Counseling Areas:

Ms. Trotter is a provider for HealthChoice, Blue Cross Blue Shield, the VA, United Health Care, UMR and Insure Oklahoma. In her practice, Ms. Trotter works with couples, adults, children, adolescents, teens, families and individuals. She also provides marriage counseling, pre-marital counseling, co-parenting counseling, and counseling for couples who live together. Ms. Trotter treats a variety of issues, including but not limited to:

• ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity, either with or without hyperactivity)- adults & children

• Relationship Difficulties (social, dating, friendships, family members)

• Stress (job, family, loss, grief)

• Anxiety (school, college, life transitions)

• Depression (irritability, sadness)

• Sexual Problems (infertility stress, desire decline, etc.)

• Anger Difficulties (education and management)

• Emotional Regulation (keeping emotions on an even keel)

• Domestic Violence (couples in conflict, individuals leaving abusive situations)

• Co-Parenting with Separating or Divorced Parents

• Aging Issues (empty nest, retirement, stress from physical problems)

• Family, Adolescents and Children's Issues (peer pressure, dating, ADHD)

• Communication Issues (listening and communication skills)

• Conflict Resolution Difficulties (resolution difficulties)

• LGBT Issues

See a Therapist From the Privacy of Your Own Home:

If you prefer, you may see Ms. Trotter from the privacy of your own home. All you need is a tablet, laptop, smart phone, or webcam. Call us today for more information.

Ms. Trotter's Marriage and Family Therapy Training:

Ms. Trotter obtained her Masters of Science Degree in Family Relations and Child Development from Oklahoma State University. She took extra time in graduate school to specialize in Marriage and Family Therapy under the rigorous tutelage of Dr. Charles Hendrix, Ph.D., Former Director of the MFT Program and Ms. Trotter's Thesis Committee Chair, David Founier, Ph.D., and the late Kathleen Briggs, Ph.D. Ms. Trotter researched, wrote, and defended her thesis on specific therapist's joining skills, and proposed the quality of therapists' joining skills directly correlated to clients staying engaged in therapy. She designed three multi-level, multi-perspective joining instruments (therapist, client, and observer) and ran live data over a year to increase her data sample size. Before seeing clients in public at her practicum site, Family and Children's Services in Tulsa, Ms. Trotter conducted 250 face-to-face client contact hours at the OSU-MFT Center for Family Services Clinic with a reflecting team and supervisor observing her sessions, and completed an additional 250 face-to-face client contact hours before graduating. While in graduate school, Ms. Trotter served as Vice-President of the Department of Human Environmental Sciences, most recently known as Human Development and Family Sciences. She was also a member of the Human Sciences Kappa Omicron Nu Honor Society. Ms. Trotter also served as a graduate research assistant to Associate Dean Dr. Weber, as well as a graduate assistant to Dr. Hendrix, Director of Marriage and Family Therapy Specialization. Upon graduating, Ms. Trotter's clinical experience was supervised by licensed marital and family therapists for two years. She then passed both her written and oral licensing exams, consistent with the state of Oklahoma licensing requirements, earning her license to practice as a Licensed Marital and Family Therapist.

What is "Marriage and Family Therapy?"

(Acknowledgment is given to aamft.org for the following information regarding the profession of Marriage and Family Therapy)

Marriage and family therapy is a distinct professional discipline with graduate and post graduate programs. The Federal government has designated marriage and family therapy as a core mental health profession along with psychiatry, psychology, social work and psychiatric nursing. Currently all 50 states support and regulate the profession by licensing marriage and family therapists with the remaining states in the process of obtaining licensure laws.

A family's patterns of behavior influences the individual and therefore may need to be a part of the treatment plan. In marriage and family therapy, the unit of treatment isn't just the person - even if only a single person is interviewed - it is the set of relationships in which the person is embedded.

Marriage and family therapy is:

• brief

• solution-focused

• specific, with attainable therapeutic goals

• designed with the "end in mind."

Who are Marriage and Family Therapists?

Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs) are mental health professionals trained in psychotherapy and family systems, and licensed to diagnose and treat mental and emotional disorders within the context of marriage, couples and family systems. Marriage and Family Therapists are a highly experienced group of practitioners, with an average of 13 years of clinical practice in the field of marriage and family therapy. They evaluate and treat mental and emotional disorders, other health and behavioral problems, and address a wide array of relationship issues within the context of the family system.

Marriage and Family Therapists broaden the traditional emphasis on the individual to attend to the nature and role of individuals in primary relationship networks such as marriage and the family. MFTs take a holistic perspective to health care; they are concerned with the overall, long-term well-being of individuals and their families. Marriage and Family Therapists treat a wide range of serious clinical problems including: depression, marital problems, anxiety, individual psychological problems, and child-parent problems.

Since 1970 there has been a 50-fold increase in the number of Marriage and Family Therapists. At any given time they are treating over 1.8 million people. Research indicates that marriage and family therapy is as effective, and in some cases more effective than standard and/or individual treatments for many mental health problems such as: adult schizophrenia, affective (mood) disorders, adult alcoholism and drug abuse, children's conduct disorders, adolescent drug abuse, anorexia in young adult women, childhood autism, chronic physical illness in adults and children, and marital distress and conflict.

Marriage and Family Therapists regularly practice short-term therapy; 12 sessions on average. Nearly 65.6% of the cases are completed within 20 sessions, 87.9% within 50 sessions. Marital/couples therapy (11.5 sessions) and family therapy (9 sessions) both require less time than the average individuated treatment (13 sessions). About half of the treatment provided by Marriage and Family Therapists is one-on-one with the other half divided between marital/couple and family therapy, or a combination of treatments.

Why use a Marriage and Family Therapist?

Research studies repeatedly demonstrate the effectiveness of marriage and family therapy in treating the full range of mental and emotional disorders and health problems. Adolescent drug abuse, depression, alcoholism, obesity and dementia in the elderly -- as well as marital distress and conflict -- are just some of the conditions Marriage and Family Therapists effectively treat.

Studies also show that clients are highly satisfied with services of Marriage and Family Therapists. Clients report marked improvement in work productivity, co-worker relationships, family relationships, partner relationships, emotional health, overall health, social life, and community involvement.

In a recent study, consumers report that Marriage and Family Therapists are the mental health professionals they would most likely recommend to friends. Over 98% of clients of Marriage and Family Therapists report therapy services as good or excellent.

After receiving treatment, almost 90% of clients report an improvement in their emotional health, and nearly two-thirds report an improvement in their overall physical health. A majority of clients report an improvement in their functioning at work, and over three-fourths of those receiving marital/couples or family therapy report an improvement in the couple relationship. When a child is the identified client, parents report that their child's behavior improved in 73.7% of the cases, their ability to get along with other children significantly improved and there was improved performance in school. Marriage and family therapy's prominence in the mental health field has increased due to its brief, solution-focused treatment, its family-centered approach, and its demonstrated effectiveness. Marriage and Family Therapists are licensed in 46 states and are recognized by the federal government as members of a distinct mental health discipline.

Today more than 50,000 Marriage and Family Therapists treat individuals, couples, and families nationwide. Membership in the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) has grown from 237 members in 1960 to more than 23,000 in 1996. This growth is a result, in part, of renewed public awareness of the value of family life and concern about the increased stresses on families in a rapidly changing world.

Ms. Trotter is a clinical member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) and the Oklahoma Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (OKAMFT). She is an OKAMFT approved supervisor who supervises other therapists' clinical work to help them achieve the two year requirement for becoming licensed themselves.