Individual Therapy Services.
Do you ever feel too overwhelmed to deal with your problems?
Have you experienced some form of trauma that has seriously affected your life?
If so, you’re not alone. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, more than a quarter of North American adults experience depression, anxiety or other forms of mental illness in any given year. Others need help coping with a severe illness, losing weight or stopping smoking. Maybe you are struggling to cope with relationship troubles, job loss, the death of a loved one, stress, substance abuse, low self-esteem/self-worth, anger or haunting memories of past trauma. These problems can often become debilitating and impact many areas of your life.
A therapist can help you work through such problems. Through psychotherapy, therapists help people of all ages live happier, healthier and more productive lives.
Individual therapy is a joint process between you and your therapist. Individual therapy can also be called psychotherapy, counselling and talk therapy. In psychotherapy, the therapist applies scientifically validated procedures to help people develop healthier, more effective habits. Several approaches to psychotherapy, including cognitive-behavioural, interpersonal and other kinds of talk therapy, help individuals work through their problems.
Psychotherapy is a collaborative treatment based on the relationship between an individual and a therapist. Grounded in dialogue, it provides a supportive environment that allows you to talk openly with someone who is objective, neutral and nonjudgmental. You and your therapist will work together to identify and change the thoughts and behaviour patterns that keep you from feeling your best.
By the time you’re done, you will not only have solved the problem that brought you in, but you will have learned new skills to better cope with whatever challenges arise.
“I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become”
– Carl J. Jung.
When
should you consider psychotherapy
Because of the many misconceptions about psychotherapy, you may be reluctant to try it out. Even if you know the realities instead of the myths, you may feel nervous about trying it yourself. However, overcoming that nervousness is worth it. That’s because any time your quality of life isn’t what you want it to be, psychotherapy can help.
Some people seek psychotherapy because they have felt depressed, anxious or angry for a long time. Others may want help for a chronic illness that is interfering with their emotional or physical well-being. Still, others may have short-term problems they need help navigating. They may be going through a divorce, facing an empty nest, feeling overwhelmed by a new job or grieving a family member’s death, for example.
We also treat First Responders with Individual Therapy and encourage all first responders to reach out.
You feel an overwhelming, prolonged sense of helplessness and sadness.
You worry excessively, expect the worst or are constantly on edge.
You find it difficult to concentrate on work assignments or to carry out other everyday activities.
Your problems don't seem to get better despite your efforts and help from family and friends.
Your actions, such as drinking too much alcohol, using drugs or being aggressive, are harming you or others.
Our Individual Therapy Modalities
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)
In CBT, clients learn to identify, question and change the thoughts, attitudes and beliefs related to the emotional and behavioural reactions that cause them difficulty.
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Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) is a practical, structured short-term form of psychotherapy. It teaches individuals how to develop helpful skills and strategies to feel, become and maintain a sense of health and well-being.
CBT focuses on the here and now on the issues in our everyday lives. It helps people examine how they make sense of what is happening around them and how these thoughts and perceptions affect how they feel.
By monitoring and recording thoughts, identifying distortions, seeing thoughts as ideas, not facts, and learning to consider situations from different viewpoints, individuals can learn that how they think can contribute to emotional experiences such as depression and anxiety, and such concerns/experiences can be changed, and healing can occur.
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
DBT is an evidence-based psychotherapy that can be used for people dealing with overwhelming emotion, self-harm, suicidality and struggling with interpersonal skills.
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DBT teaches four primary skills: mindfulness, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness and emotion regulation.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
EMDR proves to be an effective therapy tool; it works well with anxiety, depression, over-reactive anger, and more.
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First being used with victims of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) who had symptoms like flashbacks, phobias and panic attacks, EMDR proved to be an effective therapy tool; it works well with anxiety, depression, over-reactive anger, intrusive thoughts, irritability, worrying, disturbed sleep, and more. EMDR is effective with anything that causes us to say we are “stressed out.”
EMDR International Association (EMDRIA) www.emdria.org
Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT)
EFT is a therapeutic approach based on emotions being key to identity and guide individual choice and decision-making.
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EFT helps people both accept and change their personal emotional schemes. Through EFT, people may see their emotions as valuable sources of information instead of painful or difficult states. They may learn to experience, rather than suppress, these emotions. EFT addresses the regulation and impact of emotions.
Some goals of EFT are to:
- Become more aware of emotions
- Learn to describe, welcome, allow, and regulate emotions
- Increase awareness of the many layers of emotional experiences
- Evaluate whether emotions are helpful or unhelpful in various situations
- Learn to use helpful emotions to guide action, identify the source of unhelpful emotions and learn to change them
- Develop alternative, healthy ways of coping with emotions
EFT can help individuals to have an increased awareness of their emotional experience. They may also have an improved ability to regulate emotions and be better able to transform unhelpful emotions.
Mindfulness Based Therapies
Mindfulness therapies incorporate practices such as meditation and breathing exercises.
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Mindfulness therapies incorporate practices such as meditation and breathing exercises.
Using these tools, therapists teach clients how to break away from negative thought patterns that can cause a downward spiral into a depressed state.
One of the main focuses of mindfulness is teaching individuals to stay focused in the moment. By anchoring and grounding themselves in the present, people often experience a greater sense of calm and a decreased anxiety.
Narrative Therapy
Narrative therapy is a style of therapy that helps people become-and embrace being an expert in their own lives.
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In narrative therapy, we emphasize the stories we develop and carry with us through our lives. As we experience events and interactions, we give meaning to those experiences, and they, in turn, influence how we see ourselves and our world. We carry multiple stories at once, such as those related to our self-esteem, abilities, relationships, and work, for example.
Solution Focused Therapy (SFT)
SFT concentrates on finding quicker resolutions to one’s problems.
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Unlike traditional forms of therapy that take time to analyze problems, pathology and past events, SFT concentrates on finding solutions in the present time and exploring one’s hope for the future to find a quicker resolution to one’s problems. Instead, this method takes the approach that you know what you need to do to improve your life and, with the appropriate coaching and questioning, can find the best solutions.