The Basics
The Mental Gym is a mental health counseling and wellness facility located in the Los Angeles neighborhood of West Hollywood. It offers a variety of therapeutic services to help deal with stress, anxiety, depression and addiction. Programming can include individual and group therapy, life and career coaching, and animal assisted therapy utilizing CBT approaches. Bill Benson, LMFT, founded The Mental Gym 20 years ago, after being in private practice for a number of years. His goal is to provide his clients with alternative methods to clear out the mental roadblocks that prevent them from living a successful life.
Treatment and Staff
The Mental Gym addresses the many issues that clients face with a number of treatment methods. Programming uses traditional methods in addition to holistic approaches, like meditation and mindfulness approaches. There is no set amount of time that clients are in treatment, it can be for one session or on a continual basis.
There are a number of counseling options offered at the facility in the form of both individual and group therapy. Specialty programming focuses on sexual orientation and gender-sensitive support for the LGBTQ community. The goal of these groups is to help confront feelings of isolation and discarding gender roles that may have been embedded for years. There is also a men’s coaching track that focuses on the gender restrictions of society in terms of what is emotionally appropriate and encourages them to embrace feelings as a strength rather than viewing them as a weakness.
The substance abuse counseling track aims to offer a more structured life by replacing self soothing habits with practical tools and the ability to identify triggers. This program is best suited for clients who don’t need an intensive program, but rather a bit of a tune up. The Mental Gym isn’t 12-step based, but the staff doesn’t discourage also seeking out an additional support community.
In addition to Bill Benson The Mental Gym employs several Master’s-level LPCs.
Extras
Additionally, The Mental Gym also has professional counseling services, such as the creative block elimination that provides tools to help writers, musicians and artists break out of productivity ruts.
The Canine Cure is part of the animal assisted therapy in which clients can bring their own dogs into treatment for therapeutic training and assistance in sessions.
In Summary
The Mental Gym doesn’t have a specific treatment track for any one issue, but rather offers several options for every concern. Bill Benson has been treating and coaching clients for a very long time, and brings his range of experience into every session. While some of the programs are more suited for veterans of therapy, others may benefit anyone who is in need of a life boost.
The Mental Gym
1041 N Formosa Ave
Formosa Building, Ste 9
West Hollywood, CA 90046
The Mental Gym Cost: Call for cost. Insurance accepted. Reach The Mental Gym by phone at (310) 849-9399 or by email at bill@thementalgym.org. Find The Mental Gym on Facebook and Twitter
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Sponsored DISCLAIMER: This is a paid advertisement for California Behavioral Health, LLC, a CA licensed substance abuse treatment provider and not a service provided by The Fix. Calls to this number are answered by CBH, free and without obligation to the consumer. No one who answers the call receives a fee based upon the consumer’s choice to enter treatment. For additional info on other treatment providers and options visit www.samhsa.gov.
