APPROACH

Successful psychotherapy requires that it be tailored to each client. While my primary approach for counseling is psychodynamic, I often utilize a combination of approaches in order to adapt to your needs throughout our work together.  I have listed these approaches with brief descriptions below.  

​

P S Y C H O D Y N A M I C   T H E R A P Y

To gain insight and awareness of your unconscious beliefs, thoughts, and feelings that impact your current or conscious behavior, we will focus on emotions, identify themes and patterns, past experience, interpersonal relationships, transference, defense mechanisms, resistance, wishes, fantasies, and dream work.   

​

P E R S O N - C E N T E R E D   T H E R A P Y

This foundational approach to therapy helps to establish and maintain an environment of trust and safety by being genuine, empathetic, understanding, validating, non-judgmental, and supportive and accepting you as you are.  It includes working to understand your view of yourself, others and the world; this will enable you to better understand yourself and to be able to explore your experience and emotions more effectively.          

​

A T T A C H M E N T - B A S E D   T H E R A P Y

This is useful for those of you who did not have a secure attachment growing up and/or have difficulty with current relationships.  Having a secure attachment means that you have confidence in yourself, know your worth, are able to reach out for support, communicate your needs, and share your feelings with trusted individuals.  This approach also involves inner child work in order to assist you with healing your unmet childhood needs and accepting yourself, as well as gaining insight into how your attachment style impacts your current relationships and issues.       

​

E M O T I O N - F O C U S E D   T H E R A P Y   ( E F T )

To enable healing and change requires a deeper level of exploration into your emotions.   It is vital to understand how your emotions connect to your view of yourself and others and how they connect to patterns and your attachment style.  This is especially helpful in my work with couples.               

​

S O L U T I O N - F O C U S E D   T H E R A P Y 

To find solutions to your difficulties, I will help you to identify what you want to change by focusing on what is working or has worked in the past, measuring progress, and identifying your strengths and resources that will assist in achieving those goals. 

​

C O G N I T I V E   B E H A V O R I A L   T H E R A P Y  ( C B T )

This approach includes psychoeducation (providing you with information regarding your diagnosis, symptoms and modes of treatment), self-monitoring, and helping you to identify and challenge negative thought processes, assumptions, distortions and behaviors, ultimately replacing them with healthier alternatives.  This information includes early maladaptive schemas which include core beliefs about yourself and your relationships and experiences with others that originated in childhood.              

​

R A T I O N A L   E M O T I V E   B E H A V I O R   T H E R A P Y  ( R E B T)

This approach is used to challenge your irrational thoughts  to assist with facilitating change in your emotions and behaviors.

​

M O T I V A T I O N A L   E N H A N C E M E N T   T H E R A P Y  ( M E T )

To help you achieve your therapy goals that align with your values, I use various techniques to explore your issues, empower and motivate you. 

​

D I A L E C T I C A L   B E H A V I O R A L   T H E R A P Y  ( D B T )

By exercising mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal/effectiveness skills, this therapy approach can help you to recognize, accept and manage intense emotions in a healthy way and improve your relationships.      

​

C R E A T I V E   T H E R A P Y  

Because it can sometimes be difficult to cope and articulate your thoughts and feelings, music, drawing, coloring and other forms of art can assist you in coping and expressing your thoughts and feelings creatively.

​

A C C E P T A N C E   A N D   C O M M I T M E N T   T H E R A P Y  ( A C T )

Self-compassion is helpful for the healing process.  This approach helps you learn to separate yourself from your thoughts, accepting your thoughts and feelings, and determining or becoming clearer about what your values are to help guide your behavior.     

G E S T A L T   T H E R A P Y 

This approach explores what occurs in session with your body language, thoughts and feelings and uses techniques to facilitate working through internal conflicts or conflict with others, and working through feelings.

​

E X I S T E N T I A L   T H E R A P Y 

This therapy approach will benefit those who want to explore and confront anxiety about loss, death, isolation, loneliness, hopelessness and to help you find meaning and purpose in your life.

​

A D L E R I A N   T H E R A P Y 

This therapy approach explores family constellation which involves how many people are in your family, birth order, ages, and pattern of thoughts and interactions between family members, as well as earlier memories of your life that impacted your personality and sense of belonging with others.  It also includes techniques to help you find ways to gain insight and a sense of control over your emotions.