Our Mission
Though we all have different strengths and specialties, from Play Therapy, to EMDR, to Internal Family Systems, our unifying foundation lies in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), both of which have strong track records for being effective in treating a wide variety of symptoms. But at the core of it, we believe that therapeutic change happens much more often when we just shut up and listen. Another core belief we share is that you are able to get much more out of therapy when working with a therapist who is real and authentic. Irvin Yalom preferred to think of his clients and himself as “fellow travelers” and we like to think of it that way too.
“We are all in this together and there is no therapist and no person immune to the inherent tragedies of existence.”
SPEAKING OF THOSE ACRONYMS…
ACT, at the core of it, is about utilizing mindfulness-based practices to get unhooked from your thoughts and feelings and acting in ways that are more aligned with your values. Acceptance and mindfulness are about taking one giant step backwards, away from your thoughts and feelings, so they aren’t so suffocating and overwhelming. You don’t have to stop your brain from thinking (spoiler alert: that’s impossible) but we can definitely help you learn how to not be so attached to your thoughts.
CBT is different from acceptance-based strategies in that it’s more about recognizing cognitive distortions (like catastrophizing, control fallacy, fallacy of fairness, global labeling) and being very intentional in changing your thoughts to ones that are more balanced, healthy, and productive. Sometimes we have to coach our brains into other ways of thinking, not necessarily because it’s the right way to think, but because it’s the most helpful way to think.