Identity Consultancy, as a mental health care centre, is dedicated to helping children, adults, and families navigate and conquer various emotional and behavioural challenges. We offer a steadfast support system underpinned by familial acceptance, love, and support to guide you on your personal journey towards improved mental well-being. If you or someone you know is in need of expert mental health care, rest assured that Identity Consultancy is here for you. Our mental health clinic in Harare warmly welcomes all.
This focus is as rooted in our wish to be humane as much as it is rooted in our knowledge that such an approach routinely produces the best therapeutic outcome. Research shows that collaborative relationships in which a person seeking help controls and guides treatment are the most effective therapeutic relationships—more effective, in fact, than any particular therapeutic model.
We believe that standard treatment for mental health issues is often conducted in a vacuum in which the person being treated is removed from his or her real life. Such an experience can damage a person’s confidence as they come to see themselves as defined by illness, derail them from pursuing their life goals, rob them of a sense of purpose and disrupt their connections with others. In fact, we see abundant evidence that these social injuries are as devastating as a person’s psychiatric symptoms.
For this reason, we actively support clients in pursuing their goals as a core part of treatment, which helps them return to their most deeply desired educational or vocational track, regain their rightful role in the world and recapture their belief in their own ability to realize their dreams. Ellenhorn firmly believes that doing so prevents potentially devastating social injuries from happening, and helps people heal from previous damage.
Some of Identity Consultancy clients are treated while living independently in the community, though others do stay in rehabs and hospitals. Identity’s staff-to-client ratio of one to two combined with the fact that each of our psychologists holds a reasonable caseload that allows us to provide what is often called a “hospital without walls” approach. Such an approach allows us to successfully treat people who were once viewed as needing care within an intensive outpatient, residential or even hospital-based treatment program and allow them to live and participate in the community and be supported by all the nurturing ingredients of real life.
Identity Consultancy’s time-tested and evidence-based treatment model, called the Program of Assertive Community Treatment (PACT), is endorsed by both the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), as the prime model for both psychiatric and psychosocial recovery.
The Program of Assertive Community Treatment (PACT) is an evidence-based model designed to support individuals with severe mental-health challenges through intensive, community-based care. Often referred to as “a hospital without walls,” PACT ensures that clients receive comprehensive support without needing to be institutionalized. At the core of PACT is a multidisciplinary team approach that combines psychiatric care, therapy, case management and social services to address both clinical and practical needs.
At Identity Consultancy, we focus the PACT model on accessibility and flexibility. Our teams hold small caseloads, which allows them to devote significant time to each client and maintain frequent communication. This allows us to provide rapid, responsive care when clients face crises or changes in their lives. With 24/7 access to psychiatrists and the integration of wellness and psychosocial programs, Identity’s use of the PACT model ensures that clients receive holistic, person-centered treatment in the context of their daily lives.
Identity Consultancy is committed to providing whole-person centered care that acknowledges the complexity of psychological suffering. Our multidisciplinary teams address clients’ diverse needs by recognizing their strengths and fostering a collaborative partnership in treatment planning. This strengths-based approach empowers clients as they navigate challenges and treats them as resourceful individuals striving for positive change.
We understand that effective treatment occurs beyond traditional office hours and settings, and by delivering services in clients’ homes and communities we ensure that our support aligns with their everyday lives. Our teams meet regularly—often daily—to discuss each client’s unique circumstances and allow us to adapt treatments as needed.
Our mission transcends mere treatment; it’s about helping clients reintegrate into their social environments and pursue fulfilling lives. By centering care around individual experiences, we empower clients to take the lead in their journey toward recovery, and promote personal agency and meaningful engagement with the world.
At Identity Consultancy, we believe in the healing power of support system. We know that, even when facing serious psychiatric challenges, people recover best in their own homes and surrounded by supportive neighborhoods, friends and relatives.
We help clients who are able to live independently, in hospitals and prisons. We view helping individuals rebuild their social roles while living independently as a key part of treatment, and our team is there to support them every step of the way.
For those who need additional support, we offer a variety of service options, including Helping them to find places in rehabs., and our partnerships with supportive-living programs in government and private facilities helps. These environments provide stability, personalized care and 24/7 staffing where needed.
At Identity, assessment and treatment aren’t separate steps—they happen simultaneously from day one. Our assessment process is a collaborative, ongoing journey designed to build a comprehensive understanding of each client’s needs. We gather information through traditional methods, like psychological testing and medical record reviews, and through the therapeutic relationships we develop. This helps us create a personalized Roadmap to Recovery that aligns with each client’s dreams and goals.
Unlike static, one-time assessments, ours evolve alongside the client. This ensures that treatment plans remain dynamic and responsive to changing needs and focus not only on symptom management, but on life goals, social connections and community involvement as well. By working closely with clients from the start, we help each person take charge of their recovery in a way that reflects their values and aspirations.
Psychosocial rehabilitation focuses on restoring a person’s sense of independence, purpose and connection. At Identity Consultany, it forms the foundation of our model, which blends psychiatric care with social support to help clients rebuild their lives beyond mental-health challenges.
While Identity Consultancy therapists and clinicians use many collaborative therapies, we primarily focus on the following four powerful treatment styles, which we use not only as tools for promoting change in clients, but also as a productive treatment path for a given client. Here’s what that means: Since we view each client as a unique individual with their own needs, we don’t believe any client fits within a cookie-cutter treatment “track” or “protocol.” At Identity, a client’s treatment path is completely personalized and always evolving.
Identity Consultancy is a national leader in Integrated Dual Disorder Treatment (IDDT), a model endorsed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) as the primary evidence-based best practice for treating co-occurring psychiatric events and problematic substance use.
All too often, co-occurring programs that describe themselves as “evidence-based” supplement psychiatric work with a substance-abuse add-on, or add a mental-health component to substance-abuse work. Their “evidence” is in the techniques they use, and yet significant research shows that this piecemeal approach has little effect. True co‑occurring work is based on the premise that problematic substance use and psychiatric disturbance are two parts of a single complex syndrome and must be treated simultaneously using a truly integrated approach. Co-occurring treatment is not simply a matter of using the right technique. It requires a system of care that balances the two issues at once and utilizes a multidisciplinary team that is in constant communication. IDDT is just that kind of system—and more.
IDDT teams provide high-intensity multidisciplinary outreach services that include substance-abuse treatment, psychiatric care and a focus on clients’ educational, family and/or career goals. IDDT doesn’t simply integrate treatments, it focuses on integrating a person into the world that surrounds them. Working closely with clients to create meaningful futures fosters real human connection, and a sense of purpose and hope—profound medicine for both psychiatric issues and problematic substance use.
Part of IDDT services include the use of motivational interviewing. Motivational interviewing was developed for counseling people engaged in problematic substance use, and is based on a non confrontational partnering relationship between counselor and client, in which the client is respected as the agent of change.
Adaptive Mentalization-Based Integrative Treatment (AMBIT) is a way of organizing care that is specifically modeled around attachment issues. Typically, Identity provides clients with a multidisciplinary team of clinicians who each offer help in a specific area of a client’s life. That means that clients form relationships with each member of the team, but it also means that the demand to create collaborative relationships with each team member may cause undue strain for someone whose issues are related to connecting with and trusting others. With AMBIT, we provide this same team, but one member is designated as “key clinician” and has the majority of contact with the client. The goal is to form one strong collaborative relationship that can then be used to form others within the team.
Mentalization-based treatment is a highly effective therapeutic approach for people struggling with interpersonal relationships and attachments to others. The term mentalization refers to our ability to accurately understand the intent and mental experiences of others, and to correctly understand our own intentions and thoughts. We all mentalize and feel in sync when we interact smoothly and successfully with someone. We also sometimes fail at mentalizing and lose track of our mind, the meaning behind our feelings and behavior, and/or misunderstand others.
People with significant attachment issues tend to mentalize poorly in a chronic manner. This inability to perceive the experiences of others, or to grasp what’s happening in their own minds, often leads to persistent conflict and hurt. Mentalization-based treatment works to increase the client’s awareness of their emotions and how they impact their ability to be curious about their and others’ minds.
Open Dialogue is as much a way to organize care as it is a therapeutic approach. Open Dialogue teams are highly flexible, typically work on an outreach basis in people’s homes, are multidisciplinary and stay with a person for the duration of treatment.
We often use Open Dialogue to help people experiencing what professionals call “psychotic experiences.” Perhaps these individuals hear voices, see things we can’t see or have thoughts that don’t match what others believe. In Open Dialogue, a shared meaning and vocabulary for this experience is developed.
Open Dialogue is centered on the “network meeting,” which typically takes place with the client, their family and at least two clinicians. The aim of the meeting is to develop a dialogue that gives voice to all concerned. It is a way of working and having conversations that aims to create a space for many voices as equals. Dialogic practice is based on the belief that change occurs when all voices in the room are heard and understood.
Research on Open Dialogue shows that the method has a significant impact on decreasing psychiatric distress and enabling clients to return to social roles. When people engage in Open Dialogue, we have seen a decline in the duration of the psychosis, a subsequent decline in people matching the diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia and a 73 percent return to full employment or schooling, all with minimal use of antipsychotic medications.
Interpersonal and Social Rhythms Therapy (IPSRT) is a collaborative form of care for people experiencing extreme mood events, specifically individuals who have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder or depression. IPSRT places the tools for better control of mood in the hands of our clients as we work alongside them as they navigate their recovery. The foundation of IPSRT centers around the belief that problems in the circadian rhythm exacerbate manic depressive and major depressive symptoms. This psychotherapy focuses on helping a person identify and maintain the regular routines of everyday life, including sleep patterns. Equal attention is also given to interpersonal and social issues that may affect daily routine.
IPSRT is designed to teach skills to reduce the frequency of relapses that are caused by stress, social difficulties and inconsistency in circadian rhythm. IPSRT therapists work with clients to understand the importance of circadian rhythm and daily routines—eating, sleeping, etc.
When combined with psychiatric medicine, IPSRT has been proven to reduce both manic and depressive experiences, to make essential gains in achieving a person’s targeted life goals, and to assist in a person’s ability to be consistent in maintaining daily routines.
At Identity Consultancy, we take a whole-person approach that goes beyond diagnoses. We design personalized, evolving treatment paths based on each client’s unique experiences, strengths and needs. By using multidisciplinary therapies and incorporating life roles like work and family, we empower clients to heal, grow and reintegrate into their world.
“At Identity Consultancy, our wellness clinicians are an integral part of each client’s PACT team and work hard to create a personalized program that integrates all the factors that influence health and wellness, whether mind, body, spirit or community.”
This approach is exactly what it sounds like, therapy with a focus on solutions. Often people are stuck, struggling in relationships or other life challenges because they are dwelling on the negatives, the problems, rather than pursuing strategies to solve the issue. The therapist helps the client to identify what the client wants to happen, teaches them techniques and skills to live out the results they are aiming for. Solution focused therapy is positive and encouraging in nature, as it emphasizes staying present, yet looking forward to the future, seeking out opportunities for growth, and working towards solutions rather than focusing on what is broken or not working. People will likely experience some amount of relief within the first 2 sessions.
Healthy relationships and positive connections are needed to support overall mental health. When people are feeling disconnected, they may find it difficult to attempt to reconnect or may make unsuccessful attempts to reconnect or repair relationships. At times the outcome can be increased conflict or increased symptoms of anxiety or depression or feelings of rejection and lack of understanding or even bitterness.
Empathic Connectivity is a therapeutic approach that strengthens a couple’s or person’s ability to connect through a deeper understanding of their partner’s or the other person’s emotional experience. Both men and women have a need to be understood on an emotional level. Therapy will increase a level of understanding promoting feelings of validation, support, and intimacy, which is foundational to relationship fulfillment. The therapist teaches couples to listen to understand their partner, rather than listening to defend themselves or others. This approach allows for increased empathy for the other’s experiences and emotions. Individuals who are willing to do this level of work, often find that the relationship reawakens as the unity and cooperation in relationships are significantly enhanced.
This therapy is based on the modern researched humanistic and holistic view of the human being in health sciences. This approach recognizes the biological, the psychological, the social, and the spiritual as distinct dimensions of the person where no single aspect can be disconnected from the whole person.
For people who desire to include the spiritual aspect of the therapy process, we offer and may provide a faith based holistic approach that utilizes psychologically sound Christian principles. This approach teaches couples how to apply the values of the individual’s Christian faith in overcoming their problems assisting client in symptom reduction or elimination. The blending of proven therapeutic interventions with Christian based ideas and values promotes change and healing on the psychological, emotional, and spiritual level. This approach has the potential to generate significant amounts of hope for individuals who have lost hope.
