Gavia LifeCare Center, LLC
Gavia LifeCare Center is an OMH Licensed Outpatient Mental Health treatment center. Gavia has contracts with and accepts the following payers:
- AETNA Medicare
- AETNA Commercial
- Excellus Commercial
- Excellus Medicare
- Excellus Medicaid
- Fidelis
- NYS Medicaid
- Molina
- MVP Medicare
- MVP Medicaid
- MVP Commercial
- Medicare
- United Health Care Medicare – UHC Dual Complete
- United Health Care Medicaid – UHC Community Plan
- United Health Care Commercial
Our Services
General Therapy
Mental Health Counseling can often be referred to as counseling or psychotherapy. Therapy consists of a choice or combination of individual, couples, family or group sessions. Therapy is provided in a caring environment with a non-judgmental therapist who addresses your individual goals. Treatment occurs through listening, offering feedback and creating skills to manage distress in the future. All therapy is offered through a trauma-informed lens, recognizing that recovery is possible when experiences are validated and honored.
Art/Music Therapy
Art therapy, facilitated by a professional art therapist, effectively supports personal treatment goals. Art therapy is used to improve insight, foster self-esteem and self-awareness, cultivate emotional resilience, and reduce and resolve conflicts and distress.
Music enriches human lives in a unique and necessary way. Music therapy consists of providing opportunities for self-discovery and growth. Instead of being imprisoned by emotional experience, Music Therapy provides a means for clients to develop the capacity to first tolerate and then enjoy the full realm of human emotional experience. Working with music is working on one’s inner life.
Adolescent Therapy
Adolescent therapy provides individual and family therapy for youth, ages 11 – 18. The therapeutic environment provides youth and families with a safe place to express their feelings and learn new ways to cope with distress.
Spiritual
Spirituality, if we use a broad understanding of it, is our connection to our meaning and purpose. People find that through their connection to their higher power, their values, beliefs, the universe, or many other things. Throughout the ups and downs of life, it can be beneficial to spend time tending to this connection, because it can get muddled, weakened, or seem elusive. Outside of specifically religious contexts, there’s not always a safe place to discuss this openly. Here at Gavia, we create a space for you in the context of your therapy to search for and reflect on those spiritual dimensions of your life so that hopefully you can build up that connection and draw strength from it.
Medication Management
Medication can be an important part of treatment. Our Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners offer medication consultations for current clients of Gavia as well as clients who have a therapist in the community. Before scheduling a session with a psychiatric provider, a prospective client must be seen at least once by a therapist for an evaluation and complete a brief virtual visit with a nurse for a health history.
Administration
When you call Gavia LifeCare Center the phone will be answered by a caring and compassionate individual. Our administrative assistants schedule intakes, answer questions, address insurance questions, and manage the front desk. They are truly the backbone for the agency.
Responsiveness to Clients and Referral Sources
Due to our independence from the large medical facilities, we offer a more flexible and immediate response to the needs of clients. Treatment is tailored specifically to those currently in our service instead of having traditional topics for groups. For example, if we find there is a cohort of women who all belong to the “sandwich generation”, caring for aging parents and young children, a therapy group could be formed offering support and skill building specific to those needs.
One of the main gaps in service in the community is the availability of Psychiatric Specialists to manage medications. We have Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners on staff as well as an overseeing Psychiatrist to solve this issue. The consistent presence of a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner affords Gavia LifeCare Center, LLC the opportunity to offer evaluations to all clients to examine the role of medication in management of their symptoms.
Clinician Support
Our clinician development and supervisory model is a significant advantage over other treatment providers. Gavia LifeCare Center, LLC offers professional development for all clinicians and encourage professional growth in areas of interest. As clinicians grow professionally, services for our clients improve.
Our Founder, Dr. Sherry Nau
Q: Tell us a little about your background in mental health counseling.
A: I have been working in the Mental Health and Addiction field for over 25 years. I started as a therapist in an inpatient substance abuse program and have traversed the worlds of mental health and substance abuse ever since. The last 5 years have been in clinic-based addiction and mental health leadership positions. I also have had my own private practice for mental health counseling for more than 10 years. In addition, I taught as an adjunct professor at Nazareth College, Keuka College and SUNY Brockport in the Social Work Department.
Q: What is the driving force for you in the counseling arena?
A: I truly believe that people are doing the best they can with the skills and knowledge they have. At times when these skills fall short, counseling offers the opportunity to determine where the barriers lie and learn how to overcome them. Therapy is a working relationship between a client and clinician that involves trust.
Q: What do you feel are the most important issues in mental health services today?
A: Very simply, it is really about timeliness and capacity to see people when they are in crisis. In all areas around the country, there is a lack of immediate access. When a client is delayed for more than a week when they feel they really need services, the mental health provider is not as affective for the client as they could be. High caseloads for clinicians and delays in services are contributing to a high level of recurring issues for clients.
Q: By starting Gavia LifeCare Center, how do you expect to make a difference?
A: The real difference is the commitment to see new referrals within 48 hours as well as have medication management consultation available immediately. That is just not available in this market right now. For instance, we are getting information that there are consistent delays in getting mental health services for people who have been in the emergency room. Our mission is to fix this and be there for the client.
Q: How else will Gavia’s services help?
A: I really see Gavia LifeCare Center as a mission based mental health program designed specifically to respond to the needs of those who walk in our doors. Our name involves “LifeCare” for a reason. We focus on the entire Life of the client. For the client and their family, however family is defined by the client, we offer group counseling, individual counseling, and medication management services with our NP and Psychiatrist. We have made yoga and meditation available to help with the comprehensiveness of our approach. We have community partnerships who we can call upon for additional support if needed. The client is not alone in their journey, and we are not alone as providers. Our care is integrated on every level.
Q: Thank you very much for this introduction. Is there anything else you would like to share about yourself?
A: I love to start my day with a cup of coffee and end it with a walk with my dog, Nemo.
E-mail: [email protected]
After Hours Support
Gavia LifeCare Center, LLC has an on-call system for after hour emergencies covered by the clinicians in the agency. This is a critical service for clients as it guarantees they will speak with a person who can access their record electronically and become familiar with the patient’s history. When a client is in crisis, speaking with a therapist who knows them and can schedule a crisis visit the very next day is both reassuring, and may prevent a hospital visit.
If the client is in crisis and needs acute services, the on-call clinician will refer to our community based partners. The referral may be critical and require a 911 call or coordination with an open access center in the community. We will be able to send clinical information from our EMR to that respective provider seamlessly.