Treatment Modalities

Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)

Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) is a humanistic modality that posits emotional awareness leads to the following:

• An authentic expression of Self
• Authentic living
• Meaningful relationship
• An overall fulfilling life

Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) is a type of therapy that focuses on the emotional connection between individuals in a relationship, particularly romantic relationships.

EFT emphasizes the importance of emotions in shaping our behaviours and relationships and the need for secure attachment and emotional bonding to establish and maintain healthy relationships.

EFT aims to help couples recognize and understand the negative patterns in their relationship and develop more positive interactions that promote emotional intimacy, trust, and security.

EFT has been shown to be an effective treatment for couples experiencing various issues, including communication problems, infidelity, and relationship distress.

Internal Family Systems (IFS)

Internal Family Systems (IFS) is a transformative, evidence-based, trauma-informed model that believes the following:

Trauma can cause fragmentation of the self into different parts rather than remaining whole. These parts can be understood as similar to various family members within a family unit that may be at odds with each other, resulting in inner conflict. There is a core Self that has the power to self-heal and carries intrinsic wisdom.

The model uses a gentle and compassionate approach to identify various parts as they are appearing in the ‘here and now’ to restore connection, trust, and self-love between them and the Self. IFS is a psychotherapeutic approach that explores an individual’s internal system of different “parts”.

IFS is based on the idea that each person has different “parts” that make up their personality. If these parts conflict, it can lead to emotional difficulties and other problems. The IFS model describes three different types of parts: Managers, Exiles, and Firefighters.

Managers are responsible for maintaining control and safety, while Exiles are parts of the self that have been pushed out of awareness due to painful experiences.

Firefighters respond to crises and try to distract or numb the individual from emotional pain.

In IFS therapy, the therapist helps the individual explore and understand these different parts of themselves, identifying and resolving internal conflicts. This is done in a compassionate and non-judgmental way to facilitate healing from trauma and achieving a sense of balance and harmony within themselves.

IFS is often used to heal various kinds of trauma, including attachment, acute, complex and intergenerational trauma, and mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and addiction. It can also help facilitate personal growth, encourage authenticity, create healthy relationships, reduce stress, and increase self-awareness and self-compassion.

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based model that believes:

Our thoughts impact our feelings and behaviours. Our thoughts or automatic thoughts that race through our minds may stem from core beliefs that may be irrational and are borne in childhood. Examples of core beliefs may be “I am unloveable”, “I am unworthy”, “I am incompetent”, etc. Negative or irrational core beliefs lead to negative automatic thoughts. Each thought causes an emotion that impacts our behaviours.

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy believes there are many cognitive distortions, such as, all-or-nothing/black-and-white thinking, over-generalization, diminishing the positives, catastrophization, etc. These cognitive distortions can lead to thinking patterns that impact our view of self, the world and relationships.

Psychotherapy is a safe space to bring awareness to these thoughts, emotions, distortions, symptoms and behaviours.

Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT)

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) is a goal-directed, strengths-based therapeutic approach that focuses on identifying and achieving the individual’s goals rather than examining the root causes of their problems.

It is based on the idea that individuals have the skills and resources to solve their issues and achieve their desired outcomes. SFBT is typically brief because it focuses on identifying and building on existing strengths rather than exploring problems in depth.

During therapy, the therapist will collaborate with the client to identify their specific goals and ask targeted questions designed to encourage the client to think about their existing strengths and resources.

The therapist will then help the client create a plan of action, and through this process, the client will gain a sense of hope, empowerment, and confidence in their ability to make positive changes in their life.

SFBT has been found to be effective in treating several mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, relationship problems, and substance abuse. It is also often used in counselling sessions to help individuals work toward specific personal and professional goals.