Understand Your Thoughts and Emotions

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a short-term, structured form of psychotherapy that focuses on the client's present. In this model of therapy, the clinician and the client work as a team to identify the client's dysfunctional and distorted thoughts and beliefs, to both challenge and modify those thoughts and attitudes.

During CBT, the therapist will identify and challenge the client's negative thought patterns. The therapist will also help the client understand the impact those thoughts have on their behaviour and feelings. By doing this, the therapist and the client will be able to come up with alternative thoughts that lead to more positive feelings.

A comprehensive and integrated model that uses skills training techniques to support individuals in achieving emotion regulation, stress tolerance, achieving mindful practices and improving interpersonal relationships. DBT has initially been proven in the treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), clients at risk of suicidality, and para-suicide behaviours. However, this treatment can also help clients with anxiety, depression, and other presentations that formed roots from invalidating environments.

EMDR is an effective, and extensively research-proven, psychotherapy treatment that support individuals that have experienced traumatic events or other distressing situations, including depression, anxiety, and PTSD.

During EMDR sessions, clients can expect to help the brain to reprocess and resolve outstanding traumatic memories that keep reappearing in forms of sensations, thoughts, and emotions. EMDR therapists lead the individual through eight phases. EMDR starts with establishing grounds of history, creating safeness in the body through somatic resources, and later moving on to phases that pay more attention to negative beliefs and images, along with emotions and sensations around the body which are associated with the traumatic or unprocessed memories.

CRM is an integrated therapeutic model, mostly used in the treatment of Complex-PTSD, that engages the neurobiology of the brain to help connect body, mind, and spirituality of the individual. CRM includes concepts to help create resources to establish body embodiment and conscious presence to process traumatic material.

CRM focuses on mobilizing clients out of associated survival terror, that creates patterns of impulses, sensations, emotions, and cognition templates that can be observed through re-enactments, with urges to attachment, dissociated parts that disconnect individuals from their sense of self and connection with others. CRM promotes the establishing of internally sources of attachment through imagery, sound, toning, and sacred geometry.

EFT is an effective mind-body technique that uses acupuncture points and neurolinguistics verbal approach to support individuals experiencing anxiety. EFT helps limit thoughts and beliefs that interfere with life-fulfilling experiences. EFT is helpful in releasing and transforming emotions and thoughts that have become rigid, by promoting open and creative ways to reframe and reconsider experiences. Individuals who use this approach to manage anxiety report feeling calm and less reactive responses to stressful events.

Internal Family Systems is a therapeutic approach that is based on the understanding that there is a multiplicity within each individual that comes with separate mental states or subpersonalities within one person. These parts can at times express conflicting thoughts, emotions, sensations and create impulses that leave individuals stuck and overwhelmed with emotions. There are many parts that can be reactive to the external world, including exiled parts, protective parts and fire-fighter parts. IFS helps us understand and establish a relationship with each of these parts and this model works particularly well with clients with PTSD, Dissociative Identity Disorders, eating disorders and addictions.