My Approach
The Flow of Our Sessions
The most important thing to me is to establish a sense of comfort speaking with me and trust in my ability to help. We’ll start by talking about your current concerns and goals. Then, together, we'll identify specific areas to target that are causing the most distress or dysfunction.
We will discuss how specific situations trigger thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. In some cases, it is also helpful to understand how one’s early experiences and relationships relate to current struggles. Using many of the methods below, we'll develop ways for you to examine your thoughts and feelings and practice re-evaluating them and translating them into more productive, positive ways of thinking, feeling, and acting.
As symptoms decrease and new helpful habits and coping skills improve, we will continue to address stumbling blocks and areas for further growth to help you maintain progress and prevent relapse. The goal is for you to acquire a new mindset and toolkit you can draw from to achieve and sustain your mental well-being far beyond the time we've spent together.
The time it takes to reach your personal mental wellness goals is different for each person. It depends on the nature of the problem and how quickly thought processes and feelings evolve. Some issues can be tackled in a few sessions. Others may take weeks or months to tackle.
My Evidence-Based Methods
There are many approaches to building mental health that have been proven through clinical reesarch. Most of those I use fall under a broad category called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). CBT broadly helps people recognize negative thoughts and offers several techniques to deal with them and replace them with more positive, productive thoughts. Below are some of the approaches I draw upon and tailor for each person.
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT)
Focuses on observing thoughts versus getting absorbed in their content and how a person reacts to their thoughts.
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)
Combines CBT with acceptance, distress tolerance, mindfulness and active emotional regulation to deal with intense negative feelings.
Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT)
Helps people recognize what is within their control and actions they can take that are true to their values
Metacognitive therapy (MCT)
Focuses on a person's relationship with their thoughts and how they think about their thoughts.
Schema therapy
Helps individuals identify and address deeply rooted patterns (known as "schemas") which are negative beliefs about themselves and the world formed early in life that lead to unhealthy behaviors and emotional struggles.
Exposure therapy
Getting close to challenging thoughts or situations in small, gradual steps to help people acclimate to them. This is a “gold standard” technique for treat phobias, PTSD, and other anxiety disorders.
Exposure and response prevention (ERP)
Helps patients struggling with OCD confront fears or discomfort related to their obsessional thoughts, and resist performing compulsions.