Success at Lido – From Our Founding Vision to Clinical Reality, and Everything in Between
As the Executive Director and Co-Founder of Lido Wellness Center (LWC), I often get asked how my own mental health doesn’t take a dive as I am, daily, surrounded by the struggles of our clients, and consistently hearing about all they’ve encountered and endured. Interestingly, however, I view my space within the mental health community in a completely different light. I don’t feel drained by the work I do. In fact, I have always felt deeply moved, challenged, and honored to bear witness to our clients’ biggest discoveries and personal changes. Their courage and resilience through incredible difficulty inspires me daily, and makes me so certain that this work chose me – it called me – and I can’t imagine doing anything else with my life. This is the inspiration that formulated LWC’s founding vision, and urged us continually onward and upward in the treatment world.
I can also humbly credit LWC’s growth and success to its clinical treatment approach and offerings. As we always affirm and strongly project in our program design, LWC’s official mission is to be the last treatment episode our clients will need before they finally embark on a fulfilling life of better health and enhanced wellness. This clinical approach is specifically designed to restore meaning, purpose, and connection to our clients’ lives. To this end, our clinical providers consciously examine clients – focusing on their behaviors, current beliefs, and their present symptoms – while simultaneously conducting a deep exploration into the past elements and experiences that contributed to the development of that specific symptom presentation. We do all of this with an utmost emphasis on emotional safety, keeping our clients’ needs at the forefront.
While we prioritize emotional safety, we also openly acknowledge that the healing journey is not always comfortable – in fact it’s largely uncomfortable. Healing from old patterns and maladaptive behaviors is difficult. Despite this difficulty and discomfort, and in the face of any challenge, the LWC team is unfaltering in the execution of their expertise and unwavering in their compassionate support.
Our clinical programming, in support and furtherance of our vision, is so valuable in practice. When a client is going through a painful experience, it’s vital that their mental health providers can support and hold that pain, while assisting that individual in discovering ways in which they, too, can hold and manage their own pain while nevertheless making room for new, positive emotions. LWC’s philosophical and practical mental health approach introduces clients to the skills and interventions necessary for healthy emotional and behavioral processing.
In the wake of trauma, our bodies adapt to survive, but simultaneously place us in a constant, and exhausting, state of vigilance. But, through LWC’s human-centric treatment approach, our courageous clients dive into self-discovery, shake up ineffective practices that no longer serve them, and establish and re-establish connections, skills, and beliefs that help them, not just survive, but thrive.
For anyone reading this who is thinking about seeking treatment at LWC, yet may remain unsure, I want you to know that healing is possible! LWC patients are some of the most inspiring and fearless individuals I’ve ever been graced to work with, and their commitment to treatment is extraordinary. You, too, are capable of doing difficult things and achieving a healthier and happier life! Treatment is hard work, this is certainly true, but I know this for certain—it is much harder to live a life out of alignment, absent wellness, and lacking purpose and meaning.
by Lesley Tate-Gould, PsyD, SEP
Co-Founder & Executive Director
