Our Approach to Therapy

We provide individual therapy to teenagers, young adults, and adults using a humanistic approach, relying on you as the expert in your life. We tailor sessions to fit your personality, needs, and experiences, while also considering your life outside of session. We will work together to find the approach that works best for you, incorporating the following modalities into our sessions: Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Strength-Based Therapy, Solution Focused Therapy, Supportive Psychotherapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). We know that all the different acronyms and names can get confusing. If you want to learn more, we’ve included brief summaries below.

 

  • Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)

    Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is great if you feel overwhelmed by your emotions and struggle with behaviors you can’t seem to control. You will learn mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotional regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness skills that aim to help you to better handle difficult situations, stay present, communicate your needs, and improve your relationships with others. The main goal is to balance between acceptance that there are things you have no control over, which might cause you to feel a certain type of way, while also learning how to change the way you approach those situations, your reactions, and ultimately, your behaviors.

  • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

    Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) begins with acknowledging that suffering, to some degree, is an inescapable part of human existence. ACT teaches you how to lead fulfilling and meaningful lives in a world where you accept this reality. ACT focuses on the goal of increased “psychological flexibility,” and the 6 processes that promote this: (1) Contact with the present moment; (2) Acceptance; (3) Defusion; (4) Self as context; (5) Values; (6) Committed Action. ACT provides you with the skills to navigate psychological discomfort while allowing your values to guide you toward courses of action you are most likely to find truly fulfilling.

  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

    Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) works from the idea that our thoughts, behaviors, and emotions all have a substantial impact on one another. Your thoughts lead to certain emotions and feelings, which tend to drive your behaviors. You will learn how certain ways of thinking, such as "cognitive distortions" (i.e., unhelpful thoughts), can cause you to misinterpret situations, and may bring about unnecessary distress. CBT helps you to identify and challenge those thoughts, notice any negative behavior patterns that may follow, and gain the skills to change the way you approach the 'problem situations' so that you will feel less emotionally distressed.

  • Strength-Based Therapy

    Strength-Based Therapy highlights what is already good in you. By focusing on your existing positive, resilient, and resourceful qualities, there is an element of empowerment found in this type of approach. This is great for building up confidence and self-esteem.

  • Solution Focused Therapy

    Solution Focused Therapy spends less time looking at why you might feel the way you do and instead focuses on how to address it. The idea is not to look into your past; but, rather, to find solutions to the problem in the present by exploring your hopes for the future.

  • Supportive Psychotherapy

    Supportive Psychotherapy relies on the therapeutic relationship to create a safe, warm, nonjudgmental space for you to talk freely about anything on your mind. The focus is on present concerns and helping you to work through and improve on current things that are bothering you.

Common Topics

  • At times, our emotions can take such a hold that they affect our ability to focus and to stay present. As an emotion consumes you, the more anxious you may become. How do I get out of this feeling? How can I get anything else done? Maybe you’ve tried to find ways to avoid those negative emotions (some common ways people protect themselves from negative emotions are to develop people-pleasing tendencies, perfectionist traits, engage in toxic positivity by always saying everything is “great”, seek connection from others in negative ways to feel seen and heard in those moments to alleviate the feeling externally, and/or to numb oneself). We get it. Emotions can be scary at times. They can lead you to snap at people, isolate, and engage in thought-spiraling. We work to help you identify potential triggers to your overwhelming emotions and also to develop the skills to address them.

  • Relationships, Self-Esteem, and Boundaries

    Humans desire and need connection. The ability to have healthy relationships with family, friends, and partners depends on how well you communicate your needs, express your emotions, and maintain a sense of independence within that relationship. There might be times you are questioning if the relationship is still right for you, struggling after a break-up, or unclear on what you want. All of these are reasons to look at the dynamic at play and at your self-esteem.  

    Self-esteem is the ability to accept yourself as you are and to believe in your own worth. When you begin to recognize your worth, a shift happens, and you start to notice the people in your life who don’t realize your worth. We can explore all of this together and figure out how to best approach it.

  • Simply put, life happens, and we can all use a little extra support in those moments. You might be experiencing a life transition – starting college, graduating, new job, break up, marriage, baby, etc. You might be in the same place, but something around you changed - a friend you got into a fight with who isn’t talking to you right now, a teacher who gave you a bad grade, but you have the rest of the year in their class, or a new boss you dislike. You might just feel stuck and are questioning if you’re in the right place. Change, even when it is positive, can be scary at times because it’s different and unknown. We are here to help you through it all.