WELCOME

Explore What’s Next offers psychotherapy, counseling, personal & executive coaching. We provide services for adults, couples, children, adolescents & families in a style that is compassionate, direct, and non-judgmental. Our approach is collaborative to maximize your counseling experience.

3 Steps to Being Happier Right Now

3 Steps to Being Happier Right Now

“To be in harmony with the wholeness of things is not to have anxiety over imperfections.” ~Dogen Zenji  You are not perfect. I am not perfect. We are whole and connected in our imperfection and that is a good thing. I'm just going to cut to the chase here...

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The Studio at Explore What’s Next offers gentle, nurturing self-care classes & workshops. We explore yoga, meditation & mindfulness as well as provide workshops, seminars & groups in a wide-array of subjects, from baby-proofing your relationship, living with chronic illness to financial wellness & more. All offerings are open to the public in our beautiful, ADA compliant space. 

A full service counseling and executive coaching practice, Explore What’s Next offers services throughout the lifespan, including children ages five years and up, teens and young adults. The therapists are there to discuss your needs, answer your questions and make a plan. Explore What’s Next has two convenient locations on Delaware Avenue in Buffalo and Sweet Home in Amherst.

Dr. Aletta and the Explore What’s Next therapists provide office hours in a private comfortable setting as well as sessions via video or by phone.

A Chat with Nicole Brown About Bringing Home Baby

Explore What’s Next therapists offer an assortment of workshops, psycho-educational, supportive and process groups. We update the list here frequently so check in often!

Choose Discomfort

Choose Discomfort

Choose Discomfort Over Resentment Brené Brown This quote (one of my favorites) is all about avoidance and procrastination. Avoidance and procrastination, the twin demons of my psyche, generate anxiety and guilt. Dr. Brown offers the antidote to anxiety driven by guilt...
3 Steps to Being Happier Right Now

3 Steps to Being Happier Right Now

“To be in harmony with the wholeness of things is not to have anxiety over imperfections.” ~Dogen Zenji  You are not perfect. I am not perfect. We are whole and connected in our imperfection and that is a good thing. I'm just going to cut to the chase here...
Anxiety

Struggling With Anxiety

Do you find yourself experiencing racing thoughts of worry and fear for the future or the unknown that feel out of your control? Have you caught yourself in a social setting feel overcome with terror or felt on edge? Is it hard for you to sit still and relax?  Do...

6 Ways to Live a Healthy Life with PTSD

Text reads… 6 Ways to Live a Healthy Life with PTSD… explore what’s next, Dr. Kendal Vaarwerk with a teal ribbon which is a symbol of awareness and support for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Sand Tray Therapy 

Sand Tray Therapy 

Have you ever had one of those days where you don’t want to talk about that thing that is eating you up but want to get it off your chest differently? Have you ever come to talk therapy and realized you aren’t sure where to start that day? Sand tray intervention or...
5 Essential Tips For Overcoming Life’s Challenges

5 Essential Tips For Overcoming Life’s Challenges

How To Handle Things When Everything Is Hard On the edge of Bryant Park on 42nd Street, behind the Fifth Avenue New York City Library with the resting lions in front, there’s a restaurant. An assistant editor from Glamour and I walked over from her office in the...

In our work we want to lower your stress and minimize any surprises. You are vulnerable enough coming into this situation. We want to reduce your worries.

 

We offer an initial 30 minute consultation, at no charge, in the office, with video chat or on the phone. Let’s discuss your needs, answer your questions and make a plan.

You have nothing to lose and a lot to gain by taking this little step.

WELCOME

Explore What’s Next offers psychotherapy, counseling, personal & executive coaching. We provide services for adults, couples, children, adolescents & families in a style that is compassionate, direct, and non-judgmental. Our approach is collaborative to maximize your counseling experience.

3 Steps to Being Happier Right Now

3 Steps to Being Happier Right Now

“To be in harmony with the wholeness of things is not to have anxiety over imperfections.” ~Dogen Zenji  You are not perfect. I am not perfect. We are whole and connected in our imperfection and that is a good thing. I'm just going to cut to the chase here...

read more

The Studio at Explore What’s Next offers gentle, nurturing self-care classes & workshops. We explore yoga, meditation & mindfulness as well as provide workshops, seminars & groups in a wide-array of subjects, from baby-proofing your relationship, living with chronic illness to financial wellness & more. All offerings are open to the public in our beautiful, ADA compliant space. Whatever you need, from individual counseling, help with parenting your teen, untangling a challenging relationship, to expert coaching for your business, the professionals of Explore What’s Next are here to support you.

Dr. Aletta and the Explore What’s Next therapists provide convenient office hours in a private, comfortable setting.
Whatever you need, from individual counseling, help with parenting your teen, untangling a challenging relationship, to expert coaching for your business, the professionals of Explore What’s Next are here to support you.

Dr. Aletta and the Explore What’s Next therapists provide office hours in a private comfortable setting as well as sessions via video or by phone.

A Chat with Nicole Brown About Bringing Home Baby

Explore What’s Next therapists offer an assortment of workshops, psycho-educational, supportive and process groups. We update the list here frequently so check in often!

Community Health and Advocacy Conference

Community Health and Advocacy Conference

Explore What's Next is a psychotherapy practice located in Western New York that stands out from other regional practices due to our support on trauma prevention and community intervention. As a forward-looking and proactive organization, we believe in looking towards...
What to Expect in Counseling

What to Expect in Counseling

Most people who begin counseling are not sure what to expect. There are so many myths about what happens in counseling that can be misleading or contradictory. For instance, in the movies or on TV shows we see the main character lying down on a couch and talking about...
The Only New Year’s Resolution I Need

The Only New Year’s Resolution I Need

My friend asked me if I made any New Year's resolutions. "I made only one resolution: to be nicer... to myself." She laughed. It was almost a spit-take! "I thought you were going to say 'be nicer to other people'," she said. "Nope," I said, "I'm good there. The...
The Tricky SCAMP of Overcoming Skin Picking and Hair Pulling Also Known As Body Focused Repetitive Behavior

The Tricky SCAMP of Overcoming Skin Picking and Hair Pulling Also Known As Body Focused Repetitive Behavior

The Tricky SCAMP of Overcoming Skin Picking and Hair Pulling Body Focused Repetitive Behavior Do you pick at your skin or have obsessive nail biting habits? Do you pull out your hair without awareness? If so, you may be struggling with a body-focused repetitive...
9 Steps to Getting Organized for a New Semester of College: Part 2

9 Steps to Getting Organized for a New Semester of College: Part 2

If you have not done so already, check out my blog post here on Part 1, Steps 1 – 5. Okay, you got your folders and notebooks (digital or hardcopy). Maybe you even organized your email and desktop.  You also got your calendar/ planner and a to-do list ready to go!...
5 Tips to Help Parents Survive Distance Learning

5 Tips to Help Parents Survive Distance Learning

Can Parents Survive Distance Learning? The answer is highlighted in 7 Tips! Kids with Attention Challenges & Remote Learning, your child is the main focus of distance learning, but don’t forget a KEY ingredient to your child’s success: YOU.  It might be easy...
7 Tips! Kids with Attention Challenges & Remote Learning

7 Tips! Kids with Attention Challenges & Remote Learning

Parent's all over the Western New York Region are experiencing the difficulty of connecting children with Attention Challenges to Remote Learning. Having the kids home 24/7 AND for many, also working from home, AND helping them each step of the way with their school...
Chronic Illness in the Time of COVID

Chronic Illness in the Time of COVID

In the old movie Broadcast News, the Holly Hunter character, I forget her name, would take time for herself every morning to cry. She just cried. There was no apparent trigger, no reason or justification ever given for why this intelligent, intense, professional woman...

In our work we want to lower your stress and minimize any surprises. You are vulnerable enough coming into this situation. We want to reduce your worries.

 

We offer an initial 30 minute consultation, at no charge, in the office, with video chat or on the phone. Let’s discuss your needs, answer your questions and make a plan.

You have nothing to lose and a lot to gain by taking this little step.