Therapy Modalities

Person-Centered Therapy

Person-Centered Therapy assumes that people hold infinite opportunities for comprehending themselves and solving their own core issues.  The main factor of therapeutic outcome with this approach is the relationship between client and therapist. Strong therapeutic rapport allows clients to learn their capacity for healing and engage in self-guided progress. Clients use the relationship to foster greater honesty, open-mindedness, and willingness for deeper self-exploration. I operate from this perspective with attributes of authenticity, acceptance, presence, and empathy to promote this space of growth for clients, which in turn helps them better cope with problems as they identify them.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

The CBT approach emphasizes thinking, assessing, deciding, analyzing, and doing. It assumes that cognitions, emotions, and behaviors interact significantly in a cause-and-effect relationship. Through the therapeutic process, clients are taught skills that give them the tools to identify and dispute irrational beliefs. Clients also learn how to replace detrimental ways of thinking with effective and rational cognitions. When operating from this approach, my task is to help you differentiate between realistic and unrealistic thoughts, and between self-defeating and life-enhancing thoughts. My aim with CBT is also to teach you how to better recognize an incongruence with thoughts, feelings, and behaviors on your own, and re-direct them with coping skills. I still validate feelings with CBT, whether thoughts appear rational or irrational.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy

EMDR emphasizes treatment of toxic (and sometimes long-term) stress in the nervous system. Our nervous systems respond to adversity and stress with hard-wired responses that are programmed for survival. However, unresolved stress from trauma can damage our nervous systems, and result in symptoms related to anxiety and PTSD. EMDR is an intensive therapy that helps to metabolize maladaptively stored memories in the nervous system. Through the eight phases of EMDR, clients can heal formerly activating memories and triggers, by allowing these memory networks to become more adaptive. Clients can heal past traumas, learn to better tolerate present distress, and feel more confident about future fears.