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February, 2012 

NEW DEVELOPMENTS AT THE INSTITUTE FOR PERSONAL GROWTH

 - New Beginnings for 2012 - 

 

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PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE:
www.ipgcounseling.com

to see the wide range of counseling and therapy services we offer, including individual, couples, family and sex therapy.

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Our NEW website is coming soon!

We have been working hard to re-design our website to make it even bigger and better.  We've added many pages of information about therapeutic issues, topics of interest, photos of our staff, resources and libraries full of books of interest as well as given it a whole new "look and feel".  Plus a great new video of our therapists talking about, well, therapy!  Please visit our site in the upcoming weeks to see the new look.

We've moved! 








Our Jersey City offices, that is.  To a new, bigger and more comfort
able space, just across Hamilton Park from our old offices.   This new office will allow us to accomodate our increasing calls for therapy in northern NJ. 
We're sure our new Jersey City home will please you as much as it pleases us.  The new address is 235 9th Street, between Erie and McWilliams Place, at the Hamilton Square building.  All our phone numbers remain the same. 
New York City offices

Our NYC offices are now open.  We have offices in Chelsea and Union Square, offering general psychotherapy and sex therapy.  These offices are convenient for those of you who work in the City.
IPG HAS OFFICES IN:

Highland Park, NJ
Jersey City, NJ 
Freehold, NJ
New York City

Please call 800.379.9220 for an appointment at any of our offices.

********************

The Institute for Personal Growth, P.C.  

 

Margaret Nichols, Ph.D.

Executive Director

 

Serving the community Since 1983 

Dear Friend:

There is already much news at IPG this year! We've been working hard to initiate new and even better services for our clients and will continue to improve IPG even more as the year goes along.

Look around the page to see more exciting new developments happening at IPG, starting right here:

We are thrilled to announce the inauguration of our Postgraduate Sex Therapy Training Program.  IPG has received the prestigious designation as an official training facility for the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors & Therapists (AASECT).  This 2-year training Program currently has fourteen Residents - seasoned psychologists and social workers all on IPG's staff - who are participating in extensive training to become Certified Sex Therapists.  The Certification process is rigorous, requiring, in addition to a graduate degree, licensure and experience in psychotherapy, an intensive course of study overseen by AASECT.

IPG continues to get more calls for sex therapy, so much so that we've been unable to keep up with the demand for Certified Sex Therapists.  This demand, and our continuing interest in ongoing professional training, led us to the decision to gain AASECT qualification as a training program and then launch our new Postgraduate Program.

"Sex therapy is very different from other therapy" says Dr. Margie Nichols, IPG's founder and the Director of the new Program, "and requires specialized training.  For one thing, treatment for most sexual dysfunction is very behavioral, more 'homework', and has a big educational component.  And many people don't realize, for example, how medications may interfere with sexual function, or that many sexual problems have a medical or physical component.  Certified Sex Therapists are trained to detect this and refer to appropriate specialists if necessary.  Most graduate and medical schools offer very little training in human sexuality, and our Program provides specialized training to our psychotherapists to diagnose and treat".

The Program increases the number of IPG's sex therapy specialists to nineteen, covering all three New Jersey offices and our new offices in New York City.   The shortage of sex therapists is so severe that this IPG  training program will make IPG by far the largest sex therapy provider in New Jersey.  And in NYC, the demand is such that many sex therapists are not taking new patients.  For the first time, IPG will be able to offer expert professional sex therapy to the large number of people seeking help.

Our new Postgraduate Program is led by our founder, Dr. Margie Nichols, an AASECT-Certified Sex Therapist, with the assistance of our four other AASECT-Certified Sex Therapists on staff:  the Program's Assistant Director, Susan Menahem, Arthur Greenberg, Liz Lipman-Stern and Lori Sequiera.

New Special Education Services


IPG is also very pleased to announce new services for children and their families.  We have added to our staff a very experienced and highly-skilled Certified School Psychologist, Lance Halpern, Ed.S., LPC to perform educational testing services for children.

An educational evaluation is the process for determining if a child has a disability and therefore needs special education and related services.  Evaluation is the first step in developing an educational program and services to help children learn.  A full and individual initial examination must be done before beginning any special education or related services, and students must be re-evaluated at least once every three years.

Lance has over 16 years experience in the Special Education field.  He performs testing and evaluation services for children with learning disabilities, or with suspected disabilities, and produces his professional evaluation reports within 72 hours.  Lance also advocates for children within the school systems, helping parents get their children the education they deserve.

Please call IPG if you would like to set up an appointment with Lance.


Hydrangea
Thanks for reading - and
being a friend to IPG.  We value our relationship with you and look forward to seeing you!  Peace and love, Margie Nichols and the IPG staff.