Family counseling group melds physical and mental health

If she were to evaluate herself honestly, psychologist Darcy Buehler might conclude she enjoys her work a little too much. That’s especially true since she moved Affiliated Family Counselors into bigger quarters in Wilson Estates Medical Park, doubling the size of its staff.

“I’m out here a lot of Saturdays and Sundays. I like golf, but I’d rather be here,” Buehler said with a smile. “That’s weird, I know.”

It’s not strange to Buehler, who seems to be trying to offer solutions to as many problems as possible under one roof. Affiliated offers help for everything from anxiety and anger management to parenting, post traumatic stress disorder and weight loss. “We cover it all,” Buehler said.

That’s in part because Buehler believes that one size does not fit all.

“I feel therapy is more of an art that a science,” she said. “You have to put yourself into it if you’re going to help people.”

Since the move, Affiliated has added a “wellness component” in the form of massage, yoga, Pilates and tai chi classes – “which all work together to help mental health, in my opinion,” Buehler said.

There’s even an infrared sauna.

Buehler grew up in Great Bend, earning a bachelor’s degree in family and child development from Kansas State University, a master’s in student personnel and guidance from Wichita State University, and a doctorate in psychology from the University of Kansas.

She worked as a school counselor in Great Bend and Ottawa before moving to Wichita in the late 1980s. She opened Affiliated Family Counseling in 1993, adding personnel as she went along. She’s written two books – “Think Yourself Thin” and “Seven Simple Steps To Stop Smoking.”

She bought the 9,000-square-foot building in Wilson Estates when it became available earlier this year. It has space for 24 mental health and medical practitioners, four wellness instructors and eight support staffs. Psychiatrist Paul Murphy has located his practice in the building as well. All except the support staff are independent contractors.

Marriage and family counseling, drug and alcohol problems, eating disorders and tobacco cessation are among the areas in which counselors work, both in individual and group settings.

A certified yoga instructor, Buehler believes that good physical health can dramatically impact a person’s mental state.

In her new location, she said, “I felt like I could really implement my idea of the preventive approach. People are overweight, they smoke, and they wonder why they don’t feel good.”

Offering wellness classes in the same building might also lessen the stigma some people could feel about coming to Affiliate for mental health counseling, Buehler said, quickly adding that she doesn’t think any such stigma should exist.

“I’ve been in therapy. I think everybody should. Anna Freud said everybody should.”

Buehler said she spends about half her time seeing patients and the rest running her business. Her father “was quite the entrepreneur, so I come by that naturally.”

This story was originally published June 10, 2015 at 10:27 AM with the headline "Family counseling group melds physical and mental health."