Therapeutic Approaches

ACT encourages individuals to accept their thoughts and feelings rather than fighting or feeling controlled by them. It supports people in building psychological flexibility by using mindfulness and behavioral change strategies, helping them align actions with their values and increase life satisfaction.

Attachment Theory in therapy offers a powerful framework for understanding and addressing relational patterns that stem from early experiences with primary caregivers. Developed by John Bowlby and expanded by Mary Ainsworth, attachment theory posits that our earliest relationships shape our expectations of closeness, security, and trust, influencing how we connect with others throughout life. In a therapeutic setting, a counsellor can explore clients’ attachment styles—whether secure, anxious, avoidant, or disorganized—to help identify underlying fears, relational challenges, and coping mechanisms rooted in these early attachments. By examining these patterns, clients can gain insight into how their attachment style impacts current relationships, often manifesting as struggles with intimacy, trust, or self-worth. Therapists may work to foster a secure, supportive alliance that offers corrective emotional experiences, encouraging clients to form healthier relationships and develop a stronger sense of self. Through this work, clients can learn to recognize and transform outdated attachment patterns, building new relational templates that promote resilience, connection, and fulfillment in their personal lives.

Child-Centered Play Therapy (CCPT) is a therapeutic approach that provides children with a safe and supportive space to express their emotions, process experiences, and explore their world through play. Recognizing that children often communicate their thoughts and feelings best through play rather than words, CCPT allows them to work through challenges in a natural, self-directed way. In a play therapy session, the therapist acts as a compassionate facilitator, creating an accepting and nurturing environment where the child feels free to lead the process. This approach promotes emotional resilience, fosters self-confidence, and supports children in developing healthy coping skills to navigate life’s difficulties. CCPT is effective for children experiencing a variety of concerns, including anxiety, trauma, behavioral issues, and family changes.

CBT is a structured, short-term approach that focuses on changing negative thought patterns to improve mood and behavior. By identifying and challenging unhelpful thoughts, individuals can develop healthier ways to cope with stress, anxiety, depression, and other issues.

The Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) approach in therapy is a structured yet flexible method aimed at helping clients address challenges by fostering mutual understanding, skill-building, and partnership. Rooted in empathy and a non-punitive mindset, CPS emphasizes collaboration over compliance, making it particularly effective for individuals, couples, and families struggling with relational or behavioral issues. Therapists using CPS engage clients in open discussions to identify the underlying causes of their struggles, focusing on skill deficits rather than assigning blame. By involving clients in identifying their own solutions, CPS nurtures their problem-solving abilities, communication skills, and resilience. This approach aligns with trauma-informed principles by recognizing and respecting each person’s experiences and perspectives, making it a powerful tool in promoting positive change and sustainable growth within relationships.

Complex trauma therapy is a specialized therapeutic approach designed to address the profound and multifaceted effects of prolonged exposure to trauma, often stemming from repeated experiences such as abuse, neglect, or chronic interpersonal violence. Unlike traditional trauma therapy that typically focuses on a single traumatic event, complex trauma therapy recognizes the cumulative impact of ongoing trauma on an individual’s emotional, psychological, and relational well-being. This approach aims to help clients process and integrate their traumatic experiences, develop a deeper understanding of how these experiences have shaped their sense of self and relationships, and cultivate effective coping strategies. Through techniques that may include trauma-informed care, somatic experiencing, and narrative therapy, clients work to rebuild safety and stability in their lives, ultimately fostering resilience and a renewed sense of identity. Complex trauma therapy empowers individuals to reclaim their narratives, promote healing, and establish healthier relationships with themselves and others.

Often used for trauma survivors, CPT helps individuals process traumatic events by examining and restructuring distressing beliefs related to the trauma. This approach assists clients in reducing trauma-related symptoms and gaining a clearer, more compassionate perspective on their experiences.

This approach to grief work supports maintaining a meaningful relationship with a deceased loved one rather than focusing solely on detachment. It can offer comfort to grieving individuals by validating ongoing emotional connections, promoting healing and resilience.

Originally developed for borderline personality disorder, DBT helps individuals regulate intense emotions and improve interpersonal effectiveness through mindfulness, distress tolerance, and emotional regulation techniques. It’s effective for mood disorders, self-harm, and relationship issues.

The Dual Process Model of grief recognizes that grieving individuals oscillate between confronting and avoiding their loss. By balancing these processes, it supports healthy adjustment, allowing space for both mourning and restoration-focused activities.

Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) is an evidence-based approach that focuses on the emotional bonds between individuals, primarily in couples therapy but also used with families and individuals. EFT aims to identify and transform negative interaction patterns by helping clients express their needs, fears, and vulnerabilities in a safe and supportive environment. By deepening emotional connection and fostering secure attachment, EFT supports individuals in recognizing and changing the ways they respond to each other during times of stress or conflict. This process strengthens the emotional bond, encourages open communication, and builds a foundation of trust and empathy. EFT is particularly effective for those who feel disconnected or trapped in repetitive conflicts, as it helps reshape interactions, allowing for more meaningful and compassionate connections.

EFFT empowers caregivers and family members to support the emotional health of their loved ones, particularly when facing mental health challenges. It strengthens family relationships, enhances communication, and fosters a supportive home environment for healing.

This approach identifies and engages different aspects of a person’s personality, or “ego states,” to resolve internal conflicts and trauma-related issues. By promoting integration and communication between ego states, it helps clients heal from trauma and achieve a sense of wholeness.

Existential therapy is a philosophical approach to therapy that encourages clients to confront life’s fundamental questions and explore themes of meaning, freedom, isolation, and mortality. Rather than focusing solely on symptom relief, existential therapy aims to help individuals find purpose and authenticity by examining their beliefs, values, and choices. It encourages clients to take responsibility for their lives, make intentional decisions, and embrace uncertainty as a natural part of the human experience. This approach is particularly valuable for those facing life transitions, existential crises, or feelings of meaninglessness, as it supports clients in creating a fulfilling and self-directed life. By addressing these universal concerns, existential therapy fosters resilience, clarity, and a deeper sense of connection to oneself and the world.

ERP is commonly used for treating obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). It involves gradually exposing clients to anxiety-provoking situations while preventing their typical compulsive responses, helping them to reduce their distress and learn healthier coping mechanisms.

Expressive therapy is a therapeutic approach that uses creative arts as a way for individuals to explore and express emotions, thoughts, and experiences that may be difficult to articulate with words alone. This form of therapy can involve art, music, dance, drama, or writing, and it is often used to support clients in processing trauma, reducing stress, and gaining deeper self-awareness. Through creative expression, clients can explore their inner world in a non-judgmental and safe environment, fostering healing and growth. Expressive therapy can be especially beneficial for those who find verbal expression challenging, offering alternative pathways to self-discovery and emotional release. Whether used as a standalone approach or integrated with other therapies, expressive therapy can be a powerful tool for emotional resilience and well-being.

EMDR is a trauma-focused therapy that uses bilateral stimulation (such as eye movements) to help reprocess traumatic memories. This approach can reduce trauma symptoms and supports individuals in integrating past painful experiences in a less distressing way.

The Gottman Method is a relationship therapy approach that provides couples with tools to improve communication, resolve conflicts, and enhance intimacy. Based on extensive research, it supports couples in building stronger, more resilient partnerships.

IFS views the mind as made up of multiple sub-personalities, or “parts,” each with unique roles and emotions. By working with these parts, IFS helps clients heal inner conflicts and create harmony, which can be particularly beneficial for trauma recovery.

Intersectional Feminist Therapy is a therapeutic approach that centers on the experiences and identities of individuals through the lens of gender, race, class, sexuality, ability, and other intersecting social factors. Rooted in feminist theory, this approach acknowledges that personal struggles are often influenced by systemic inequalities and societal structures, rather than being purely individual issues. Intersectional Feminist Therapy empowers clients by validating their lived experiences, particularly those shaped by marginalization, discrimination, or oppression. Therapists using this approach work collaboratively with clients to explore how power dynamics, privilege, and identity impact their mental health and self-perception. This therapy fosters resilience and self-advocacy, offering tools to challenge internalized biases and develop a more authentic and empowered sense of self. By embracing clients’ diverse identities and experiences, Intersectional Feminist Therapy supports healing that honors the whole person within their broader social context.

This client-centered approach encourages individuals to explore and resolve ambivalence about change. By building intrinsic motivation, it is particularly effective in supporting people dealing with addiction, lifestyle changes, or health-related issues.

Narrative therapy helps clients externalize their problems and view them as separate from their identity. By reshaping their personal stories, individuals can develop empowering narratives that promote healing, resilience, and new perspectives on life challenges.

Also known as ecotherapy and walk & talk therapy, nature therapy uses the natural environment to support mental health and well-being. Sessions may include outdoor activities or simply spending time in nature, which can reduce stress, improve mood, and foster a sense of connection.

This non-directive approach centers on providing a supportive environment that allows clients to explore their feelings without judgment. It encourages self-discovery and personal growth by creating a safe, empathetic space for individuals to express themselves.

Polyvagal Theory is used to understand and work with the nervous system’s response to trauma and stress. By fostering safety and regulating the nervous system, this approach helps individuals feel grounded and can reduce symptoms of anxiety and trauma.

A process-oriented approach in therapy is an insightful, dynamic method that emphasizes understanding and navigating the complexities underlying conflict rather than solely focusing on resolving it. This approach views conflict as a gateway to deeper awareness and growth, where the goal is to help clients engage with and explore their emotions, beliefs, and relational patterns within the conflict. Therapists using this method facilitate conversations that encourage clients to slow down, express themselves openly, and become aware of hidden dynamics, such as power imbalances, unmet needs, or unspoken emotions. Through this process, clients learn to embrace their own and others’ perspectives with compassion and curiosity, transforming conflicts into opportunities for connection and self-discovery. This approach aligns well with trauma-informed care, as it prioritizes safety, trust, and understanding, empowering clients to navigate difficult interactions while fostering resilience and interpersonal understanding.

Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy is a therapeutic approach that delves into the unconscious mind to uncover and understand hidden thoughts, feelings, and past experiences that may influence present behaviors and emotions. This method encourages individuals to explore deep-seated issues that are often rooted in early relationships and past experiences, with the guidance of a trained therapist who creates a safe and reflective space for exploration. Through open-ended conversation and a trusting relationship, clients can identify recurring patterns, gain insight into the motivations behind their actions, and work toward meaningful change. Psychoanalytic psychotherapy fosters personal growth and self-awareness, empowering individuals to confront and resolve inner conflicts for improved mental well-being.

The psychodynamic approach is a therapeutic method rooted in the exploration of unconscious processes and past experiences, particularly those from early life, that shape current behaviors, thoughts, and emotions. This approach helps individuals uncover unresolved conflicts, hidden motivations, and deep-seated patterns that may be affecting their lives. By bringing these unconscious elements into conscious awareness, psychodynamic therapy empowers clients to gain insight into how their past influences their present, allowing them to break free from unhelpful cycles and make intentional choices. Often involving the exploration of dreams, memories, and even the therapeutic relationship itself, this approach is beneficial for individuals seeking long-term personal growth and a deeper understanding of themselves. Psychodynamic therapy offers a rich, introspective path toward healing, emotional resilience, and a more integrated sense of self.

Relational therapy is a therapeutic approach focused on understanding and improving the way individuals relate to others, recognizing that relationships are central to emotional well-being. This approach explores the patterns and dynamics present in a person’s relationships, whether they are with family, friends, partners, or even with themselves. Through relational therapy, clients gain insight into how past relationships and experiences may influence their current interactions, behaviors, and self-perception. By addressing these patterns, relational therapy helps individuals develop healthier, more fulfilling connections, learn effective communication, and enhance their capacity for empathy and intimacy. This therapy is particularly useful for those dealing with relationship challenges, self-esteem issues, or difficulties in social settings, providing a safe space to cultivate positive relational skills that support personal and interpersonal growth.

Self-compassion therapy is an approach that encourages individuals to cultivate kindness and understanding toward themselves, especially in times of struggle, failure, or perceived inadequacy. It emphasizes treating oneself with the same empathy and patience one might offer a friend, rather than resorting to self-criticism or judgment. Grounded in mindfulness and acceptance, self-compassion therapy helps individuals recognize their common humanity, understand that imperfection is part of the human experience, and learn to navigate difficult emotions in a balanced, gentle way. This therapeutic approach can reduce stress, improve emotional resilience, and foster greater self-acceptance, making it especially beneficial for those prone to harsh self-judgment, perfectionism, or feelings of unworthiness. Through self-compassion therapy, individuals learn to build a nurturing inner dialogue that supports well-being, personal growth, and a healthier self-image.

Sensorimotor therapy is a body-centered approach to trauma treatment that integrates both somatic and cognitive techniques to address how traumatic experiences impact the body and nervous system. Developed by Pat Ogden, this approach is based on the understanding that trauma can disrupt natural bodily responses, leading to symptoms like hypervigilance, numbness, or tension. In Sensorimotor therapy, clients learn to become more aware of bodily sensations, movements, and automatic reactions, which often hold the unprocessed memories of traumatic events. Through gentle, guided exercises, clients learn to regulate these physical responses, release stored tension, and gradually develop a sense of safety in their own bodies. This therapy is particularly effective for individuals who have found traditional talk therapies challenging, as it offers an alternative pathway to healing by directly addressing the body’s role in processing and recovering from trauma.

Somatic therapy integrates the mind and body by focusing on bodily sensations to help clients process emotions, especially those related to trauma, and to release physical tension stored in the body.

SFBT is a goal-oriented therapy that emphasizes finding solutions to current problems rather than exploring past issues. By identifying strengths and resources, it empowers clients to make positive changes quickly and effectively.