Our Therapy Methods

DBT is a specialized type of cognitive-behavioral therapy that helps people manage intense emotions and improve relationships. It focuses on teaching skills like mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. It's typically used to treat Borderline Personality Disorder but can be used to treat other conditions where emotional dysregulation is a central feature. 

CBT is a type of psychotherapy that helps people identify and change negative thought patterns and behaviours. It focuses on understanding how thoughts influence feelings and actions, aiming to replace harmful or unhelpful thoughts with more balanced and constructive ones. CBT is evidence-based and widely used to treat various mental health conditions. 

ACT is a form of psychotherapy that encourages individuals to accept their thoughts and feelings rather than trying to control them. It teaches mindfulness and acceptance skills to help people live more fully in the present moment. ACT also emphasizes clarifying personal values and taking committed action towards goals aligned with those values, aiming to enhance psychological flexibility and resilience.

IFA is a therapeutic approach that views the mind as a system of various parts, each with its own unique characteristics and roles. These parts can be thought of as different aspects of a person's personality or psyche. In IFS therapy, the goal is to understand and harmonize these parts, often by identifying and addressing the protective roles they play. 

SFBT is a goal-oriented therapeutic approach that focuses on exploring and amplifying clients' strengths and resources rather than dwelling on problems or past issues. It encourages clients to envision their preferred future and collaboratively identifies small, manageable steps towards achieving those goals. SFBT emphasizes practical solutions, often resulting in relatively brief therapy durations compared to other approaches.

Somatic Therapy focuses on the connection between the mind and body. Therapists guide clients through exercises and interventions aimed at addressing bodily sensations, movements, and gestures to uncover and resolve emotional dysregulation. Techniques may include breathwork, mindfulness practices, and guided awareness of bodily sensations, adapted for online delivery through video or phone. This is sometimes leveraged for clients who prefer non-talk-based therapy. 

Psychodynamic therapy is a therapeutic approach that explores how unconscious thoughts and past experiences influence current behaviour, emotions, and relationships. It emphasizes gaining insight into these underlying factors to alleviate psychological distress and foster personal growth. The therapist and client work together to uncover unconscious patterns, unresolved conflicts, and defense mechanisms, often through open-ended discussions and interpretations. 

Mindfulness-based therapy integrates principles of mindfulness practice into therapeutic approaches, emphasizing present-moment awareness, non-judgmental acceptance of thoughts and feelings, and cultivating a compassionate attitude towards oneself and others. It draws from mindfulness traditions, such as mindfulness meditation, to help individuals develop skills in observing their thoughts and emotions without becoming overwhelmed by them.

Clinical trauma therapy is a specialized form of therapy designed to help individuals recover from the psychological effects of traumatic experiences. Therapists use evidence-based techniques to address symptoms such as flashbacks, hypervigilance, and emotional numbness. Treatment typically involves creating a safe environment for the client to process and integrate the traumatic memories, often using approaches like cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART), eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), or trauma-focused cognitive therapy (TF-CBT). 

MI is a collaborative, person-centered approach that aims to evoke and strengthen a person's motivation and commitment to change. It focuses on exploring ambivalence about change and resolving it through empathetic listening, reflective questioning, and affirming the client's autonomy and self-efficacy. It's used to help clients identify and articulate their own reasons for change, rather than imposing advice or directives. This approach is widely used in addressing behaviors like substance abuse and/or unhealthy habits.

Exposure Therapy is a form of CBT that gradually exposes individuals to feared objects, thoughts  or situations in a controlled and safe environment. Through repeated exposures, individuals are able to confront and reduce their fear or anxiety response by learning that the feared stimuli are not as dangerous as perceived. Therapists carefully structure exposures based on a hierarchy of feared situations, starting with less anxiety-provoking scenarios and progressing to more challenging ones as confidence and tolerance grow.