Specialties

You have probably read about psychology before: the alphabet soup of acronyms, different types of evidenced based therapies, different schools of thought, and all those different things might have started to feel a bit confusing. You’re not alone!

A lot of psychology is structured this way because different words and approaches resonate with different people. I like to provide a brief summary of the types of treatments I tend to use so you can see if these approaches resonate with you.

Areas of Treatment

While I work with folks with many different types of struggles, I have the most experience working with the following:

  • Addiction

  • Anxiety

  • Chronic Pain/Chronic Illness

  • Emotion Regulation

  • Life Transitions & Identity

  • Low Mood/Depression

  • Relationship Stress/Relationship Issues

  • Self-Esteem/Confidence

  • Sleep Issues

  • Trauma

Integration

If you’re reading the descriptions of these treatments and saying to yourself: “Ok these still sound the same, what would this actually look like in practice?”, that is a great question!

At the end of the day my style is a mix of ACT and DBT. I find focusing our progress and goals around core values gives good structure and direction in therapy. DBT provides great information and skills to manage one of the biggest barriers to progress: overwhelming emotions. My goal is to help you live in balance, meeting your emotional needs while making decisions and engaging in actions which are good for your future.

Integrating multiple styles of therapy allows me to tailor treatment to what resonates best for your situation and your needs. Ultimately, I shape my style to what works best for you!

CBT for Insomnia (CBT-I)

CBT-I puts the B in “Cognitive Behavior Therapy”. The main focus of this treatment is to improve sleep quality and reduce suffering at night.

We begin by tracking your sleep to identify areas of suffering, disturbance, and struggle during your nights. Next, we work together to make simple changes around your behavior and routines which target your biggest struggle points around sleep. We maintain these changes, and problem solve any barriers which arise together.

This treatment takes very small changes and enhances their impact on your sleep to give you fewer restless nights and better quality sleep overall.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

ACT focuses on identifying your core values: the aspects of your ideal life which bring you fulfilment and joy, as well as the areas of suffering brought about by disconnect from your core values. We then work together to shape your life to be better aligned with those values that bring you fulfilment and joy.

However, our home, social, work, and mental environments can help or hinder this process. As such, ACT also focuses on changing what we can about our environment and replacing our unhelpful coping to this environment with more helpful skills and strategies.

ACT uses a lot of metaphor to help us understand how our brain developed our existing coping strategies, and what strategies might be best for engaging in change.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

DBT focuses on changing things within our control and accepting things outside of our control to reduce our suffering.

It has a wealth of skills and strategies to manage unhelpful and inaccurate emotions before they become overwhelming, as well as strategies to mange them when we feel consumed by them. It is a very practical style of treatment which aims to help you balance your emotions and thoughts so your emotional and practical needs are being met, not just one or the other.

In session, DBT is an analytical approach (much like ACT) in which you will learn useful coping skills, make plans on how to practice and implement them, and problem solve any barriers which arise.