Our Services
PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT AND CONSULTATION
If you have a sense that something is not feeling right, but you are unsure what the issue is or what might help, then this option might be a helpful starting point for you. I offer psychological assessments, one-off and extended consultations, and exploratory counselling to help you think about yourself and clarify what might be contributing to your feelings.
Sometimes this can be enough to help you understand what needs to change and how to go about it. Other times it can lead to us agreeing to meet for a more extended period for a more focused psychological therapy, or to an onward referral to another service.
SCHEMA THERAPY
Jeffrey E. Young developed schema therapy for use in the treatment of personality disorders and other chronic conditions such as long-term depression, anxiety, and eating disorders. The therapy helps you discover unmet childhood emotional needs, which may be driving problematic personality patterns ('schemas') in your adult life, such as a sense of emotional deprivation, failure, isolation, mistrust, dependence or a perfectionist tendency.
These patterns often hold you back and can create perpetual and persistent depressive or anxious symptoms or addictive or compulsive behaviors. Schema therapy extends beyond providing an intellectual understanding of your life story. During your treatment, you will engage in therapeutic practices, which will help you break distressing patterns on a deep, emotional level and enable you to live a more expansive life.
ACCEPTANCE AND COMMITMENT THERAPY (ACT)
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy helps you improve your life by accepting difficult emotions and thoughts, while committing to actions aligned with your values. It emphasizes mindfulness and acceptance, encouraging you to embrace discomfort as part of life and move forward with purpose.
The core components of ACT include accepting, acknowledging and allowing difficult thoughts and feelings without trying to control or change them and committing to taking actions that align with one's values, even when facing challenges. It also teaches you to become psychologically flexible, be present in the moment, accept difficult emotions, defuse or distance oneself from thoughts and feelings to reduce their power and take actions that are consistent with one's values.
I am a certified ACT provider and a member of the Association for Contextual Behavioural Science (ACBS)
DIALECTICAL BEHAVIOUR THERAPY
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), developed by Marsha Linehan for the treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder and Suicidal patients, is a type of therapy that helps you manage intense emotions, improve relationships, and reduce harmful behaviors, particularly if you are struggling with borderline personality disorder or other mental health conditions. DBT often progresses through stages, starting with addressing behavioural dysregulation and progressing to self-understanding and freedom of choice. DBT aims at enhancing your skills in four main areas: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotional regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness.
I am a certified DBT practitioner and have historically provided DBT both in individual and group formats.
MINDFULNESS-BASED APPROACHES
Mindfulness means becoming aware of the workings of the mind without feeling compelled to act on thoughts, feelings, or urges that might arise. Regular mindfulness can strengthen emotional regulation, reduce ruminative thoughts, and give you more choice about how to respond to internal and external events. I offer Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy and mindfulness skills training based on Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) principles.
COGNITIVE PROCESSING THERAPY FOR PTSD
Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) is a specific type of cognitive-behavioural therapy used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It helps you challenge and change unhelpful thoughts and beliefs related to the traumatic event, leading to a more balanced and accurate understanding of what happened. CPT focuses on identifying and changing "stuck points" or negative beliefs about the trauma and your appraisal of yourself, others, and the world. The therapy helps you process the trauma by examining the impact of the event on their lives and challenging any unhelpful thoughts or beliefs that have developed.
The therapy also addresses five core belief systems that are often disrupted after trauma: safety, trust, power or control, esteem, and intimacy. CPT has been used successfully to treat PTSD resulting from various traumas, including child abuse, combat, rape, and natural disasters.
I am a certified CPT for PTSD provider and am registered under (CPT Provider Roster | Cognitive Processing Therapy)