My Approach

The term Mindfulness refers to a set of psychological skills that all involve paying attention with flexibility, curiosity and nonjudgmental acceptance to our present moment experience. Formerly associated mostly with contemplative practices such as Buddhist meditation and practices in other ancient wisdom traditions, mindfulness is now widely viewed as a central component of modern psychotherapy largely due to an incredible depth of research demonstrating is effectiveness for many different issues. Mindfulness has even been shown in brain imaging research to help our brains grow in positive ways!

A focus on values adds an existential dimension to traditional CBT. Bringing values into therapy means not just trying to help you feel better (although we will certainly aim for that!), but also helping you clarify who and what it is that you most care about, who you want to be in life and how you want to spend your precious time on this earth. Your values can then serve as a kind of guide, or inner “compass”, that can guide your forward in life, and help motivate you to do that hard work of confronting your challenges and problems.

Compassion simply means noticing when we or others are hurting and responding with kindness. In recent years, research has demonstrated that having compassion for ourselves improves mental health and performance across many areas of life, and also to help create a more stable sense of wellbeing and self worth.

ACT is a type of “third wave” therapy that can help you to develop practical mindfulness skills, clarify your values, set goals and take action to improve your life. ACT has extensive empirical support for its’ effectiveness with a wide range of issues, including over 1,000 random-controlled research trials (the highest standard in research for psychotherapies). I have extensive training in ACT, and I use it as a foundational approach in my work.

You can read more about ACT Here

Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is a type of behavioral therapy for anxiety disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) that involves gradually exposing individuals to their fears while preventing them from engaging in their usual compulsive behaviors, and instead practicing new, more helpful ways to respond. ERP helps us break free from the vicious cycle of anxiety and develop skills to respond more flexibly to anxiety and obsessions.

Emotion Efficacy Therapy (EET) is a newer form of therapy that integrates elements of ACT, emotion regulation skills from Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and ERP into one powerful therapy protocol. EET provides a series of practical skills to increase our ability to respond to emotions with effectiveness, and do what matters most to us.

CFT is a type of CBT developed especially for clients with mental health challenges, and who struggle with shame, self-loathing, and harsh self-judgment and criticism. CFT can help you to develop a more supportive, understanding, and kind relationship with yourself, so that you can feel true confidence and self-acceptance, motivate yourself without shame, heal emotional wounds, face your difficulties, and thrive.

You can read more about CFT Here

Schema Therapy

Behavior Activation

Cognitive Therapy

IPNB is an interdisciplinary field of research pioneered by Dr. Dan Siegel and others, that seeks to understand how our minds, brains and relationships relate to one another, and to apply this understanding in order to improve people’s lives. You can read more about IPNB Here.

Polyvagal Theory is a scientific theory about how our nervous systems responds to threat. PVT helps us make sense of the sometimes very strong reactions we have in our bodies when we’re upset, especially related to traumatic experiences. You can learn more about PVT Here.