The Center for Genuine Growth, PLLC
Mission: To give clients the skills they need to live a healthier and more fulfilling life
The Center for Genuine Growth, PLLC is a telehealth therapy practice that provides a variety of mental health services for clients looking to improve their mental health. All treatments are currently provided in an individual (one-on-one) and video conferencing format that is convenient and safe.
The Center for Genuine Growth, PLLC believes in science as a foundation to providing ethical care. Therefore, treatments are supported by science and designed to be skills-based and time-limited in nature. Research has demonstrated that teaching clients skills that they practice at home for use beyond treatment is the most effective strategy for seeing improvement in mental health conditions.
The Center for Genuine Growth, PLLC currently services clients living in Washington State and Florida, where Dr. Dour is licensed.
Dr. Dour
Clinical Psychologist
Halina Dour, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist, who is licensed to provide mental health therapy in Washington and Florida. She received her bachelor's degree cum laude in psychology from Wellesley College and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). UCLA is regularly ranked as the top doctoral program for clinical psychology in the United States, per U.S. News & Word Reports.
Dr. Dour acquired a specific expertise in treating anxiety disorders, as a result of her training from leading experts in the field, including Dr. Michelle Craske at UCLA. Dr. Dour is also the co-creator, developer, and author of the Positive Affect Treatment (PAT) with Drs. Michelle Craske, Alicia Meuret and colleagues. This therapy is the one of the only evidence-based therapies specifically designed to target anhedonia and to help clients increase the frequency, intensity, and variety of positive emotions. It is currently in the publishing phase with Oxford University Press as part of the Treatments That Work series. In addition, Dr. Dour has served, and continues to serve, as a consultant on multiple treatment development projects.
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Dr. Dour has been trained in numerous evidence-based treatments, including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), CBT for Eating Disorders (CBT-E), CBT for Insomnia (CBT-I), Exposure Therapy for Anxiety Disorders, Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) for OCD, and the Positive Affect Treatment (PAT) for Anhedonia.
She has received Veterans Affairs (VA) certifications in Prolonged Exposure (PE) for PTSD and Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) for PTSD. In addition, she has experience working in a variety of settings, including veterans hospitals, community mental health, university research clinics, a mental health clinic, an intensive outpatient program, a PTSD specialty clinic, and an eating disorders clinic.
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Dr. Dour has years of experience working with veterans. She completed a practicum and her pre-doctoral internship at the VA Sepulveda Ambulatory Care Center within the Greater Los Angeles area. She completed her post-doctoral fellowship at the VA Puget Sound, Seattle Division, before then taking a full-time staff position in the Mental Health Clinic and Intensive Outpatient Program at the Seattle VA. Dr. Dour subsequently worked for the Orlando VA Healthcare System, where she served as the Eating Disorder Team Coordinator and a member of the PTSD Clinical Team.
Dr. Dour is now the owner of The Center for Genuine Growth, PLLC.
Telemental Health Services
Medical and mental health care has significantly changed as a result of improvements in technology and the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Providers are offering services through different modalities beyond in person, face-to-face appointments.
One type of service is telemental health or telepsychology services, which are provided through video conferencing or telephone. Care through telepsychology has many benefits. It creates greater access to care for clients who do not live near providers that offer the services they need. It creates a safe environment for individuals who may need to limit in person, face-to-face contact during the pandemic. It is also convenient; it reduces travel time and allows the client to attend sessions in a private area in their home or elsewhere. Note that all telehealth services at The Center for Genuine Growth, PLLC are secure.
Mental health services offered through video conferencing are sometimes referred to as: “online therapy,” “telehealth,” “telepsychology,” “telemental health,” “telecounseling,” “e-health,” “behavioral telehealth,” “e-therapy,” “telemedicine,” “televideo mental health,” “web-based services,” and “internet-based care.”
Evidence-Based Practice
The phrase, “evidence-based practice,” refers to care that uses scientific knowledge to inform assessment and treatment.
The Center for Genuine Growth, PLLC believes in providing evidence-based care. This means that when a client receives treatment, it will be supported by evidence demonstrating that it is effective in improving certain mental health outcomes. This includes the time-limited, skills-based approach that is offered at The Center for Genuine Growth, PLLC.
We have all seen movies and TV shows that portray a classic scene of a patient lying or sitting on a couch and talking about their childhood or sharing their deepest secrets with a therapist. Surprisingly, therapy often looks different than this. The most effective form of therapy for most mental health conditions is therapy that identifies treatment targets and goals, identifies the function of why we do what we do, and provides tools to help you reach your treatment goals. This includes practicing new skills at home between sessions, like you would do if you were learning a new language.
The intention of skills-based treatment is to equip clients with the ability to cope and function independently. Therefore, treatment is meant to be time-limited. It typically is offered as frequently as once a week for the first few months and is offered less frequently, as needed, thereafter.
The Positive Affect Treatment (PAT)
The Center for Genuine Growth, PLLC is currently the only private practice in WA and FL offering a new evidence-based therapy - the Positive Affect Treatment (PAT), which Dr. Dour is the co-creator, developer, and author of. PAT is a new evidence-based psychotherapy for clients with depression or anxiety. It was designed to enhance the frequency, intensity, and variety of positive emotions one experiences by targeting the specific difficulties associated with anhedonia. Anhedonia is difficulty in expecting positive outcomes in the future, difficulty in noticing or appreciating the positive, and/or difficulty in learning how to obtain the positive. Anhedonia is also the difficulty in experiencing positive emotions.
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For example, many people with anhedonia often report that they rarely feel happiness, interest, curiosity, pride, joy, or excitement. They might have a hard time noticing positive things in their day to day. When they do notice something positive, they might have a tendency to dismiss positive things that happen to them, such as attributing these events to luck. Some people report that they have very little positive activities scheduled into their week or that they have lost interest in things that they used to enjoy. They sometimes struggle to know what to do to build more positive experiences into their week. PAT specifically targets each of these difficulties by teaching new skills in the form of thought strategies and behavioral activities.
Dr. Dour is a co-creator, developer, author, and former trainer of this treatment. It is currently in the publishing phase with Oxford University Press as part of the Treatments That Work series.