Psychotherapy
What is psychotherapy?
Psychotherapy is sometimes referred to as “the talking cure.” We talk about the topics that take up space in your mind but don’t get expressed for various reasons. Sometimes, just verbalizing your thoughts will help you see more clearly and from new perspectives. I frequently hear clients say, “I didn’t realize it until I heard myself say it out loud.”
Psychotherapy has come a long way since its early days. Once thought of as a mysterious or rigid process, it has evolved into a collaborative, evidence-based practice that draws from decades of research and a wide range of approaches. Today, psychotherapy is less about fitting you into a theory and more about creating a safe space where your unique story, strengths, and struggles are understood.
At the heart of effective therapy is not a specific technique, but the relationship you build with your therapist. Research consistently shows that this relationship—the trust, safety, and mutual understanding you feel—is the strongest predictor of success in therapy. Techniques and tools matter, of course, but it is the quality of the connection that allows real healing and growth to unfold.
Psychotherapy is an opportunity to be deeply heard, to explore what matters most to you, and to discover new ways of relating to yourself and others. Whether you are navigating stress, healing from trauma, or seeking greater clarity in life, therapy is a powerful, flexible modality for healing and personal growth.
How psychotherapy helps:
Understanding patterns – Therapy helps you recognize unhelpful cycles in thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
Regulating the nervous system – By working with both body and mind, therapy supports healing from stress and trauma.
Building resilience – You develop tools to handle challenges with greater flexibility and balance.
Improving relationships – Therapy strengthens your ability to connect authentically and navigate conflict with more ease.
Supporting transitions – Whether you’re adjusting to a new role, culture, or phase of life, therapy provides space to process and grow.
What to expect
Starting therapy can feel both hopeful and uncertain. In our first sessions, we’ll focus on understanding your goals, what has brought you here, and what you’d like to change. From there, therapy unfolds as a collaborative process—sometimes practical, sometimes reflective.
Some sessions may involve learning specific skills or strategies, while others may focus on processing experiences, emotions, or patterns in relationships. Progress often happens gradually, through small but meaningful shifts that add up over time.
Types of therapy: A few examples
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Cognitive therapy is an exercise in meaning-making. How do we explain what happens to us? What stories do we tell ourselves about the events in our lives? How much of this storytelling is happening outside of our awareness? Essentially, we examine your thoughts and beliefs that influence emotions and behavior with the intent of changing them to be more realistic and adaptive. If you haven’t experienced therapy before, CBT is a great place to begin.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): ACT will help you handle painful emotions while committing to value-driven change. ACT works within four components which are:
Mindfulness: Increased contact with the present moment and observing your inner world with curiosity as opposed to judgment.
Cognitive Defusion: Instead of engaging with your thoughts and working to change them, you will learn to distance yourself from your thoughts so that they have less of an impact.
Acceptance that we all experience painful emotions at times. You will learn to experience your emotions rather than resisting or suppressing them.
Values identification: You will examine and clarify what is most important to you, and use the skills of mindfulness, cognitive defusion, and emotional acceptance to identify values-aligned action.
Interpersonal Therapy (IPT): IPT focuses on the connection between relationships and emotional health. We will examine your relationship patterns and help you to improve communication, set boundaries, avoid or resolve conflicts, and adapt through life transitions.
Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT): CPT is a cognitive-behavioral therapy specifically designed to help you recover from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Through writing exercises and therapy conversations, you will become more aware of beliefs about your trauma that maintain PTSD symptoms.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR): EMDR is an effective treatment for trauma and distressing memories. We will use guided eye movements or other form of bilateral stimulation to help your brain process traumatic experiences more adaptively, reducing their emotional intensity and lingering impact.
Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART): ART is another therapy for treating trauma and distressing memories. Similarly to EMDR, ART uses bilateral stimulation to reduce the emotional charge of painful memories. ART primarily on images, which can be helpful for people who don’t want to talk about the details of their experience.
Somatic Therapies: Somatic therapy focuses on the mind-body connection. Working directly with your nervous system, we will help you notice and regulate physical sensations linked to stress or trauma.
Imagery Rehearsal Therapy (IRT): IRT is a treatment for recurring distressing dreams and nightmares. We will identify the recurring dream and help you re-write the dream story with a new outcome. By rehearsing the new imagery while awake, your brain learns to replace the old nightmare pattern. For many people, IRT helps reduce the frequency and intensity of nightmares, which improves sleep quality.
