Our Philosophy: A mind, brain, and body approach

Humans are complex. We’re also dynamic in the sense that our lives along with our brains and bodies are ever changing. While that can be a good thing, it can also make it hard to maintain our health, even our mental health.

Our goal at Restoration Hope is to get a full picture of each person’s life and history so we can come up with an appropriate treatment plan. There are multiple roots to mental health challenges: the environment we live in as well as our history, the health and functioning of our brains and bodies, and way we talk about these things in our head. We want to have an understanding of what’s going on in your environment. This includes things like relationships, work-load, or financial stress. We also want to pay attention to how people think about what’s going on in their life—our mind is a powerful influence over how we feel. Where do those thinking patterns come from? How can we choose a different narrative? Lastly, we want to look at the functioning of the brain and body. Are your hormones in check? Do you feel rested upon waking? Do you have inconsistent digestion? Do you ever feel like your brain is hijacked and you can’t calm down?

Our mental health, our history, and our physical health are inextricably linked. Did you know people who have a history of adverse childhood experiences are higher risk for autoimmune disease and inflammation? Did you know that roughly 90% of your serotonin is produced in the gut? Or that certain foods and food additives have a direct impact on ADHD symptoms? There’s a direct line of communication from the gut to the brain called the gut brain axis. If we want to support people getting healthy, we need to support people from multiple angels.

Mental health challenges have been a growing concern among all age groups and we can’t always address symptoms by focusing on one approach. Sometimes we can simply focus on talking through our thoughts and emotions, but if you truly feel stuck or confused about why you feel the way you do, we want to look and a multi-pronged approach.

At Restoration Hope, we really want to help people find good health. When one person gets to a healthy place, it has a ripple effect—healthy people means healthy families. And healthy families mean a healthy community. And who doesn’t love that?