Curiously enough, if we primarily try to shield ourselves from discomfort, we suffer. Yet when we don’t close off and we let our hearts break, we discover our kinship with all beings.” -JANINE FISHER

Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) is a trauma therapy founded on Cognitive Behavioural and Social Cognitive Theory (SCT). CBT seeks to address unhelpful thinking styles to lessen distressing behaviours, emotions and bodily responses. Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) asserts that much of what we learn, think, feel and do is based on how we interpret our social environment and identity. It also helps to address related concerns for persons with a history of trauma, including depression, phobia and anxiety. 

The principal parts of CPT involve unpacking the impact of a traumatic event or theme, identifying how trauma impacted your view of self, other people and life in general, learning about unhelpful thinking styles and why they occur and correcting them over time. 

CPT is an evidence-based treatment and structured treatment. 

CPT treatment can be completed within 12 to 20 sessions, depending on the nature of the concerns. 

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) assumes that our thinking impacts our bodily responses, emotions, and behaviours in a self-perpetuating cycle. Our initial reactions to a threat happen in the amygdala, part of our limbic system. If the amygdala is activated, it signals the hypothalamus and primes the body with stress hormones to help us deal with the perceived threat. From a neurochemical perspective, a panic attack should only last about 15 minutes. 

 Changing how we see ourselves, others, and life is not a step-by-step linear process. It can be messy, and CBT can provide structure and a clear path forward. 

CBT is supported to be beneficial in treating many experiences, including anxiety and depression. 

Exposure & Response Prevention (ERP) is related to CBT and is explicitly designed to treat Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Through different types of exposure, ERP allows people to face discomfort in a safe environment and build a new perspective. ERP is a structured therapy. 

CBT-based therapies are evidence-based. 

Treatment length depends on presenting concerns, but it's intended as a short-term modality to equip persons with the skillsets to self-manage.

Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART)  combines different therapeutic techniques while completing guided eye movements and using imaginal exposure. When experiencing an activating event, our brain can become flooded, and we may become over or under-activated. Our brain's logical, emotional and automatic / safety centres are no longer communicating. Our minds, bodies, emotions and behaviours can become dysregulated as important brain centres are offline. 

Eye movements stimulate the optic track and manually prompt different parts of the brain to communicate with one another again. Research supports that ART can help develop a new perspective, restore balance, and unlock innate tools to address our problems differently. Some common uses for ART include: 

• PTSD & trauma 
• substance use
• body image 
• anxiety 
• phobias (like driving or fear of spiders) 
• panic attacks 
• depression
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
• relational issues 
• poor self-esteem 
• grief 
• work-related stress 
• ADHD 
• pain management 

ART is an evidence-based treatment rooted within neural cognitive foundations. 

ART sessions are 90 minutes long, and each theme (presenting concern) may require 1-5 sessions. 

Gottman couples therapy is based on the Sound Relationship House Theory. It asserts that conflict is a normal part of a relationship, but how we go about it can be helpful or unhelpful. Couples are first encouraged to work on initial crises and the friendship dimensions of their relationship, including, but not limited to, knowing each other more deeply, connection and building fondness and admiration for one other. In the first stage of therapy, clients also learn how to show up for their partner in more supportive ways and develop a greater self-awareness about why they haven't been doing so. 

From Gottman's view, establishing a healthy friendship helps us see our relationship issues in a rosier light, which is essential for morale. 

In the later stages of couples therapy, couples will focus on communication and conflict management; building shared meaning and dreams, trust and commitment. A lot of the time, our goal in a fight isn't necessarily to hurt a partner. Instead, we've been hurt and want to protect ourselves. If we genuinely feel that our partner is a friend and not a foe, we can redirect ourselves to fight with our partner for the relationship's health instead of fighting them to protect ourselves. 

Our life experiences shape our perceptions of how we perceive our partner and how we perceive ourselves. A crucial part of breaking down unhelpful perceptions is building tools to fully see your partner's perspective from a place of empathy and vulnerability (i.e., without unhelpful defence mechanisms protecting you). This can seem tricky, but when we trust our partner is doing the same for us, we can feel safe enough to let them in. The goal wasn't likely to hurt them after all; it was possible to protect ourselves from getting hurt.  

Gottman sessions are 90 minutes long, but 50-minute sessions can be accommodated when necessary. 

Did you know that our children's emotional intelligence is supported to be more indicative of later success than IQ? Meta-emotion parenting helps foster connection with our children, promote emotional regulation, and more effective behaviours in ourselves and our children. 

Additionally, I incorporate principles & tools from my other training and experience within different frameworks, including Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT-Informed), somatic theory, Hakomi principles, attachment theory, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Theory (MBCT), social cognitive theory, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Enhanced (CBT-E),  polyvagal, Internal Family Systems (IFS) and more. 

I value both bottom-up and top-down approaches.