Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT)
ACT is a psychotherapeutic approach centered around fostering psychological flexibility and resilience. Rooted in mindfulness and acceptance strategies, ACT encourages individuals to embrace their thoughts and feelings rather than resisting or avoiding them. Through a blend of cognitive-behavioral techniques and mindfulness practices, ACT aims to support patients in developing a deeper understanding of their values and take committed action toward living a more fulfilling life. ACT is well-suited for patients who are willing to be gently challenged and shift their perspective - whether psychotherapeutic experience is brand-new or familiar. No matter the cause or root issue, ACT aims to empower individuals to engage fully in the present moment, positively shift their relationship to unhelpful internal narratives, and take meaningful steps towards personal growth and valued living.
Depth Psychology
Depth intervention is often well-suited for patients who have had several past therapy experiences, as this approach requires a willingness and readiness to “dive deep.” In depth psychology, providers focus on bringing unconscious material to awareness to help patients disrupt unhelpful patterns and build curiosity into the mind’s functioning. Patients are asked to be radically honest about their wishes, fantasies, and even dreams that tend to reveal material that would otherwise not be accessed. Patients interested in this approach are encouraged to log experiences with the unconscious and bring them to the next session as a trial. If patients are satisfied with the result of this trial, depth work continues. Otherwise, an alternate approach may be selected. Patients will receive guidance to address barriers to their process. Assigned work between sessions may include meditations, reflective journaling, symbol research, and artwork based on patient preferences and provider recommendations.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT is a widely-practiced psychotherapeutic approach that targets the connection among thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. CBT-oriented clinicians help patients to identify and challenge negative thought patterns and beliefs that contribute to distressing emotions and maladaptive behaviors. CBT is well-suited for patients who are willing to challenge thought patterns directly to incorporate adaptive ways of thinking and being. Sessions typically involve collaborative goal-setting, psychoeducation, skill-building exercises, and homework assignments to reinforce learning between sessions. Typical outcomes include symptom reduction, improved coping skills, and enhanced quality of life.
Relational Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
Contemporary psychodynamic practice is among the most popular insight-oriented treatment approaches. Relational work involves building insight into interpersonal functioning within the psychotherapeutic relationship and in external contexts. Attention is drawn to patterns operating outside of awareness (unconsciously), which may be residual patterns from childhood, past relationships, or habitual trauma responses. While relational work tends to occur over the long-term, time-limited dynamic psychotherapy is possible within 16-24 sessions if patients have few and targeted treatment goals.
Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT)
IPT for Depression is well-suited for patients motivated to reduce depressive symptoms in a time-limited manner. Patients and their provider select a focus area within one of four domains: (1) grief, (2) role transitions, (3) interpersonal conflict, or (4) interpersonal deficits. The initial three-to-five sessions involve an interpersonal interview focused on the most important relationships in one’s life (past and present). This information informs the remaining sessions’ focus within the selected domain. The treatment duration tends to fall between 12 and 20 sessions.
Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)
CPT is well-suited for patients who have trauma-related beliefs that interfere with their here-and-now functioning (“stuck points”).
Common stuck points:
-“I am never safe.”
-“I cannot trust others.”
-“Because of my trauma, I am broken.”
Sessions are highly structured, generally span 10-to-12 sessions, and involve written homework that is reviewed in the subsequent session. While not required, patients are strongly encouraged to complete a written account of their trauma narrative, and re-writes, to facilitate emotional processing.
Typical outcomes of this treatment include decreases in posttraumatic stress symptoms and greater thought flexibility. Following this brief protocol, most patients elect to continue in psychotherapy to address remaining symptoms and barriers to wellbeing.
Prolonged Exposure (PE)
In trauma work, we must sometimes tell the stories that bother us most.
PE is well-suited for patients who hold memories that seem "untouchable." Perhaps when the memory arises, one's first instinct is to push it back down. However, memories such as these influence how we move through the world (or how we don't). When trauma-related avoidance has limited your options, PE may be one method for you to learn how to co-exist with your most frightening lived experiences.
Sessions are highly structured, generally span 10-to-12 meetings, and involve experiential homework that is reviewed in the subsequent session. In-session work includes constructing an exposure hierarchy of feared but necessary activities (e.g., entering public spaces, sitting with your back to others) and repetitions of the trauma narrative. Sessions may extend beyond the typical therapy hour (up to 90 minutes) to allow sufficient time for patients to repeat their trauma narrative, experience habituation (i.e., allowing the mind to calm from initial anxiety), and processing of emergent themes. This process, while often intense, facilitates emotional healing and symptom reductions as you learn you can voice your trauma and move toward value-aligned actions.
Typical outcomes of this treatment include decreases in posttraumatic stress symptoms and higher engagement in previously avoided activities. Following this brief protocol, most patients elect to continue in psychotherapy to address remaining symptoms and barriers to wellbeing.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Skills
Everyone may benefit from enhanced coping skills.
A common misconception is that skills use is designed to get rid of tricky emotions, thoughts, and impulses. Instead, skills help us to navigate these experiences in a mindful manner without losing valuable emotional data. Skills coaching maps onto the four modules of DBT: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. At this time, a full treatment course in DBT is not offered.
To support mental health recovery between sessions, and as-desired, skills coaching is incorporated into any of the psychotherapeutic approaches offered within the practice.
Couples & Relationship Psychotherapy
Relationship psychotherapy offers a safe and confidential space where partners work collaboratively to overcome barriers to intimacy and connection. You can expect a strengths-based and collaborative approach while being challenged via interpretations of problem areas, homework assignment for completion between sessions, and experiential practice of skills within sessions. Many patients seek relationship therapy to address various problem areas, such as infidelity, decreased intimacy and connection, conflict, adjustment concerns with life and identity transitions, and navigating open and/or polyamorous relationships. Providers affirm gender and sexual minority (GSM) identities and kink community participation.
Please note that, at this time, relationship psychotherapy is unavailable when cases meet the following criteria: active intimate partner violence (IPV), cases with active or likely court involvement (e.g., divorce), or cases involving complex child-rearing or child custody scenarios. All work will be completed with the assumption all partners are presenting for treatment to build bridges to one another for a long-lasting connection. There are external providers who more routinely address legal concerns and who have the requisite experience within the court system if this work is needed.