According to a recent update provided by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, “Everyone has a role to play in turning the tide against obesity….” The effects of COVID-19 are impacting us all in different, yet similar ways- individuals, couples, children, and families, employers/ employees, groups, organizations, communities, and businesses have all been impacted. Everyone has needed to make changes. Change, while not an easy process for some, is a part of life. COVID-19 has demonstrated our capacity for change, and yet people cope with these changes in different ways. Our physical, mental- behavioral, and spiritual health and wellness has all been affected. Since the conditions brought about by COVID-19 have been impacting many children, families, and stakeholders at all levels of influence in mixed and varied ways, many treatable conditions are reportedly on the rise again. So many primary and secondary health conditions can place individuals at an even greater risk for contracting other forms of “dis-ease”. The effects of various “coping” strategies people may choose to use, for better or worse, consciously, or unconsciously, can also affect us all. Change is not easy. Change can be messy. It can be very painful and difficult. Counselors can help people who have more difficulty accepting and coping with changes move through the stages of change process faster. Counselors can also help individuals who need to learn skills and tools to better protect their own health and wellness mitigate the effects of how others around them may choose to cope or not cope so well with changes. When individuals who need support do not enlist the proper mental-behavioral health support professionals when they are needed and/or refuse to receive treatment when treatment is needed, everyone involved truly pays a price. Denial that a problem exists is one of the most dangerous ways of coping. Recognition that a problem exists is the first step to “recovery”. While we have all needed to navigate through so many changes not only in the ways we are working, communicating, learning, and relating to one another, many of us are now also experiencing the effects of decreased access to those events, people, places, and/or things that are correlated with more joy. With more limited contact and access to doing the types of things we enjoy doing and seeing the types of people we appreciate and enjoy seeing, depression, anxiety, and other conditions can set in. “Conditions caused by conditions.” “Behaviors Selected Through Environments”. Creating and engineering healthier and happier learning environments and ways of doing things was one of Dr. Rehak's specialty areas for many years. A Better understanding of how the arrangement and interactions of certain environmental events and factors can cluster and work together (or not work so well together) is essential. What situations or events will likely lead to increases or decreases in the future frequency of other events, requires a more functional approach, thorough level of analysis, understanding, and world view not only to medicine, but to all areas of health care, human development, education, and life. Taking the time to truly think about the effects our actions or inactions might have on others comes more naturally to some than others. The development and implementation of Preventative care models can lead to a Better understanding and more thorough investigation regarding some more of the reasons behind our “current conditions”, in other words, which can help us all continue to not only move forward in more positive and productive ways, but also help us to learn the lessons and make changes when changes are needed. Taking time to “REVIEW”, “REFLECT”, & “REVISE” requires us all to take more personal responsibility for the choices we choose to make and the effects these choices may have on not only our own lives, but on the lives of the people around us. Coaching, Counseling, and Consulting Services can help and will continue to be available to those in need.
https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/obesity-and-covid-19.html
Dr. Rehak completed her graduate school and degree programming in both Clinical & Counseling Psychology in 2005 from La Salle University. She went on to obtain additional advanced degrees and training in Education, Special Education, Behavior Analysis, Behavioral Health & Medicine. She has attended and helped develop a number of other advanced and integrative behavioral health treatment and healing/ wellness modalities and training programs. She possesses a Doctoral Degree in Education from Arcadia University, and she still maintains active licensures and certifications in several other discipline areas as well. Her Undergraduate Degree Programming included Dual Certifications in both Regular Education & Special Education, with a Bachelor’s in Science Degree from a local university, Gwynedd-Mercy University. Dr. Rehak remains a huge fan of #Loco4Local Practices.
IIBD was officially incorporated in 2005.
Treating individuals and families affected by excessive substance use (addictions) and other treatable conditions was one of her speciality areas. This was her primary area of concentration in her graduate training and advanced degree programming at La Salle University.
In addition to working with other diverse clients and groups over the years, Dr. Rehak taught and worked with many different university degree programs and helped develop content leading to course-sequence approvals. She also assisted with internships and practicum placements, job placements, staffing, and many research projects as well.
Healings and Meditations, as well as other relaxation techniques, including massage therapy, are also now available through the IIBD Service Center and can be scheduled privately, through the site, @TheIIBD.com. Amanda Howard will be the primary properly credentialed provider, professionally delivering these services through her organization @The IIBD Service Center.
To contact Dr. Rehak directly to schedule an intake appointment for the types of coaching, counseling, or consulting services she is currently able to provide, please use the site, TheIIBD.com, or KimberlyRehak.com to make your initial point of contact. You can also call 445.200.7423.
Dr. Kim Rehak has experience working in the applied, experimental, and conceptual realms of Private Practice for many years and through IIBD (International Institute For Behavioral Development, DBA Education Designers), specifically, for 15 years. She worked in many different settings and with many different teams, representing the full continuum of educational services available (in homes, communities, schools, center-based programs, in-patient and out-patient treatment facilities), as well as across the full continuum of mental-behavioral health care, providing educational, psychological, and behavioral health services using clinical approaches as well before retiring from these roles. She helped develop the types of effective treatment and programming available to meet the increasingly diverse needs of many different populations, groups, individuals and organizations, both individually and collectively.
In the more recent past, She created the Model and Model Site location for Clinical Counseling Pediatrics, part of Pediatric Behavioral Health Care. She is currently working with Scarlett Mendoza on another Model and Model Site location For Education by Education Designers.
Dr. Kim taught over 150 graduate courses in Education, Special Education, Parenting, Criminal Justice, Sociology, Public Safety, Behavior Analysis, Autism, and Psychology at Arcadia University, St. Joseph's University, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, Ball State University, and Lehigh University. She worked with hundreds of other university degree programs throughout her tenure and assisted with supervision and internship placements, practicum assignments, and in other roles, helping to provide supervision and experience hours and opportunities for enrolled students in need of hands-on experience. Dr. Kim is a BIG, HUGE fan of real-world learning experiences. Dr. Kim created content leading to the development of approved coursework series and degree programs (delivered online, in-person, & using hybrid/ blended options). Contributing to the development of additional research, directly and indirectly, legislation, curricula, and assessments, while simultaneously helping to bridge the gaps between what the research says, legislative mandates say, and the conceptual / experimental realms of actual practice actually show remains a real passion of hers. Creating more synergy and consistency between these “worlds” might help bring more balance to the world. Bringing knowledge of new and not so new, yet enhanced techniques, approaches, and ways of doing things can actually interact and work together to improve people's daily lives and access to quality of life experiences remains a part of her life's work and legacy. Education and drug prevention in the form of increasing not only awareness about unnecessary, preventable suffering cannot be anymore important than right now. Dr. Rehak always hi-lighted these ideas in her practices. Moving this important work from labs and journals to more homes, classrooms, communities, health care entities, legislators, judges, attorneys, and police departments as well as government officials, agencies, organizations, and other forms of law enforcement is so desperately needed). People leading everyday lives, in everyday situations, can also access the types of treatment and services that can be used to help support their needs, in REAL and OBSERVABLE ways. Over the course of her professional careers, Dr. Kim contributed to the development of various institutes leading to not only certifications, task forces, initiatives, and other organizational groups, but helped achieve her sincere goal of increasing the capacity of these entities to establish criterion and competencies that worked together to help ensure professionals and parents were receiving the support and training they needed to help the most vulnerable make progress, advocating for not only designs, models, and services, but more access, in all its forms. No person or group has the right to block that kind of access. With increasing access to technology, the safety of children and families is at risk. Currently there are no licensing or certification requirements in technology and with increasing access to technology comes increasing “oversight” and “monitoring” responsibilities. Technology specialists need to be working directly with entities much more closely since so many professionals and groups are not used to working with technology in these ways. Licensing boards and certification boards were designed to protect the public, increase the capacity of professionals in their areas of expertise and roles to not only create higher standards for care and practice, but to ensure more ethical codes of conduct were in place and accountability for the professionals bound by the codes for that particular license and/or certification. Helping to protect the public and “Do No Harm” is not an option. It is absolutely necessary when working with human lives. Dr. Kim is looking forward to more technologists and specialists in these areas continuing to work more closely together to help devise more regulatory practices that will help to ensure the health, safety, welfare, and security of children and families everywhere.
Currently, Dr. Kim is available Tuesdays and Wednesdays, on a limited, part-time basis to continue to provide some of the professional services she once provided nationally and internationally through her part-time, local Private Practice @ The IIBD Service Center, by appointment only, and on a case-by-case basis, following an intake appointment with her, directly.
Some continued focus areas will include:
Coaching
Counseling
Consulting Services
Dr. Kimberly Rehak is a Board Certified TeleMental Health Provider. The BC-TMH credential identifies those Professionals who are uniquely trained in best practices for delivering traditional behavioral healthcare through technological means. She was formerly a Distance Credentialed Counselor, and she maintains her Telehealth Practitioner Certification. She used technology for many years to meet the needs of her clients and contracted providers and groups and advocated strongly for the inclusion of these platforms not only to increase access to the technology but more importantly to facilitate increased access to the services people needed but might not have been able to access otherwise. She used technology to facilitate coaching, counseling, and consulting services far and wide, prior to COVID-19. Dr. Rehak completed advanced training and programming in Clinical Telepractice Issues (Handling online emergencies) and Non-Violent Crisis Prevention Intervention. She was formerly a Certified Instructor in this area also, providing staff trainings, oversight, and support to various groups and providers. While Dr. Rehak is currently not actively providing additional professional services she formerly once provided, she maintains her Board Certification in Behavior Analysis at the Doctoral level, with the supervisory capability, and she continues to possess Licensures and Certifications in multiple discipline areas. She is licensed by the State Board of Social Workers, Marriage & Family Therapists, and Licensed Professional Counselors, and The State Board of Medicine. She continues to also maintain an active certification as a Clinical Trauma Treatment Professional and Certified Assertiveness Coach. She is an active member of The International Association of Trauma Professionals as well as the American Counseling Association. She is an affiliate member of Applied Behavior Analysis International, The American Psychological Association, The Association for Counselor Education & Supervision, The American Mental Health Counselor's Association, The American Counseling Association Foundation, NARACES, and she continues to contribute in more limited ways to the following SIGS (special interest groups, committees, and sub-committees): SUD, Integrated BH, MH Parity, Child & Adolescent BH, Suicidality and Suicide Prevention, MH Education, CMHC Professional Identity and Practice Rights (SOP). She is a retired teacher of the National Educator's Association (retiring from the only school district with which she was ever employed) in SE PA in 2019. She worked as a classroom teacher before becoming a consultant in this district prior to retiring. She is proud to be a new member of the Pennsylvania Association of School Retirees. “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world” Nelson Mandela
