Ypsilanti Regional Psychiatric Hospital, MI
800 Hours at Hanbleceya Community System for Psychotic Illness in San Diego, CA
2000 Hours at the Veteran Administration Hospital in Tuskegee, AL
4000 Hours at Oakwood Healthcare System in Dearborn, MI
Multiple Types of Therapy Offered
Because people have their own unique life experiences that made them into the person that they are today, their needs in therapy can be varied. Because of this, Dr. Knowles can utilize different therapeutic strategies that will be the most helpful. For instance, in therapy some people just want to vent their thoughts and emotions in a confidential environment while others may want feedback or want to develop skills, techniques or strategies to cope with a particular situation they are facing. Still others want to become healthier, happier, or need help becoming the person that they aspire to be. So, for whatever reason that they reached out for professional help, this can be discussed at the start of therapy to meet their wishes and needs.
Pain Management
When pain medication alone or medical interventions aren't enough to reduce pain to a tolerable level, an evidence-based cognitive-behavioral therapy approach to pain management provides education and proven strategies to improve functioning. The comprehensive program consists of 11 segments that include education about chronic pain, theories of pain, stress management and relaxation techniques, role of automatic thoughts and pain, cognitive restructuring, time-based pacing, pleasant activity scheduling, anger management, sleep hygiene and relapse prevention and flare-up planning.