Counseling and Referral Center
Psychotherapy, Care Coordination, Support, and Personal and Professional Development
*TELEHEALTH SERVICES AVAILABLE*
The YWCA Counseling and Referral Center (YWCRC) serves the community by offering trauma-informed, multi-lingual, multicultural services for individuals, couples, families, youth and groups. Services provided include mental health therapy and support, consultation referrals to Care Coordination, life skills and personal empowerment programs, and professional development training.
YWCA Greater Austin was founded in 1907 and has a progressive history. In the early 1980s our mental health and substance abuse services were designed to fulfill our mission from a mental health and wellness perspective. Since then the program has expanded to encompass not only women and girls but also their partners, families, and children. In the 2010's, the addition of Care Coordination, self-empowerment programs, and professional development rounded out our holistic approach.
We are excited to announce that we are now accepting some insurances for paid services including Medicaid/Medicare, Blue Cross Blue Shield, United Health Care, etc. Call 512-326-1222 to see if you qualify for mental health services through your insurance.
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Therapy is a safe, confidential process where you and your therapist work together to examine a concern and begin to take steps to improve your life.
Therapy involves processing thoughts and feelings, identifying and defining concerns, developing coping strategies, and setting specific goals, in the context of talk and/or play therapy. With the help of therapy, individuals acquire the support they need to access personal power, begin to understand their feelings and take steps to address complexities that may be challenging personal development. Our therapists can assist you with challenges surrounding:
- anxiety
- depression
- trauma
- violence
- attachment
- family dynamics
- grief and loss
- sexuality · immigration
- pre/post-natal mental health
- gender identity/expression
- intimate relationships
- reproductive loss
- miscarriage
- still birth
- infertility
- pregnancy termination
- grief and loss
YWCA counselors incorporate the Somatic Experience approach as well as EDMR in counseling, body-based approaches that has shown excellent promise for genuine trauma healing.
Furthermore, the Rogerian Therapy is the humanistic foundational framework that stands as the pillar of our mental health services.
Rogers strongly believed that in order for a client's condition to improve therapists should be warm, genuine and understanding. Humanistic counselors refer to those in therapy as 'clients', not 'patients' because they see the therapist and client as equal partners rather than an expert treating a patient.
YWCA counselors believe the therapeutic relationship is the critical variable, not what the therapist says or does. Techniques are centered on listening, accepting, understanding and sharing, which seem more attitude-orientated than skills-orientated.
Client-centered therapy operates according to three basic principles that reflect the attitude of the therapist to the client:
- The therapist is congruent with the client.
- The therapist provides the client with unconditional positive regard.
- The therapist shows an empathetic understanding to the client.
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