​At the core of all of my therapeutic work are the central skills of Person-Centered therapy, developed by Carl Rogers (1902-1987), these skills are the basis for the therapeutic process and therapeutic relationship; they are empathy, unconditional positive regard, and genuineness. Growth, change, and healing can occur within an environment and a rapport that are safe, consistent, and authentic. 

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​Cognitive Behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of treatment that focuses on examining the relationships between thoughts, feelings and behaviors. By exploring patterns of thinking that lead to self-destructive actions and the beliefs that direct these thoughts, people their patterns of thinking to improve coping. CBT is a type of psychotherapy that is different from traditional psychodynamic psychotherapy in that the therapist and the patient will actively work together to help the patient recover from their mental illness. People who seek CBT can expect their therapist to be problem-focused, and goal-directed in addressing their challenging symptoms. (Adapted from NAMI website; http://www.nami.org/factsheets/CBT_factsheet.pdf)​



A key task in Solution Focused (Brief) Therapy (SFBT) is to help clients identify and attend to their skills, abilities, and external resources (e.g. social networks). This process not only helps to construct a narrative of the client as a competent individual, but also aims to help the client identify new ways of bringing these resources to bear upon the problem. Resources can be identified by the client and the worker will achieve this by empowering the client to identify their own resources through use of scaling questions, problem-free talk, or during exception-seeking. Resources can be Internal: the client's skills, strengths, qualities, beliefs that are useful to them and their capacities. Or External: Supportive relationships such as, partners, family, friends, faith or religious groups and also support groups. (from Wikipedia because it is explained well; ​http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solution_focused_brief_therapy).​

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Internal Family Systems (IFS) is an approach to psychotherapy that identifies and addresses multiple sub-personalities or families within each person’s mental system. These sub-personalities consist of wounded parts and painful emotions such as anger and shame, and parts that try to control and protect the person from the pain of the wounded parts. The sub-personalities are often in conflict with each other and with one’s core Self, a concept that describes the confident, compassionate, whole person that is at the core of every individual. IFS focuses on healing the wounded parts and restoring mental balance and harmony by changing the dynamics that create discord among the sub-personalities and the Self.

IFS was developed by psychologist Richard Schwartz. In his work as a family therapist, Schwartz began to observe patterns in how people described their inner lives: “What I heard repeatedly were descriptions of what they often called their "parts"—the conflicted subpersonalities that resided within them,” Schwartz says. He began to conceive of the mind as a family, and the parts as family members interacting with one another. Exploring how these components functioned with one another was the foundation for IFS and the idea of the core Self. (Psychology Today)

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