Ranise Jacobs is a therapist who specializes in helping women manage stress, anxiety, grief, loss, divorce, traumatic events, and complex relationship issues. She uses solution-focused therapy and a variety of intervention and treatment approaches, such as Exposure and Response Prevention for GAD, Panic Disorder, OCD, Social Anxiety, and Phobias. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Substance Abuse Counseling, mindfulness stress management, expressive arts therapy, and Reunification Counseling help incarcerated mothers prepare to reunite with their children. Sessions typically last 8 to 12 weeks, with a brief assessment and specific goals to measure progress. Therapeutic models include Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Expressive Arts Therapy, solution-focused therapy, Exposure Response Prevention Therapy, and Relaxation therapy.

Let us delve deeper for an exclusive Q&A session into what Ranise has to offer her clients.

What are the top benefits of seeing a therapist?

The top benefit of seeing a therapist is that it helps individuals process and cope with life's challenging situations.

2. What made you choose to work in the mental health field?

I chose to work in the mental health field because I have a passion for helping others. I am compassionate about helping women because I feel that I can help them overcome similar situations I may have experienced in life.

3. Why did you choose your specialty?

My specialty area is stress and anxiety management. I chose this specialty because I have learned how to manage stress and anxiety in my own life, and I believe that I can help other women manage stress and anxiety in their lives.

4. How do you assist women in managing stress and anxiety, and what therapeutic techniques do you employ?

First, I will explain how I will be helping them, that everything said is confidential, and what brought them to therapy to establish the client-therapist relationship. Second, I will complete an assessment to help determine the origins of the problem that's causing the stress and anxiety to spiral out of control. Then, we will work on creating a treatment plan that includes the client's goals for therapy.

The therapeutic intervention techniques that I use to help women manage stress and anxiety and cope with life's challenging situations include providing psychotherapy, exposure response prevention therapy, expressive arts therapy, solution-focused therapy, narrative therapy, grief and loss counseling, substance abuse counseling, anger management counseling, and relaxation therapy. Depending on each individual client's needs, if a client is stuck or has suppressed the trauma, I may also refer the client to other therapists who may specialize in EMDR therapy or the psychiatrist if medication is determined for treatment.

5. Can you explain your approach to helping clients process grief and loss, particularly in the context of divorce and traumatic events?

The process that I use in helping clients process grief and loss is to allow them to tell their story. Provide care, compassion, concern, and active listening. I will also help the client remember happy moments they shared with their loved one, and we will focus on their strengths, goals for self-enhancement and aspirations, and self-care practices. For trauma and divorce clients, I will also include helping the client improve their sense of self by allowing them to understand their self-worth and self-value.

6. In what ways do you specialize in addressing complex relationship issues, and what interventions do you utilize?

Again, I would have to complete an assessment to understand if the complexity is originating from the client's beliefs and behaviors or from the significant others’ beliefs and behaviors. I may also complete a family history assessment to understand if the beliefs and behaviors originate from family traits, family culture, or maybe a traumatic event.

In complex relationship issues, I help the client improve their sense of self by helping them to understand their self-worth, self-value, and self-esteem. I help clients focus on their strengths, goals, and aspirations. I also help them to restore inner power, build trust, and learn how to forgive, reconcile, and reconnect with their significant other. I may also conduct couples and family therapy sessions.

7. How do you support mothers in preparing for reunification and reconnecting with their children through reunification counseling services?

In helping parents prepare for reunification and reconnect with their children, I will work with DCS Casework to develop a permanent plan to reunite the children with family or the incarcerated parent. This plan may include providing parenting, domestic violence, anger management, or substance abuse counseling. Also working with the case manager and school counselor for additional planning and assistance with housing and employment for the parent. In focusing on safe reunification, incarcerated parents are encouraged to visit as often as possible with their children and understand the importance of effective communication with family or a foster parent.

8. Can you elaborate on the application of solution-focused therapy in your practice and its effectiveness in helping clients achieve their therapeutic goals?

Solution-focused therapy is short-term therapy for clients who clearly understand what they need to do to make a change but may just need a little coaching to set clear, realistic goals and learn how to cope with life's challenges. Helping the client discover their inner strengths and navigate through life's changes

9. What are the various therapeutic models, such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Expressive Arts Therapy, and Relaxation therapy, and how do they contribute to the overall treatment process?

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, also known as Dialectical Behavior Therapy, is used in treating clients with borderline personality disorders to help them change the way they think and their negative behaviors.

10. How do you utilize Exposure Response Prevention Therapy to address generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, OCD, social anxiety, and phobias?

Exposure Response Prevention Therapy is used to help clients face their fears by coaching them in take small steps to expose themselves to the thing they fear, such as speaking in front of a crowd of people, going into stores where there are a crowd of people, etc. This is done with the help of their family or other support persons in an effort to prevent the negative behavior from recurring as often.

11. Can you explain the role of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in your practice and its effectiveness in addressing various mental health concerns?

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helps clients improve their cognition and thinking patterns and reduce stress-related mental health disorders.

12. How do you incorporate Expressive Arts Therapy to help clients express and explore their inner world when traditional verbal communication may be challenging?

Expressive Arts Therapy helps the clients heal by getting in touch with their inner thoughts, journaling, and expressing. Group discussion includes topics such as forgiveness, emotions, reconciliation, empathy, vulnerability, etc. The ladies have an opportunity to create art projects to share with the group as they express their inner thoughts related to the discussion topics. Ladies use emotional color charts to choose various paint colors or colored pencils to create the art projects that they talk about when expressing their life experiences. One-on-one therapy sessions are provided for those ladies who require additional counseling on the subject matter to help them process the resurfaced emotions.

13. What specialized services do you provide in the areas of stress and anxiety, grief and loss, divorce and relationship issues, and traumatic life events, and how do you tailor your approach to meet the unique needs of each individual?

Depending upon the individual needs of each client, I occasionally provide specialized services to help relieve stress and anxiety, including Saturday stretch-away stress group sessions. These sessions take place in the outdoor oasis. Occasionally, I will provide relaxation sessions where women can come together to relax, release, relate, and reflect on topics related to self-awareness and self-care. Occasionally, I also provided a Wednesday wine-down session, where women come together to unwind from day-to-day work and life stress.