Our Interactional View

The Sloane Center, Inc. opened in 2004 with the goal of assisting individuals, couples and families to find solutions to the stresses, problems or conflicts that affect their everyday life, whether individually or through their interactions with others.

At times stress and conflict are avoidable and at other times, not so much. Regardless of where, when and how stress and conflict may occur, you know that it is causing you to act in a way that makes you feel unhappy, concerned, confused, anxious or just plain bad.

At The Sloane Center, we look at stress and conflict from a multidimensional perspective. We believe that conflict comes from unclear or ineffective patterns of interactions, or the “dance” that people do with one another – at times you move smoothly along the dance floor of life and at other times you just step on each other’s toes. If you find that the times that go along smoothly are becoming less frequent for you, it’s time to look at changing your dance moves or how you interact with the people in your life and how they interact with you. This toe-stomping dance can come about as a result of past experiences, present beliefs or an unspoken, misunderstood just plain different idea of whatever is causing the conflict to occur.

When people are unable to resolve conflicts, they will attempt solutions they think may work to alter their reality, change or escape from what they are experiencing. Some of these solutions include the use of drugs and alcohol, gambling, sex, and inappropriate use of the Internet; or violence towards those around them. These methods of changing the situation NEVER work. The only way to resolve conflict is to face it head on in a proverbial “meeting of the minds”. We find that a neutral third party, such as a therapist, can help you to see perspectives of the problem and resolution that you may not have thought about or considered. Our role is to facilitate your problem solving in the most efficient and effective manner possible.

We believe that conflict does not have to be viewed as something that is negative. Conflict between people usually indicates two or more different opinions about what is right, wrong or acceptable. The clinicians at The Sloane Center have been trained to look at all aspects of a conflict and to assist the individuals, couples and families to gain a better understanding of each other’s perspectives in an effort to bring greater understanding between and among the people who are in conflict – to find a middle-ground. Life is not black and white and the resolution to problems you experience also should not be – we help you to find the grey areas, utilizing the strengths of the relationship and people’s natural born abilities to find an agreeable and reasonable solution to their conflicts and stresses so that life becomes a smooth dance once again.

Remember, “The person is not the problem, the problem is the problem”