Art Therapy
Art therapy has clients express themselves through creative mediums such as drawing, painting, collage, coloring, or sculpting. Clients can interpret their subconscious world that is expressed in their art which could lead to a better understanding of their feelings and behavior. Artistic talent is not a prerequisite for art therapy as it’s not as much about the end result as much as it is about the process. The therapist looks for meaning in the creative choices of the work and the clients’ inner world. This therapeutic method enables clients to express their inner thoughts and feelings through creative expression rather than just talking about them.
Attachment-Based Family Therapy (ABFT)
Attachment-based family therapy (ABFT) is a form of psychotherapy that focuses on the family's relationships and communication patterns. It is based on the theory that strong and secure attachments between family members are essential for emotional health and well-being. The goal of ABFT is to identify any problems in family relationships, enable family members to become more attuned to each other’s needs, and build a secure bond between them. It also helps family members to practice healthy communication skills, learn effective problem-solving strategies, and build trust within the family.
Body-Mind Psychotherapy
Body-mind psychotherapy is an integrative approach to psychological treatment that draws from both psychotherapeutic and somatic/body-based approaches. It emphasizes the interconnection between physical, emotional, cognitive and spiritual aspects of being. This approach seeks to help individuals explore how physical sensations, emotions, thoughts and beliefs influence their behavior and well-being. Through this exploration, individuals can gain insight into how the body and mind interact to create patterns of behavior, and how those patterns can be changed to promote healing and wellness.
Brainspotting (BSP)
Brainspotting is a form of psychotherapy that uses eye positioning and body-based approaches to help people identify, process, and release emotional and physical distress. It is based on the idea that the body and mind are interconnected and that certain eye positions can help access and release stuck, unresolved emotions. Practitioners help clients reprocess negative events and retrain emotional reactions by guiding clients’ eyes, with a pointer, across their field of vision to find “brainspots”. Brainspots are eye positions that activate a painful emotion or trauma. Through the use of bilateral sound and/or vibration, the therapist helps the client to access and process difficult or traumatic memories and emotions, leading to lasting and positive changes in behavior and well-being.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a type of psychotherapy that focuses on how one's thoughts, feelings and behaviors are connected and can be changed. It is based on the idea that how we think (cognition) and how we feel (emotion) can influence how we behave. CBT helps people identify and challenge distorted thinking and replace it with more balanced thinking, leading to improved mood and behavior. ‘Homework’, usually containing practical writing exercises, is often completed by the client between sessions to reinforce the therapy. Examples of tools that practitioners often use are journaling, challenging beliefs, and mindfulness.
Cognitive Processing Therapy
Cognitive Processing Therapy is used to treat trauma and PTSD. During therapy, clients identify and understand their beliefs about their responses to their trauma. Inspecting their beliefs often leads clients to understand their emotions and thoughts in relation to the trauma. When the client is ready, practitioners give them tools to challenge their thoughts of the trauma as well as provide homework to solidify what they learned in sessions. In the later stages of therapy, practitioners teach clients how belief systems (about safety, self-esteem, trust, intimate relationships, control, and power) can change after trauma.
Emotion-Focused Therapy
Emotion-focused therapy (EFT) is a type of psychotherapy that is based on the idea that emotions play a key role in a person’s mental health. EFT focuses on helping people to identify, accept, and manage their emotions in a healthy and productive way. The goal of EFT is to help people identify and express their emotions, understand how those emotions impact their behavior, and learn how to manage their emotions in a way that is adaptive and healthy. EFT is a research-based approach to psychotherapy that has been found to be effective in helping people manage a variety of mental health conditions. It has been used successfully in the treatment of individuals, couples, and families, as well as with groups. EFT is particularly beneficial for people who struggle with emotional regulation, mood disorders, anxiety, trauma, and relationship issues.
Expressive Arts Therapy
Expressive Arts Therapy is particularly beneficial for clients who struggle with describing what they are feeling verbally. Through imagination and creation of different art forms, clients are able to interpret and communicate their inner world and catalyze healing. Expressive arts therapy can involve the use of multiple modalities, such as visual arts, music, movement, drama, storytelling, poetry, and play. It is used to help individuals of all ages, including children and adults, to explore their feelings, reconcile emotional conflicts, foster self-awareness, manage behavior and addictions, develop social skills, improve reality orientation, and solve problems.
Family Systems Therapy
Family Systems Therapy is an approach to psychotherapy that emphasizes the importance of understanding how the family functions as a whole, and how individual family members interact and affect one another. It focuses on how family dynamics, such as communication patterns, roles, and power dynamics, shape behavior, and how changing these dynamics can lead to positive change. Family Systems Therapy is a collaborative approach, where the therapist works with the family as a whole to identify and address areas of conflict and distress.
Gestalt Therapy
Gestalt therapy is an experiential, humanistic approach to psychotherapy that emphasizes personal responsibility, and that focuses on the individual's experience in the present moment. It explores an individual's emotions, behaviors, and thoughts, and how they may be influencing one another. It is rooted in the belief that people are responsible for their own experience, and that they can make conscious choices to improve their lives. The goal of gestalt therapy is to help individuals gain insight into their current experiences and to become aware of how their behaviors and thoughts shape their present reality.
Guided Imagery
Guided imagery is a form of visualization used for relaxation and healing. It uses the power of the imagination to create positive changes in a person's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. It is also used to reduce stress and anxiety, cope with physical and emotional pain, increase motivation, confidence, and self-esteem, and to improve focus and concentration. During a guided imagery session, the practitioner will guide the client through a series of visualizations, using words and descriptions to help them create mental images in their mind. These visualizations can take many forms, such as a comforting place from the past or the client’s future goals.
Integrative Psychotherapy
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Internal Family Systems (IFS) is an evidence-based psychotherapy that uses the metaphor of an internal family of parts to help people gain awareness of how different parts of themselves can interact in healthy and unhealthy ways. IFS encourages people to become curious about their different parts, with the goal of helping them gain access to their true Self or core. Through this process, people can learn to recognize and care for the different parts of themselves, as well as develop compassionate understanding for the origins of their parts. A key principle of IFS is that each part within the person has its own positive intention and is trying to protect the person in some way. By understanding the positive intention of each part, the practitioner and client can work together to help the parts feel heard and understood, and to find more adaptive ways of meeting their needs. IFS has been found to be an effective treatment for a variety of mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, trauma, and relationship issues.
Mentalization-Based Therapy (MBT)
Mentalization-Based Therapy (MBT) is a psychotherapy approach that focuses on helping individuals to understand and regulate their own and others' thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. MBT emphasizes the importance of understanding and reflecting on our own mental processes, while also recognizing and accepting the mental processes of others. The aim of MBT is to help individuals develop the skills necessary to accurately and effectively mentalize, or recognize and respond to their own and others' mental states. Through this process, clients can learn to better regulate their emotions, better manage interpersonal relationships, and gain a greater sense of self-awareness.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is a form of therapy that combines cognitive behavioral therapy with mindfulness practices. It is based on the idea that our thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations can affect our mental health. MBCT helps individuals become aware of their thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations in order to gain insight and control over them. MBCT helps clients learn how to recognize their sense of being and see themselves as separate from their thoughts and moods. This separation can free the client from thought patterns in which the repeated negative messages may be dominating the client’s focus. After developing an awareness of the separation between thoughts, emotions, and the self, people in treatment may find that while the self and the emotions may exist simultaneously, they do not have to exist within the same dimension. The healing can take place when one learns how to interject positive thoughts into negative moods and thereby create a shift in mood.
Play Therapy
Play therapy is an evidence-based, developmentally appropriate form of intervention used to facilitate emotional, cognitive, and social growth in children. Play therapy is based on the premise that play is the child's natural medium of self-expression and can be used to assess and help a child work through difficult emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. The goal of play therapy is to help children develop the skills and abilities to navigate life stressors, and build self-esteem. During treatment, the therapist creates a comfortable, safe environment (a playroom) for the child to play with as few limits as possible. The toys in the playroom are intended to encourage the child to express his or her feelings and develop healthier behaviors. The child’s “play” with these toys serve as the child’s symbolic words, which may be difficult to express otherwise.
Psychodrama
Psychodrama is a form of experiential therapy that can help people gain insight into their own behavior and develop healthier coping strategies. It involves using role-playing and group dynamics to explore and act out different scenarios in a safe setting. Psychodrama is grounded in principles of creativity and spontaneity. It evokes cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses in those in treatment and helps them achieve new perspectives through better understanding of their roles in life and the ways that they interact with others.
Psychodynamic Therapy
Psychodynamic therapy is a form of therapy that focuses on the unconscious mind and how it affects behavior. It works to help people understand and work through past experiences and feelings that may be causing difficulties in the present. This type of therapy encourages individuals to explore their emotions, relationships, and behaviors in order to gain insight into their current difficulties. It can help individuals better understand themselves and their motivations, and gain insight into how past events have impacted their current lives. People tend to develop defense mechanisms when faced with challenges in life. Defense mechanisms may keep painful feelings, memories, and experiences in the unconscious. A few common defense mechanisms include: denial, repression, and rationalization. Psychodynamic therapists encourage people to speak freely about their emotions, desires, and fears. Being open may help uncover vulnerable feelings that have been pushed out of conscious awareness. According to psychodynamic theory, behavior is influenced by unconscious thought. Once painful feelings are brought forth and processed, the defense mechanisms are no longer needed and a person in treatment can start changing unhelpful patterns when coping with life’s challenges.
Relational Psychotherapy
Relational psychotherapy is a form of psychotherapy that focuses on a person’s relationships with others and the dynamics between them. It emphasizes the importance of the therapeutic relationship between the client and the therapist, and it explores the meaning and purpose of relationships in the client’s life. Relational psychotherapy seeks to understand how the client’s past relationships shape their current experiences and how the client interacts with others. The goal is to help the person develop healthier relationships and better communication skills so they can become more emotionally connected to others.
Sandplay Therapy
Sandplay therapy is a form of psychotherapy that is based on Jungian psychology and is used to help children and adults explore their inner world using symbols and metaphors. It is a form of non-directive play therapy in which participants create a “sandbox” in which they construct three-dimensional scenes using tiny figurines and sand. Sandplay therapy is an effective form of therapy that helps clients explore their inner world, gain insight, and develop creative solutions to their problems. Sandplay therapy allows a person to construct their own microcosm using miniature toys and sand. What’s created acts as a reflection of the person’s own life and allows them the opportunity to resolve conflicts, identify and remove obstacles, and gain acceptance of self.
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy
Somatic Experiencing (SE)
Somatic Experiencing (SE) is a body-oriented approach to the healing of trauma and other physical and psychological stresses. It is based on the idea that the body is a powerful source of healing and that unresolved trauma can be resolved through the process of bringing awareness and attention to the physical sensations of the body. By gradually and gently guiding individuals through the sensations associated with their traumatic experience, SE can help to restore balance and well-being more quickly and effectively than traditional psychotherapy. SE utilizes the body’s natural ability to regulate and heal itself and supports individuals in developing more resilience and self-regulation. Somatic Experiencing aims to help people move past the place where they might be “stuck” in processing a traumatic event. SE is often used to treat symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues.
Systems Theory / Therapy
Systems therapy is a type of psychotherapy that focuses on understanding how people's behavior is affected by their relationships with others. This form of therapy is based on the idea that the individual is embedded within a larger system, such as a family unit or work environment, and that changes to that system can cause changes in an individual's behavior. Systems therapy emphasizes the importance of understanding how these systems interact and how they can be changed to improve the individual's mental health. The therapist works to identify patterns of behavior in the system, identify areas of conflict or stress, and help the individuals develop strategies to make changes within the system that will lead to healthier outcomes.
Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)
Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) is an evidence-based practice used to help children, adolescents and their parents who have experienced a single or multiple traumatic events. This type of therapy combines cognitive and behavioral strategies to help people process their traumatic experiences, manage their distress, develop coping skills, and restore their sense of safety and well-being. TF-CBT focuses on education and skill-building, creating an environment of safety and trust, and using therapeutic activities to help people understand their responses and control their symptoms. Children are shown how perceptions may be distorted and are given the tools to redesign those perceptions. TF-CBT is a skills-based model, and it requires the child and parent to practice its components in order to be optimally effective. Parents and children are commonly asked to practice skills at home.
Trauma-Informed Care
Sand Tray Therapy, Parent-Child Attachment
