I know that many of you are asked, “What type of therapy do you do?” so I thought I would give a very high level outline of the techniques that we work with or are part of the available tool kit.
It should be noted that all approaches can be used to strengthen our internal/external resources and supports or clear what has been holding us back.
- CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) is a skills based approach that allows you to better understand the patterns of your thinking and your actions.
- TFCBT (Trauma Focussed CBT) includes psychological education (psychoed) on the natural reactions to trauma in the body and allowing gradual exposure to trauma triggers and events.
- Mindfulness to designed to allow us to be fully present and utilises our senses to be aware of ourselves and our surroundings.
- EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing) is focussed on the reprocessing of traumatic memories.It utilises neural reprogramming to assist the brain and body to release complex emotions and patterns of tension and holding.
- Brainspotting, like EMDR incorporates the use of the visual field to target a specific memory/experience or sensation and enable the nervous system to better tolerate or clear the negative reaction to a trigger or trauma.
- Schema Therapy is focussed upon addressing maladaptive patterns of belief and thinking. In short, it helps us to identify negative or unhelpful thought patterns, how they originated and works to move towards more positive or helpful core beliefs.
- IFS (Internal Family Systems) is a parts based approach like Schema Therapy and allows us to see what are our protective thoughts and behaviours and what wounds are being protected. IFS also incorporates the Self at our core.
- Structural Dissociation explores the adaptation of parts of ourselves to respond to difficult or traumatic events. These natural coping responses can range from zoning out to separated parts of your personality.
- DNMS (Developmental Needs Meeting Strategy) is a resourcing based approach that allows us to identify and support the unmet needs resulting from fractured childhood bonds and core attachment needs.
- Alexander Technique is my complementary formal qualification which looks at psychological and physical integration of mind and body and the resulting day to day habits of how we think, move and respond.This somatic lens enables us to become aware of our body’s signalling system and bring our conscious patterns of thinking and actions closer together.
Phew ok, well that’s it in a nutshell. As you can see, we have a lot of options to work with and each session I consider the best approach for what we are addressing, so please make sure you let me know what works best for you or if you’d like to try a particular technique.