Meet Todd
ABOUT
Todd Schmenk is a mental health counselor specializing in the treatment of anxiety-related issues. His focus areas include general anxiety, panic attacks, chronic health conditions, couples counseling, and performance anxiety.
Todd previously worked as an elementary school teacher, health educator, business wellness executive, a behavioral therapist, and most recently, as a counselor at his private practice, AQAL Therapies. For fun, he can be found on the dance floor.
Todd's main approach is integrally informed, pulling from a variety of tools including, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectic Behavior Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Solution Focused Brief Therapy, and Focused Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (FACT) supported by a strong focus in neuroscience, mindfulness and active lifestyle modification plans.
Education
Master's of
Education
Community Health
Master's of
Science
Clinical Mental Health Counseling
Work History
Cleveland
Clinic
Patient
Educator
York City
Health Bureau
Health
Educator
Provant
Health
Executive/
Health Coach
Bay Coast
Behavioral
Behavioral
Therapist
About AQAL?
AQAL stands for "all quadrants, all levels, all lines, all stages, all states and all types" which is an effective way of assessing six major ways that we develop, perceive and interact with both the internal and external world. Utilizing this approach allows the development of a map, marking where one is, where one would like to be, and the challenges that lie between the two.
Identifying these elements allows for the development of a unique plan or series of steps required to achieve identified goals giving those worked with access to that very specific knowledge and skills required in addressing challenges with an increased rate of success.
About Integral Psychotherapy?
Integral Psychotherapy involves the application of Ken Wilber’s AQAL model in the world of psychotherapy. The result is a meta-orientation – a way to connect the central ideas and interventions of the world’s major approaches to psychotherapy. The goal of Integral Psychotherapy is to help us move beyond the limits of postmodern thinking into a truly comprehensive, holistic understanding of mental health and well-being.
About Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT)
ACT (pronounced “act”) is an evidence-based model of psychotherapy that is a branch of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). It is similar to CBT in it's structure, with an intentional focus on goals and treatment plans and the use of homework. However, ACT differs from traditional CBT in that it is more focused on mindfulness and aims to increase psychological flexibility.
The goal of ACT is to work towards “acceptance” of what is outside of your control and to make a commitment to change things that are inside your control, in order to improve and enrich your life. ACT does this by helping you utilize mindfulness skills to lessen the impact of painful thoughts and feelings that are an inevitable part of life, clarify values, and make conscious steps toward moving in the direction of those values.
About Focused Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (fACT)
fACT is a new model of brief therapy (25-30 minutes long) that is a highly condensed version of a well-established longer-term treatment called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy ACT - (See above).
fACT uses acceptance and mindfulness strategies to help people transform their relationship with unwanted, distressing experiences, such as disturbing thoughts, unpleasant emotions, painful memories or uncomfortable physical symptoms by seeing them for what they are, emotions as just emotions, thoughts as just thoughts, and sensations as just sensations.
fACT's emphasis is on helping people connect with personal values and engaging in committed actions that are consistent with their core values. Instead of focusing on emotional control, fACT helps people focus on regaining a desired quality of life.
This approach has been added to Todd's skill set in order to address challenges that have arisen due to covid-19 and increasing anxiety and depression in the general population.
These sessions are also affordable in that they are typically half the cost of a regular session and have been demonstrated to work as a stand alone session or with only a few session being required to achieve a significant reduction in reported issues. This helps overcome the access to care barrier many have to deal with and allows for more appointment times to be offered.