Behavioral Health
J. Silva Goncalves, LMSW, EDD
Dr. Silva is a motivational therapist. He has over 40 years of experience working with complex behavior health issues, family integration/re-unification, and performance. His treatment curriculum follows a fifteen chapters book, Live 100% Now, 2nd edition in progress.
He believes that behaviors do not have an age limit. Therefore, he is willing to help children, as young as 4 years of age; and adults up to 102 years old. The first session will serve as an assessment of compatibility between provider and client.
His treatment approach consists of teaching Maximum Performance Management© to improve joy, productivity, and achievement. Achievement increases joy and so on, in a recurring cycle of success. Reducing sadness (the past) and anxiety (the future) will improve our quality of life, one day at a time. However,
to reduce anxiety and depression generally does not have a long-term effect unless the client practices a new script beyond the clinical setting. A one-hour session helps, but if a new positive script is not practiced daily, the client will face 167 hours
a week in a fallen world forgetting the positive script for better living. We will work to replace the broken record of negativity with a script for joyful living. Changes must generalize from the clinical setting to other environments such as home, school, and work.
Dr. Silva has served as Director of Treatment in the Michigan Department of Mental Health, and the Department of Corrections. He served as a successful hostage negotiator and collaborated with the Michigan Office of the Attorney General on litigation issues. He served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Behavior
Management Quarterly. He served at the University of Michigan in several areas, and later established the Psychological and Career Services at Ave Maria University, in Michigan and in Florida. After retirement, he is now serving patients at Emmaus Health. He is currently working on a chapter addressing the harms of Obsessive-
Compulsive-Disorder (OCD) and how some cases may harmfully grow and generalize across settings, persons, and situations such as the Church community.
Languages: English and Portuguese (fluent)
