Clinical Treatment

Evoke’s Clinical Approach

The research and our experience are clear. The most important ingredient in successful therapy is the client’s emotional safety. Only when someone feels understood, seen, and heard, do they experience deep and lasting change. And since the root issues are found in our history, client’s and family members must feel emotionally safe to explore and unravel their unspoken stories. The Master Therapist Carl Roger’s explained,

When a person realizes he has been deeply heard, his eyes moisten. I think in some real sense he is weeping for joy. It is as though he were saying, “Thank God, somebody heard me. Someone knows what it’s like to be me.”

Three Pillars.

Evoke’s approach is based on three simple but profound pillars.

  1. Know Your Truth. Since all our relationships are based on the relationship we have with ourselves, we must come to know ourselves, our feelings, wants, hopes, and fears. This is best accomplished in the context of a safe relationship with a therapist, mentor, or group.
  2. Express Your Truth. Second, since our symptoms are expression of our unspoken needs, we must learn new ways to express our truth. We learn to listen to our symptoms and give voice to these messengers by learning a new language for expressing our truth.
  3. We Heal in Relationship. “We are born in relationship, we are wounded in relationship, and we can be healed in relationship.” - Harville Hendrix. Evoke believes that we heal in relationship with a capable, compassionate, patient guide. And since much of our trauma is stored in the non-verbal parts of the brain, Evoke’s use of experiential therapy (wilderness therapy living in small groups) bypasses resistance and goes deeper than week-to-week talk therapy.

In Evoke’s wilderness therapy programs, nature is the co-therapist and encourages mindfulness and offers lessons without bias. In addition, wilderness therapy combines the most trusted therapeutic approaches to support growth. Wilderness Therapy is the perfect delivery method for evidence-based approaches.

Evoke’s Intensives Programs rely on these same principles. Using small group settings., participants engage in psychodrama, mindfulness, art therapy, psychoeducation, and attachment based therapy to access and heal what is keeping us stuck in unhealthy patterns.

Aspects of Our Clinical Approach

Evoke is a trauma informed program. In addition to traumatic events, we understand that developmental trauma (the way we grew up) has the greatest impact on the individual. While each therapist offers their unique gifts to address specific needs in addiction and mental health, all of our therapists make use of traditional, research proven therapeutic models.

  • Attachment Theory is the foundation of Evoke’s approach. Our therapists understand that the quality of attachment we experienced in childhood is the basis for resiliency and well-being.
  • Developmental Psychology provides a context for understanding how each client’s history affects current struggles and conflicts. Learning to understand the defenses that protect our unconscious shame, pain, and conflicts are accessed through a compassionate exploration of our past. Understanding brain development adds significant insight into the functioning and treatment of teens and young adults.
  • Brain Science. Addiction, the effect of trauma, and the relationship between our emotions and our decision-making are all better understood with a more complete understanding of the brain.
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is often used to address unhealthy thinking patterns or associations that are present with many mental health and addictive disorders.
  • Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) helps address participants who struggle with self-harm, impulse control, or personality disorder traits. Groups utilize mindfulness practices through various meditative techniques improving awareness and working towards whole health.
  • Family Systems Theory provides understanding relationship roles, rules, and boundaries through allow our therapists to support and treat the entire system rather than just the identified patient.
  • Play Therapy also informs us as play provides us with a sense of healthy escape and play is often how our innermost feelings are accessed.
  • 12-Step Work. 12-Step Recovery is an essential aspect of treatment for those who identify themselves as addicts and has powerful applications to the entire family.
  • The Hero’s Journey. The goal of therapy is to become yourself. Joseph Campbell, a foremost American expert in mythology, explained that the purpose of the heroic journey illustrated by our myths is to describe a “transformation of consciousness.” The kind of change he is talking about is more than any new skill or tool can provide. This shift is fundamental; it is a different way of being. This transformation is even beyond an explanation. It is difficult to put into words or to explain to another person, which is why it is often illustrated through stories or examples. Evoke using story, metaphor, and ceremonies to illustrate the lessons life is trying to teach us.

Learn out more about our programs:

Wilderness Intensives

"There aren’t adequate words to describe how our experience with Evoke saved our son and how grateful we are. Evoke gave us our son back and we will be forever grateful for the time he spent there."

—Whitney Miller, Evoke Parent