Your Healthy Structure 2023: Holistic Approach To a Better You! Therapy + Lifestyle! Integrating Mind and Body in Support of Greater Mental Health and Wellbeing.
Meet Dr. Vicki Steine, the visionary founder of Your Healthy Structure, a pioneering platform that utilizes holistic therapy to support families, couples, and individuals on their journey towards well-being. Driven by a passion for helping others, Dr. Steine combines traditional therapy with cutting-edge therapeutic techniques and healthy lifestyle choices to create a truly transformative experience. At Your Healthy Structure, the focus extends beyond conventional therapy. Dr. Steine believes that true healing encompasses all aspects of one's life, including physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. By integrating innovative therapeutic approaches with healthy lifestyle practices, she offers clients a comprehensive toolkit to explore and achieve personal growth. In this Delivery Rank’s article, we delve into the world of holistic therapy and uncover Dr. Vicki Steine's groundbreaking approach to supporting individuals and families.
As the founder of Your Healthy Structure, could you tell us about your journey and what inspired you to create an integrated approach combining Traditional and Cognitive Behavior Therapies, Lifestyle, Mindfulness, EFT, Brainspotting, and Therapy Through Play?
In the first 15 years or so of my career, I worked primarily in addiction. I worked in inpatient and outpatient settings. Eventually, I burned out and left the field of addiction. I worked in Training and Development and I ran an Employee Assistance Program at a local hospital in Atlanta. After twelve years at that location, I left the hospital setting and went to work for my family’s business, a food manufacturing company. I soon realized it was not my life’s calling. It was fine in terms of flexibility. It was wonderful for me and my family as a working mom but it was not my passion.
While working at my family’s business, I had some positive and negative experiences regarding food and my mood. I became interested in food and nutrition and decided to go back to school to get a degree in nutrition.
My intention was to work in nutrition full time. However, as I studied, I realized that I could not separate social work from nutrition and that I had missed a huge important piece of treatment for all the clients and patients I had treated in addiction. So, I decided to create an integrated model for my practice, using psychotherapy and nutrition for treatment, and that is what I have done.
How do you believe the integration of multiple therapeutic approaches enhances the effectiveness of treatment?
Every client is unique. Every presentation of anxiety, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, etc, is unique. Of course, there is overlap but everyone has their own set of life experiences and biology that impacts who they are and how their brain works. Each person has different needs at different times. I’ve had many clients say that they have been in therapy before, but it was not helpful because it was just “venting” or “like talking to a friend”. My clients are looking for results and for healing and I think different therapeutic approaches delivers
that. I don’t believe that one can separate the mind and the body. How can I treat one’s brain and not talk about how they fuel their brain? How can I treat someone who isn’t sleeping and can’t think clearly? How can I promote mental health but not promote overall health? Each session is a piece to the puzzle of wellness and I decide with my clients what tools we will use in each session based on where they are in that space and time.
Therapy Through Play is an intriguing concept. How do you utilize play as a therapeutic tool, and how does it facilitate healing and growth in your clients, particularly children?
I am not a trained play therapist but I use play with the kids I work with. Sometimes I have them draw for me, sometimes we play board games, sometimes we toss a ball to each other as we talk. Play makes it fun, helps the kids to open up and lets me see them in a different way. For example, if I’m playing a board game with a child and the child tries to cheat or if the child helps
to see a play I might be about to miss, it gives me insight into how they operate with their peers or siblings. It’s a great springboard for talking about their behavior. Drawing, using clay, playing games, going for a walk, all help the child to open up in ways that sitting on a coach in my office would never do!
Brainspotting is a relatively new therapeutic technique. Could you explain what it is and how it differs from other forms of therapy?
Brainspotting is a tool that helps the therapist get in attunement with the client while the client processes and heals from trauma or other life events. It is gentle and yet very powerful and effective. I favor it because the client can process internally and not have to filter or judge themselves in my office. I am there to hold the space for them, to make it safe and to help them to process what they learn as we move through the process. It was “discovered” by Dr. David Grand who was trained in EMDR. It is similar in process, from what I understand, but
takes the process to a different level. I have seen some amazing healing and insights occur as a result of brainspotting. It can be used with children and adults and I’ve used it to treat neurological disorders as well as trauma and other life events.
How do you incorporate lifestyle factors into your therapeutic approach?
I always ask my clients about their diet, exercise and sleep patterns. The longer I work with someone, the more we incorporate these lifestyle choices in their treatment plan. I also do a lot of education and teach my clients how the choices they are making may or may not be promoting healing.
Looking ahead, what are your thoughts on the future of integrative therapy?
I think that the time for integrative therapy or nutrition psychiatry is here. Finally, I’ve been doing this work for over a decade, and it is gratifying to see that it is finally taking hold. I train therapists nationally on how to be more integrative in their practice and I find that they are hungry to learn (pun intended!). Best of all, our clients are ready!
If you would like to find out more about Dr Vicki Steine and Your Healthy Structure, visit https://yourhealthystructure.com/
