Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of treatment that has been demonstrated to be effective for a range of problems including depression, anxiety disorders, alcohol and drug use problems, marital problems, eating disorders, and severe mental illness. Numerous research studies suggest that CBT leads to significant improvement in functioning and quality of life. In many studies, CBT has been demonstrated to be as effective as, or more effective than, other forms therapy or psychiatric medications.

CBT is based on several core principles, including:

• Problems are based, in part, on faulty or unhelpful ways of thinking.
• Problems are based, in part, on learned patterns of unhelpful behavior.
• People can learn better ways of coping with them, thereby relieving their symptoms and becoming more effective in their lives.

CBT treatment usually involves efforts to change thinking patterns. These strategies might include:

• Learning to recognize one’s distortions in thinking that are creating problems, and then to reevaluate them in light of reality.
• Gaining a better understanding of the behavior and motivation of others.
• Using problem-solving skills to cope with difficult situations.
• Learning to develop a greater sense of confidence in one’s own abilities.

CBT treatment also usually involves efforts to change behavioral patterns. These strategies might include:

• Facing one’s fears instead of avoiding them.
• Using role-playing to prepare for potentially problematic interactions with others.
• Learning to calm one’s mind and relax one’s body.

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) enables people to heal from the symptoms and emotional distress that are the result of disturbing life experiences. Repeated studies show that by using EMDR therapy people can experience the benefits of therapy that once took years to make a difference. It is widely assumed that severe emotional pain requires a long time to heal. EMDR therapy shows that the mind can in fact heal from psychological trauma much as the body recovers from physical trauma. When you cut your hand, your body works to close the wound. If a foreign object or repeated injury irritates the wound, it festers and causes pain. Once the block is removed, healing resumes. EMDR therapy demonstrates that a similar sequence of events occurs with mental processes. The brain’s information processing system naturally moves toward mental health. If the system is blocked or imbalanced by the impact of a disturbing event, the emotional wound festers and can cause intense suffering. Once the block is removed, healing resumes. Using the detailed protocols and procedures learned in EMDR therapy training sessions, clinicians help clients activate their natural healing processes.

Learn about our weekend EMDR intensive for car/transportation accidents.

The Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) is a powerful and innovative listening therapy designed to reduce hearing sensitivity and help regulate the autonomic nervous system.

This process helps build the foundation for awareness, embodiment and resilience. The music of the SSP has been specially filtered to highlight frequencies of sound that typically make us feel safe.

The SSP has helped over 100,000 children, adolescents and adults in more than 70 countries worldwide. Uniquely, many families experience the SSP together and in support of one another.

The SSP may be helpful in reducing symptoms and supporting overall health and resiliency for people seeking support for:

• Trauma history

• Depression and anxiety

• Autism, hyperactivity and attention

• Chronic pain

• Chronic health conditions

• Sensory and auditory processing

• And more

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Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) is a short-term goal-focused evidence-based therapeutic approach, which incorporates positive psychology principles and practices, and which helps clients change by constructing solutions rather than focusing on problems. In the most basic sense, SFBT is a hope friendly, positive emotion eliciting, future-oriented vehicle for formulating, motivating, achieving, and sustaining desired behavioral change.

Trauma-Focused Therapy is a specific approach to therapy that recognizes and emphasizes understanding how the traumatic experience impacts a client’s mental, behavioral, emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being. This type of therapy is rooted in understanding the connection between the trauma experience and the client’s emotional and behavioral responses. The purpose of trauma-focused therapy is to offer skills and strategies to assist the client in better understanding, coping with, processing emotions and memories tied to traumatic experiences, with the end goal of enabling the client to create a healthier and more adaptive meaning of the experience that took place in his/her life.