I am full, but am taking a waitlist.
#200 - 2609 Westview Drive, North Vancouver, British Columbia V7N 3X8, Canada
My Approach
Individualized care
While I do use some approaches to therapy more than others, I do not use techniques or modalities that do not suit the client or the situation. I take a very person-centred approach and actively listen to my clients to determine what therapeutic modality would help them best. I strive to have the client feel heard and understood more than anything else. I bring a familiarity to my clients and an ease to therapy. My approachable and genuine style makes it easy to feel comfortable, which, as your therapist, is my ultimate goal.
Cbt: cognitive behavioural therapy and ERP (exposure response prevention)
I know you have likely heard about these types of therapy many times. I know CBT and ERP work, but I understand that some people are hesitant to try these therapeutic approaches. While it can work, I do not use this if the client does not seem to be in. a state of readiness or does not want to use it. CBT changes your beliefs about yourself and events in your life by changing your thoughts and ultimately changing the way you feel or react to events or setbacks.
Two of my speciality areas are anxiety and OCD. I have training in OCD therapy and have successfully treated many clients with OCD and anxiety with ERP. Although exposures can be scary, this type of therapy is the "gold standard" in OCD and anxiety treatment. We understand your triggers, obsessions, and compulsions, then create a plan to help rewire your nervous system so that you gradually start dealing with the uncertainty.
ACT: Acceptance and commitment therapy
ACT is a treatment therapy that you may be unfamiliar with. With this type of therapy, the emphasis is put on being or living in the present and also to accept your thoughts without judgement. Instead the attitude is to work on accepting instead of struggling with your thoughts and emotions. It helps you focus less on controlling your emotions and more on accepting your thoughts and emotions. This is often used in conjunction with ERP, but is also very useful and effective for other issues that people face. More information can be found here: https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/therapy-types/acceptance-and-commitment-therapy
Trauma-Informed
Many of us have experienced trauma. You do not need to have experienced a catastrophe in the general sense in order to have experienced things that have had a lasting and negative impact on you. There are two types of trauma: Big "T" Trauma (such as earthquakes, car accidents, etc.) and Little "t" Trauma or Complex Trauma (such as child abuse). The thing with trauma is that other people cannot say if you have experience trauma or not. Each of us respond to events in our lives differently and one thing that might be traumatic for one person, may not be traumatic for another. Having a trauma-informed lens is critical to therapy and I approach my clients with curiosity and compassion, with the ultimate goal to help you understand yourself better and to equip you to overcome your challenges.
In October (this year, 2024) I am training in prolonged exposure therapy which is a therapy to treat trauma.
I also like to incorporate aspects of IFS (Internal Family Systems) and find that this is a very approachable and affective therapy that can be quite good at helping us deal with our wounds from our younger selves. In particular, it helps with trauma that happened when we were developing and can heal long standing reactions to triggers. It helps us to understand ourselves and our needs better and become more attuned with the inner workings and different parts of our self that we all carry.
More on IFS:
IFS therapy might feel a bit odd at first, but it works! It breaks your psyche down into the different "parts" of you, and explores these parts to find your true self. It seeks to examine and understand the "wounded" part of yourself and help this part of you feel heard and understood. IFS is about self acceptance and self discovery and, in my experience, can be a very powerful tool in therapy. Some techniques used are talking to different parts of yourself, asking them questions, and role-playing.
For more information about this type of approach see here: https://ifs-institute.com
Many Others
I am constantly learning and trying new things. Mindfulness is also a key part of my approach, but there are so many different aspects to my practice that I cannot sum them up here. Instead, I like to let the client lead me to the right modality or technique, and I never push my agenda on my clients.