MOUNT VERNON — Sarah Gill-Williams wants area residents to know she is here to help challenge and change self-destructive thoughts that may be keeping them from living happy, productive lives.
She recently opened a psychotherapy office in the house at 217 E. Chestnut St., in apartment A. Gill-Williams shares the building, located at the corner of East Chestnut Street and North Park Street, with psychologist Catriona Galloway, Ph.D.
Gill-Williams’ speciality is counseling for children and families, although she takes individual adult clients as well. She said she uses play therapy with children, and adopts what she calls an active, problem-focused and goal-oriented approach to replace negative, irrational thought patterns with ones more affirmative and realisitic.
“It’s not a Freudian-style, sit-on-the-couch and talk about the past approach,” Gill-Williams said. “It is more about talking about what’s going on now. I would say it’s more client-centered.”
She said she tries to help clients learn how thoughts and feelings affect behavior and to become a driver of their own thoughts. Asked why she decided to open up the office in Mount Vernon, Gill-Williams said, “There’s really a very large need for private counseling services for children and families here.”
Gill-Williams is a licensed, professional clinical counselor, who lives near Gambier and moved to the area about six years ago. She added that she uses a sliding scale for payments, meaning the level of payment for her services is based on her client’s income.
In other local business news, the developer working to build a new Sanoh America plant on Blackjack Road recently broke ground. The company has announced plans for a 235,000-square-foot building on the 27-acre property in the vicinity of a cell phone tower on Blackjack Road, south of Moundbuilders Guidance Center. City officials have already given the go-ahead on preliminary plans for the project and are working to set up an acceptable, alternative truck traffic route.
The project constitutes an $11 million investment by the company, and is expected to create about 100 jobs.
