In life, its easy to get caught up in the labels, rules, and expectations that have been placed on us throughout our lives by society, our social experiences, and ourselves. ACT aims to help us think more flexibly about the contexts around us. It works by helping us identify our personal values and the thoughts and feelings that get in the way of pursuing those values. ACT encourages a mindfulness-based approach to these thoughts and feelings that allows us to reorient ourselves to the actions that provide us the most meaning out of life. ACT interventions involve exercises, mindfulness practice, metaphors, and other methods to keep both client and therapist from getting tangled up in the same struggles with words and ideas that keep us stuck in day to day life. Watch the videos below to learn more about ACT and determine if this therapy is right for you:
CBT is founded on the assumption that our situations, thoughts, feelings, and behaviors all impact one another. CBT research has shown that if we can make small changes to the way we think about certain events, it will change the way we feel about them. Changing our thinking is the “cognitive” portion of CBT and typically involves using worksheets and other tools to help analyze our thinking patterns. The “behavioral” part involves identifying opportunities to approach the types of situations we may be avoiding as a result of our thoughts and emotions, and in doing so, we are able to generate new experiences that help disprove some of the negative thinking patterns we had in the first place. Watch the videos below to learn more about CBT and see if this approach is a fit for you:
Traumatic events in life, by definition, alter the way that we see ourselves and the world. This is our mind’s way of trying to protect us from similar traumas in the future. In response to traumatic events in our lives, we ask ourselves questions like: Why did this happen to me? What should I have done to prevent it? How can things like this be allowed to happen? Our answers to these questions often dictate the way we respond to trauma. Self-blame or excessive caution can give us a sense of control in the short-term, but ultimately prevent us from fully engaging in other meaningful life experiences that have the power to outweigh the impact of the trauma. CPT focuses on identifying our thoughts about ourselves and the world that can keep us stuck in the trauma—what we call “stuck points.” It uses a systematic framework for challenging these stuck points so we can get back to fully engaging in our lives. CPT is a great therapy option if traumatic events in your life have influenced: the way you look at your safety, ability to trust, sense of control, self-esteem, or intimacy with others. Learn more below and explore how this therapy may benefit you:
When we find ourselves unhappy in our relationships, our impulse is to try to change something we don’t like in our partner. Unfortunately, however, the more we try to change our partners, the easier it is to fixate on what we perceive as their flaws, which compounds the problem. IBCT helps couples re-frame their difficulties, not as individual flaws but as one of several common problematic cycles of interaction. It helps us accept our partner as they are by building compassion and understanding and to look at them as a teammate in addressing a common problem rather than the adversary causing the problem. Additionally, it involves learning skills for more effective communication that allow us to fully express our needs in the relationship. To learn more about the process of IBCT and how that may work for your relationship, see the following:
We understand that not everyone who comes to therapy initially knows what treatment model will work best for them. Our providers will work with you to help better understand the way that your experiences and relationships have influenced you throughout your life and identify goals that will provide you with the most meaning and a fulfillment.