ABOUT US

MEET YOUR THERAPIST

Wouldn’t it be great to meet your therapist before you officially start therapy? I mean you meet your realtor before you put the house on the market. We offer the opportunity for you to meet your therapist before you begin therapy: a free 30-minute in-person consultation for all prospective patients is how you begin. This gives us an opportunity to hear the reasons you are pursuing services and what you are looking for in terms of therapy. We will explain what we provide in terms of individual, family, or couples therapy and describe the assessment process as well as the methods we use. Finally, we will cover our philosophy and expectations for therapy as well and answer all your questions.

PAYMENT & INSURANCE

Patients pay at the time they come in for an appointment and if they would like to submit claims to their health insurance company, we provide them with the documentation to do that on their own. We are intentionally not credentialed with any health insurance companies. Nor are we dictated by their methods of operation. We are out-of-network providers, but patients do have the option of submitting reimbursement claims. Additionally, we do not see patients as damaged individuals in need of repair. We are not interested in applying labels to people: we work with people who are suffering, and we help to assist you to help yourself. People can think, feel, and solve their problems; you know what you need to do to heal. We are here to facilitate the natural healing capacities of the body-mind.

WE ARE DIFFERENT!

Both philosophically and practically, Minnesota Mental Health Services is different. For example, we teach a better way to understand and take care of yourself with movement, analysis, and meditation practice. Or, when you call the office, your therapist either answers the phone or immediately calls you back. You will not talk to the secretary or billing person, just us. The office is open in the evenings and during the weekend, so our hours are flexible. The office space is calm and relaxed with a home-like environment. Why? Because we want you to feel comfortable and for your experience to be private. This is why we are tucked away in a non-descript office building in Mankato’s Old Town neighborhood.

PHILOSOPHY

A healthy and intimate relationship requires the Transactional Analysis philosophy of I’m OK, You’re OK. This implies that humans are intelligent, beautiful, deceptive, spiteful, rebellious, and generous. We are a series of contradictions. Early in life, every child concludes that they are “not OK.” This is based on how we felt. This sense of lack results in us discounting our abilities to solve problems effectively and therefore we do not adapt well to our environment. Instead, we resort to isolation, getting away from people, or getting rid of people. We want you to deal with your problems.

Therefore, there is little focus on the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual (DSM) of disorders in our therapy approach. Why? The DSM diagnosis or “label”—such as ADHD, major depression, borderline—a clinician uses to frame your experience is problematic in multiple ways. Suffice it to say, the label promotes the sense that you are Not OK, i.e., deficient, broken, etc. The therapeutic relationship you will have here is not a medicalized one based on diagnostic categories. In addition, we do not push people to take medications. We also do not carry some illusion that we will somehow “help you improve your ‘mental health’.” Instead, you will learn how to better deal with suffering and create intimacy in your relationships. However, this requires an examination of your cultural conditioning (programming) and your current (and past) relationships. 

Here at Minnesota Mental Health Services, we focus on two therapeutic styles: ZEN (mindfulness, self-study) and MOVEMENT (activity, joyfulness). Now that our therapy dog in-training, “Dharma,” has joined the practice (December of 2023), we have added a little more play to the therapeutic equation.

  • MOVEMENT

    If you do not like sitting around, we offer various types of “movement” therapies. You and your therapist decided if you will practice yoga, stretch, walk, or run during part of the therapy session. Therefore, movement therapy implies that at times, you and your therapist will leave the office to move. For example, young children who are patients love walks to the river or the playground, so we take psychotherapy into the world. Adults go for walks or runs on the river paths near our office. Movement is not a requirement for therapy, but it is encouraged.

    Lindsay Archer

  • ZEN

    The route to “getting well” is through psychological analysis and meditation practice. First, you will learn a better way to understand yourself by analyzing your personality structure (Parent, Adult, Child). You are not a singular self, but rather, multiple: three different people inside your head. As a student, you will learn how to practice meditation to still the body and focus the mind. As you learn to concentrate and listen, you will learn relational models to apply as tools for harmonizing relationships. Game and Script analysis promote thinking and acting autonomously. Finally, there is a Transactional Analysis Group. This group treatment accelerates your understanding of how you interact with other people based on your scripting. Finally, Zen Therapy merges Transactional Analysis (social control) with the mind-control of Zen.

    Andrew Archer

If it is Zen and analysis that you need, contact Andrew. If a lack of Movement and motivation is your issue, speak with Lindsay Archer.

Thank you.  

-Andrew Archer, founder of Minnesota Mental Health Services