Our Therapy Process

DBT

Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) was developed to manage overwhelming emotions and to build distress tolerance.  It is a therapy model that helps people learn and use new skills and strategies so that they build lives that they feel are worth living.  DBT teaches four skills: mindfulness, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness and emotional regulation.  DBT helps clients learn how to accept themselves, their emotions, their thoughts and their life situations.  DBT is used to treat people with chronic or severe mental health issues. Issues DBT treats include self-harm, eating and food issues, addiction, and posttraumatic stress, as well as borderline personality. DBT was originally designed to treat people who had chronic suicidal thoughts as a symptom of borderline personality.

CBT

Cognitive behavioral therapy is a short-term, goal-oriented treatment in which a therapist and client work together to explore the client’s negative thinking and behavior in order to resolve difficulties and improve the client’s emotional well-being. CBT is a talk therapy that can be used to treat people with a wide range of mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, addiction problems, marital problems and other mental illnesses. The basic understanding of CBT is that burdensome emotions can be difficult to change, so CBT targets emotions by working at changing the thoughts and behaviours that are contributing to these troublesome emotions. CBT helps individuals develop alternative ways of thinking and behaving which aims to reduce their psychological distress.

Compassionate inquiry

Compassionate Inquiry^® is a psychotherapeutic approach developed by Dr. Gabor Maté that reveals what lies beneath the appearance we present to the world. Using Compassionate Inquiry, both the individual and therapist unveil the level of consciousness, mental climate, hidden assumptions, implicit memories and body states that form the real message that words both express and conceal. Through Compassionate Inquiry, the client can recognize the unconscious dynamics that run their lives and how to liberate themselves from them.

“The purpose of Compassionate Inquiry is to drill down to the core stories people tell themselves – to get them to see what story they are telling themselves unconsciously; what those beliefs are, where they came from; and guide them to the possibility of letting go of those stories, or letting go of the hold those stories have on them …That’s what Compassionate Inquiry is.” ~ Dr. Gabor Maté

Expressive Arts

The difference between expressive arts therapy and art therapy is that expressive arts therapy draws from a variety of art forms. Expressive arts is used with adults, as individuals or in groups, to nurture deep personal growth and transformation. Journaling, storytelling, reading literature and poetry, and making life maps, videos, memory books, vision boards are all forms of expressive art. Art can help clients review and make meaning of their lives, and to tell their life story, as well as help them engage with family and other significant people in their lives.

Eco therapy

Eco therapy, also known as nature therapy or green therapy, is the applied practice of the emergent field of Eco psychology. Eco therapy, in many cases, stems from the belief that people are part of the web of life and that our psyches are not isolated or separate from our environment. Eco therapy is based on the idea that people are connected to and impacted by the natural environment. A growing body of research highlights the positive benefits of connecting with nature. Many clinicians who practice Eco therapy believe that the earth has a self-righting capacity which operates through complex systems of integrated balance, and that if people can harmonize with these systems, they may experience improved mental health.

Dolphin Neurostim

The Dolphin DC Microcurrent gently whispers at the body’s fascia and nervous systems, soliciting a deep, healing response that reverberates throughout the entire body.
The Dolphin’s stimulation is thousands of times less in strength than traditional AC TENS devices and is therefore far safer –and far more effective – in the treatment of chronic and acute pain. So, effective, Dolphin has been called “micro current bio stimulation” in the marketplace due to its added benefits on cellular physiology and growth.
The Dolphin Neurostim applies its unique stimulus to acupuncture treatment points that target specific pain conditions in the body. When Dolphin is combined with pain condition protocols depicted in the Natural Health Manual (included in the Dolphin Neurostim Kit), the therapy is called MPS or Microcurrent Point Stimulation. Dolphin-MPS protocols instantly reduce stress and naturally release muscles and endorphins to relieve chronic pain through the body. This multi-pronged effect on the body’s nervous, muscular and endocrine systems is why the Dolphin-MPS works so quickly and so effectively on many chronic pain conditions where other approaches fail.
Dolphin effective for:
• Back Pain
• Neck Pain
• Body-wide Pain
• Post-Surgical Pain
• Stress reduction
• Improving Massage

Yoga/Mindfulness meditation

Increasingly yoga and mindfulness meditation are being integrated into holistic approaches in treating traumatic stress responses. Yoga and meditation practice are already known as effective for relieving stress. By focusing on gentle approaches such as grounding and breath work and poses such as in restorative yoga, this helps to support calming of the nervous system. This gentle approach teaches the mind that the body is a safe place to be and helps to integrate more acceptance of oneself and what one is experiencing. Through mindfulness meditation, one learns to tune into and be present for one’s inner experience with compassion and kindness.

Neurofeedback

Your brain is capable of functioning optimally, but for most of us, our central nervous system gets knocked off by the challenges of daily life. Manifestations of a less-than-optimally-functioning central nervous system often present as lack of performance on tasks, random or scattered thoughts, feeling overwhelmed, overactive, nervous, tired or irritable.
NeurOptimal® is considered by many to be the most highly evolved form of Neurofeedback available today. After more than 40 years in the neuroscience field and related disciplines, Dr. Val Brown and Dr. Sue Brown – the founders of Zengar®– have developed a technology that gives feedback directly to your brain, which allows it to regulate itself more efficiently.
Anyone with a brain! But in reality, NeurOptimal® is a great tool to have as part of the wellness program, as it is designed to promote a flexible and resilient mindset. From athletes to executives, from students to performers or artists. No matter your lifestyle or your age, an optimal mindset helps you to be your best!
During a NeurOptimal® brain training session, you wear tiny two sensors on your head and clips on your ears that will read the electrical activity of your brain. You will sit in a comfortable chair, listen to music and close your eyes or watch a fractal image or a movie. Through the tiny pauses in the music, NeurOptimal® communicates with the brain, letting it know what it has just done. These interruptions give the opportunity for the brain to adopt a more natural, relaxed and effective pattern. After a 33-minute session, most clients feel refreshed, relaxed and in a higher state of mental alertness and flow.

Cognitive Processing Therapy

Cognitive processing therapy (CPT) is a specific type of cognitive behavioral therapy that has been effective in reducing symptoms of PTSD that have developed after experiencing a variety of traumatic events including child abuse, combat, sexual abuse and natural disasters.

CPT is generally delivered over 12 sessions and helps patients learn how to challenge and modify unhelpful beliefs related to the trauma. In so doing, the patient creates a new understanding and conceptualization of the traumatic event so that it reduces its ongoing negative effects on current life.

This treatment is strongly recommended for the treatment of PTSD.