Treatment Approaches

ACCEPTANCE AND COMMITMENT THERAPY (ACT)

Building a Meaningful Life While Making Room for Difficult Experiences

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people develop greater psychological flexibility—the ability to make room for difficult thoughts and feelings while taking actions that are guided by what matters most. Rather than focusing primarily on eliminating uncomfortable internal experiences, ACT helps you change your relationship with them so they have less control over your choices.

Treatment may include identifying personal values, learning mindfulness and acceptance skills, noticing unhelpful patterns of thinking, and practicing new behaviors that move you toward a more meaningful life. ACT can be applied to a wide range of concerns, including anxiety, depression, trauma-related difficulties, chronic pain, and other situations in which feeling stuck or struggling with difficult internal experiences has become a barrier to living well.

ADVANCED SAFETY PLANNING INTERVENTION (ASPI)

Creating a Practical Plan for Staying Safe During a Crisis

Advanced Safety Planning Intervention (ASPI) is a structured intervention for people who are experiencing increased suicide risk. It focuses on understanding the circumstances that can lead to a suicidal crisis and developing an individualized plan for staying safe when distress becomes intense.

Together, we identify warning signs, coping strategies, supportive people and resources, reasons for living, and steps for reducing access to potentially lethal means. ASPI is typically incorporated into treatment when safety concerns are present rather than used as a stand-alone therapy for every client. The goal is to develop practical strategies that can be used during a crisis while continuing to address the concerns that brought you to therapy.

COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY FOR CHRONIC PAIN (CBT-CP)

Changing the Cycle Between Pain, Thoughts, Emotions, and Activity

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Chronic Pain (CBT-CP) is a structured treatment designed to help people live more fully and function more effectively while managing chronic pain. It focuses on the ways pain, thoughts, emotions, behavior, sleep, and activity can influence one another. The goal is not to suggest that pain is “all in your head,” but to develop skills that can reduce suffering and lessen the impact pain has on daily life.

Treatment may include learning relaxation and pacing strategies, gradually increasing meaningful activity, improving sleep habits, identifying unhelpful patterns of thinking, and developing more effective ways of responding to pain flare-ups. CBT-CP emphasizes improving quality of life and functioning even when pain cannot be completely eliminated.

COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY FOR DEPRESSION

(CBT-D)

Changing Patterns of Thinking and Behavior That Maintain Depression

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depression (CBT-D) is a structured treatment that focuses on the connections among thoughts, emotions, and behavior. Depression can lead to patterns such as withdrawing from meaningful activities, seeing situations through an increasingly negative lens, or feeling hopeless about the possibility of change. CBT-D helps you recognize these patterns and develop more balanced and effective ways of responding to them.

Treatment may include increasing activities that provide meaning or a sense of accomplishment, identifying and evaluating unhelpful thoughts, improving problem-solving skills, and practicing new ways of responding to difficult situations. The goal is not simply to “think positively,” but to develop practical skills that can reduce depressive symptoms and help you become more engaged in the life you want to live.

COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY FOR INSOMNIA (CBT-I)

Rebuilding Healthy Sleep by Changing the Patterns That Keep Insomnia Going

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) is a structured treatment for ongoing difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or getting restorative sleep. Insomnia can become self-perpetuating as changes in sleep habits, worry about sleep, and spending more time awake in bed unintentionally make sleep more difficult. CBT-I targets these patterns so that your natural sleep system can begin working more effectively again.

Treatment typically includes tracking your sleep, strengthening the connection between bed and sleep, adjusting the amount and timing of time spent in bed, addressing thoughts and worries that interfere with sleep, and developing habits that support healthy sleep. CBT-I is usually a relatively brief treatment and focuses on skills that can continue to improve sleep after therapy has ended.

COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY FOR SUBSTANCE USE DISORDERS (CBT-SUD)

Understanding Triggers and Building Skills for Recovery

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Substance Use Disorders (CBT-SUD) is a structured treatment that helps people understand the thoughts, emotions, situations, and habits that can contribute to substance use. The focus is on identifying patterns that increase risk, recognizing triggers and cravings, and developing more effective ways of responding to them.

Treatment may include learning coping skills, planning for high-risk situations, strengthening problem-solving abilities, increasing healthy and meaningful activities, and developing strategies for preventing or responding to lapses. CBT-SUD is collaborative and practical, with the goal of helping you make changes that support recovery and fit with your personal goals and values.

COGNITIVE PROCESSING THERAPY (CPT)

Changing the Beliefs That Can Keep Trauma Painful

Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) is a structured treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). After trauma, people may develop beliefs about themselves, other people, or the world that keep them feeling stuck. CPT helps you identify these “stuck points,” examine whether they are accurate or helpful, and develop more balanced ways of understanding what happened and what it means for your life now.

Treatment includes learning about common reactions to trauma and working with thoughts related to areas such as safety, trust, power and control, esteem, and intimacy. CPT does not require you to repeatedly describe every detail of the trauma. Instead, much of the work focuses on how the experience has affected the way you think about yourself, others, and the world, so that those beliefs no longer have the same hold on your life.

EYE MOVEMENT DESENSITIZATION AND REPROCESSING (EMDR)

Helping Distressing Memories Become Less Disruptive

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a structured psychotherapy approach often used to treat trauma and other distressing experiences. Difficult memories can sometimes continue to feel emotionally intense long after an event has ended. EMDR is designed to help the brain process these experiences so that the memories can become less disturbing and have less influence on thoughts, emotions, and reactions in the present.

Treatment includes preparation and development of coping skills before working directly with distressing memories. During memory processing, you are asked to briefly focus on aspects of an experience while engaging in bilateral stimulation, often through guided eye movements or other alternating stimulation. EMDR does not require you to describe every detail of an experience aloud, and the pace of treatment is adjusted according to your needs and readiness.

INTEGRATIVE BEHAVIORAL COUPLE THERAPY (IBCT)

Understanding Relationship Patterns and Building Greater Acceptance and Change

Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy (IBCT) is an evidence-based treatment for couples experiencing recurring conflict, emotional distance, communication difficulties, or other patterns that are affecting their relationship. IBCT helps partners understand the emotional themes and interaction patterns that tend to keep problems going, including how differences in personality, history, needs, and circumstances can contribute to conflict.

Treatment combines strategies aimed at both acceptance and change. Couples may work on developing greater empathy and understanding for one another while also learning more effective ways to communicate, solve problems, and respond differently during difficult interactions. Rather than simply deciding who is “right” or “wrong,” IBCT focuses on helping partners understand the patterns they create together and develop healthier ways of relating.

INTERPERSONAL PSYCHOTHERAPY (IPT)

Improving Relationships and Navigating Life Changes

Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) is a structured, evidence-based treatment that focuses on the connection between emotional well-being and current relationships. Originally developed for depression, IPT may be especially helpful when distress is related to grief, major life transitions, conflict in important relationships, or difficulty developing and maintaining supportive relationships.

Treatment focuses on one or more current interpersonal concerns. Together, we may work to better understand relationship patterns, communicate needs and emotions more effectively, strengthen social supports, and adapt to changes in important roles or relationships. Rather than focusing extensively on the distant past, IPT emphasizes what is happening in your relationships and life circumstances now and how meaningful changes in those areas may improve emotional well-being.

MATRIX MODEL

Building Structure, Skills, and Support for Recovery

The Matrix Model is a structured treatment approach for substance use disorders that combines several evidence-based strategies within a practical, organized framework. It was originally developed for stimulant use disorders and focuses on helping people understand the recovery process, recognize patterns that contribute to substance use, and build a more stable daily routine that supports change.

Treatment may include education about addiction and recovery, identifying triggers and high-risk situations, developing relapse-prevention skills, strengthening motivation, building healthier routines and relationships, and increasing involvement in supportive activities. The approach is collaborative and skills-focused, with an emphasis on helping you develop the structure and tools needed to maintain progress over time.

MOTIVATIONAL INTERVIEWING (MI)

Strengthening Motivation for Meaningful Change

Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a collaborative approach designed to help people explore mixed feelings about change and strengthen their own motivation for moving forward. Rather than trying to persuade or pressure you, MI helps clarify what matters to you, how your current situation fits with your values and goals, and what reasons you may already have for making a change.

Treatment involves thoughtful conversation about your goals, concerns, strengths, and ambivalence. Together, we may explore the advantages and disadvantages of change, identify barriers, build confidence, and develop a plan that feels realistic and personally meaningful. MI is often incorporated into treatment when someone feels uncertain, stuck, or not fully ready to make a change.

PROLONGED EXPOSURE (PE)

Reducing the Power of Trauma Through Gradual, Supported Exposure

Prolonged Exposure (PE) is a structured treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). After trauma, avoiding reminders of what happened can provide short-term relief but may also keep fear and distress from decreasing over time. PE helps you gradually and safely approach trauma-related memories, situations, and activities so they become less overwhelming and have less control over your life.

Treatment typically includes learning about common reactions to trauma, gradually approaching situations or activities that have been avoided, and repeatedly revisiting the trauma memory in a supported and structured way. This process can help reduce fear, increase confidence, and allow you to learn that trauma reminders can be faced without the feared outcome occurring. The pace is collaborative and adjusted to your readiness while still supporting meaningful progress.