Modalities
Emotion Focused Therapy • EFT
A humanistic, evidence-based approach to psychotherapy, drawing primarily from attachment theory to facilitate the creation of secure, vibrant connection with self and others.
The central idea of EFT is that emotions are key to personal growth and change. By helping clients become more aware of their emotional experiences, the therapy aims to foster greater emotional intelligence and resilience.
In EFT, the therapist helps clients identify, explore, and transform maladaptive emotions—those that are stuck or harmful—while encouraging the development of more adaptive emotional responses.It is particularly effective in improving relationship dynamics and enhancing emotional connection in couples therapy.
Internal Family System • IFS
IFS helps people heal by accessing and healing their protective and wounded inner parts. IFS creates inner and outer connectedness by helping people first access their Self and, from that core, come to understand and heal their parts.
In therapy, the individual works to understand and connect with these parts, reducing internal conflict and fostering harmony within the internal system. The goal is to heal the wounded parts and help the protective parts trust the Self’s ability to lead.
IFS promotes self-compassion, inner balance, and emotional healing, and can be particularly effective for those dealing with trauma, anxiety, depression, and relational difficulties.
IFS is a non-pathologizing psychotherapy as well as a way of understanding personal and intimate relationships and stepping into life with the 8 C’s: confidence, calm, compassion, courage, creativity, clarity, curiosity and connectedness
Family Systems Therapy • FS
Family systems therapy is a form of psychotherapy that treats the family as a unit. It’s based on the premise that, when something affects one member, it affects every other family member as well; likewise, the strength and stability of a family unit can provide support when one member needs help.
Family systems therapy also focuses on the generational, social, community, and cultural factors that influence individuals and families.
Existential and
Phenomenological Therapy
Existential therapy is a philosophical approach to psychotherapy that focuses on exploring the fundamental issues of human existence, such as meaning, freedom, responsibility, and the inevitability of death. Rather than concentrating on symptoms or specific psychological diagnoses, existential therapy addresses the broader human concerns of finding purpose and navigating life’s uncertainties.
This therapeutic approach emphasizes the personal choice and responsibility each individual has in shaping their own life. It views emotional distress as a natural result of confronting life’s “existential givens,” such as the fear of mortality, feelings of isolation, and the search for meaning. Existential therapy encourages clients to reflect ono their values, beliefs and the choices they have made with the aim of helping them live more authentically and with a greater sense of purpose.
Therapists using existential therapy focus on helping clients become more aware of their freedom to make choices, while also acknowledging the inherent limitations of life. By confronting these existential concerns directly, clients are empowered to embrace their responsibility for creating meaning in their lives, even in the face of suffering or uncertainty. This approach is often effective for individuals facing life transitions, existential crises, or those seeking deeper self-understanding.
Psychodynamic Therapy
Psychodynamic therapy is a form of talk therapy that focuses on exploring unconscious thoughts, feelings, and childhood experiences to help individuals gain insight into their present behavior and emotions. Psychodynamic therapy emphasizes understanding the deeper, often hidden causes of emotional distress, relationship issues, and self-defeating behaviors.
By bringing unconscious conflicts and unresolved emotions to conscious awareness, psychodynamic therapy helps individuals gain insight into how these factors influence their present lives. This self-awareness enables clients to work through emotional difficulties, improve relationships, and develop healthier ways of coping with life’s challenges.
Sessions are typically open-ended, allowing clients to explore issues freely, with the therapist providing interpretations and insights to help uncover underlying psychological patterns.
Eye Movement Desensitization
Reprocessing • EMDR
A psychotherapy treatment designed to alleviate the distress associated with traumatic memories that is particularly effective for treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other trauma-related conditions.
EMDR therapy is unique in its approach to trauma by integrating aspects of cognitive, behavioral, and psychodynamic therapies into a short-term, efficient process. EMDR consists of eight stages that work to help alleviate emotional distress, reduce the vividness of traumatic memories, and lead to a healthier perspective on past experiences.
The way your mind works relies on the structure of your brain. That structure involves networks of communicating brain cells across many different areas. That’s especially the case with sections that involve your memories and senses. That networking makes it faster and easier for those areas to work together. That’s why your senses — sights, sounds, smells, tastes and feels — can bring back strong memories.
EMDR therapy doesn’t require talking in detail about a distressing issue. EMDR instead focuses on changing the emotions, thoughts or behaviors that result from a distressing experience.
Prolonged Exposure • PE
A structured approach to help clients confront and overcome post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Exposure is an intervention strategy commonly used in cognitive behavioral therapy to help individuals confront fears. Prolonged exposure is a specific type of cognitive behavioral therapy that teaches individuals to gradually approach trauma-related memories, feelings and situations.
Most people want to avoid anything that reminds them of the trauma they experienced, but doing so reinforces their fear. By facing what has been avoided, a person can decrease symptoms of PTSD by actively learning that the trauma-related memories and cues are not dangerous and do not need to be avoided.