Tools in Therapy
Therapeutic Relationship
Research has shown that a positive therapeutic relationship is directly linked to successful outcomes in counseling. For this reason, I value and nurture the unique rapport which I build with each client and strive to strengthen this connection throughout our work together. The therapy partnership is solidified by working as a team towards the same expected outcome. Determining specific treatment goals together and checking in on progress throughout therapy helps to establish alignment between what my clients hope to achieve in therapy and the effectiveness of the support which I provide. Counseling can sometimes feel like taking a bumpy ride on a road with many twists and turns, so a strong and unified therapeutic relationship ensures greater stability throughout the journey.
Exposure and Response Prevention for OCD
ERP is the gold standard of treatment for reducing loud, persistent, and intrusive thoughts, images, and impulses that fuel anxiety and drive time-consuming compulsive behaviors.
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Inference-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
While ERP primarily targets the downstream effects of OCD - namely compulsions - ICBT focuses on the thought processes that occur earlier in the OCD cycle. ICBT views the problematic turning point as the moment an intrusive thought is followed by faulty reasoning. It is here that imagination begins to overshadow reality, and highly unlikely or unacceptable possibilities are experienced as though they are true or inevitable. ICBT works to weaken the influence of faulty reasoning and resolve the obsessional doubt it creates, helping you regain trust in what you know rather than what OCD imagines could be true.
Internal Family Systems
Internal Family systems is a modality that breaks down personality parts within each of us and seeks to understand their origin, purpose, and unique thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. It's fascinating to explore ourselves in this way! Understanding these parts creates a greater awareness of what drives us and how we can better align with the best version of ourselves and experience increased control over our lives. It also helps us to better understand others and how our personality parts influence our relationships.
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Accelerated Resolution Therapy
Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) evolved from the trauma-focused intervention known as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), but incorporates its own unique and distinct techniques. At the heart of both therapies is memory reconsolidation - a neurological process in which emotionally charged memories are
deliberately but minimally recalled and then updated.
Sometimes painful experiences become neurologically "stuck", causing the brain to respond to certain triggers as though the past is still happening in the present. In ART, distressing memories are intentionally - but only briefly- recalled in a safe, structured way. Then, new mental and physical information is introduced, allowing the brain to form new present-day associations that replace outdated ones. Although the memory itself remains intact, the distressing thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations connected to it often lose their intensity.
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Somatic Experiencing
Somatic experiencing is centered around achieving increased awareness, control, and resolution of physical, sensory symptoms held in the body as a result of negative memories and associations. Many of these associations are positive, which we work to strengthen. However, the primary focus of this approach is on reducing or eliminating associations which perpetuate negative physical and emotional symptoms that create barriers to living our best life.
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