Our Approaches

All of our Calgary Therapists practice from Evidence Based frameworks and tailor their approaches to meet your goals in counselling.

man holding head
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

ACT offers clients an alternative to struggling for control over their thoughts, feelings, urges and memories. The goal of this approach is for clients to find a path to a rich and meaningful life, with their own core values at the center of it all.

Research has shown that ACT has a clinically significant impact on treating a wide range of mental illnesses including but not limited to depression, OCD, workplace stress, chronic pain, the stress of terminal cancer, anxiety, PTSD, anorexia, heroin abuse, marijuana abuse, and even schizophrenia. A large part of ACT is building on mindfulness, but this approach goes beyond other mindfulness based strategies by allowing you (the client) to co-construct strategies together with your therapist.

This approach is not about “getting rid” unpleasant thoughts, feelings, urges or memories, it is about learning to accept that these are present and how to “drop the rope” and stop fighting with them.  ACT believes that it is the human struggle, or “usion” with these unwanted experiences that leads to human suffering and mental illness, not the actual unwanted experiences themselves.

Learn how to change your relationship with your thoughts, feelings, urges, and memories and discuss the benefits of ACT with a Your Counselling therapist today.

couple touching hands
Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is an approach which helps clients learn skills to manage and challenge problematic thinking and behaviour, and in turn improving their emotions.

CBT is appropriate for people of all ages, including children, adolescents, and adults. Evidence has found that CBT can benefit numerous conditions, such as:

  • Depressive disorders
  • Anxiety disorders
  • Eating disorders
  • Obsessive-compulsive disorders

CBT aims to identify thoughts that are not helpful and assess whether they are an accurate depiction of reality. Once thoughts are identified goals and strategies are developed to challenge and change unhelpful thought patterns.

Research indicates that CBT can be delivered effectively online, in addition to face-to-face therapy sessions. Connect with one of our Therapists to explore if a CBT Approach is right for you.

group of people in counselling
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)

Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) is a form of cognitive-behavioural treatment developed by Marsha Linehan, Ph.D., in the early 1990s. DBT provides clients with new skills to manage difficult emotions, and manage conflict in relationships. DBT specifically focuses on providing skills in four key areas: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotional regulation and interpersonal effectiveness skills.

  • Mindfulness skills focus on improving an individual's ability to accept and be present in the current moment.
  • Distress tolerance skills enhance an individual’s resilience and capacity to tolerate difficult experiences and painful emotions, rather than trying to escape from it.
  • Emotion regulation deals with skills to manage and change intense emotions that are causing problems in a person’s life.
  • Interpersonal effectiveness skills consist of skills that allow persons to communicate with others in a way that is assertive, effective, and skillful while maintaining self-respect and strengthening relationships.

DBT skills are known to be helpful for those who would like to work on improving their ability to regulate emotions, tolerate distress and, be mindful and present in the here and now, and communicate and interact effectively with others.

There is a lot of research evidence that shows that DBT has been used successfully to treat people experiencing anxiety, depression,  relationship difficulties, self-harming behaviours, suicidal tendencies, personality disorders, bipolar disorders, post-traumatic stress disorders, and substance use disorders. At Your Counselling, we provide effective DBT interventions by trained and caring counsellors both in individual and group therapy sessions.

what's your story
Narrative tHERAPY

Narrative therapy is an approach that teaches clients to separate themselves from their problems. This allows them to recognize they are not defined by their problems and are instead simply a person, experiencing a problem. The overall goal of narrative therapy is that through gaining this new perspective, the client feels empowered to make positive changes to their thinking styles and behavior, fostering more healthy thoughts, behavior and overall better mental health.

Research shows that clinical improvements through narrative therapy for individuals, couples and families with presenting issues including depression, anxiety, grief and loss, aggression, anger and family and relationship conflicts.

There are three aspects of narrative therapy that make it unique:

1) Narrative therapy views the client as the expert on their own life. Therapy takes a collaborative approach where the client is viewed as already having the capability, skills and knowledge to address their issues and the therapist is simply guiding them through this process.

2) There is no blaming in narrative therapy. The client is not at fault for their problems, and neither is anyone else.  Narrative therapy looks at people and their problems separately.

3) During narrative therapy, clients are not viewed as “having something wrong”. Instead, they are viewed as courageous and praised for realizing their issues and wanting to work on them.

If you would like to learn more about narrative therapy and see if it might be a good fit for you, one of our skilled Therapists will be happy to book you in.

woman's hand on man's back for support
SUPPORTIVE PSYCHOTHERAPY

Supportive psychotherapy is one of the most widely used therapeutic approaches. It involves the therapist utilizing techniques from a number of different approaches to help a client recognize, understand, process and alleviate their distress. In contrast to some of the other therapeutic approaches, supportive psychotherapy involves the therapist being actively emotionally encouraging of the client to reinforce healthy and positive thinking patterns and behavior. This may involve the therapist comforting, reassuring, advising and encouraging their client, but most importantly, it involves the therapist listening attentively, non-judgmentally and sympathetically. The aim of this form of therapy is to provide an outlet for the client to air and process their emotions without the requirement for any filters or guardedness.

Supportive psychotherapy relies on the therapist and client developing a strong, therapeutic alliance. This therapeutic alliance is then the basis used to:

  • Assist the client to build their self-esteem and confidence.
  • Learn new skills and tools to manage daily stress and difficult emotions.
  • Reduce and prevent anxiety by developing more healthy thinking patterns.
  • Expand the client’s awareness to develop new insight.

Studies have shown that supportive psychotherapy can produce clinically significant improvements for a variety of mental health issues including depression, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, adjustment disorder, low self-esteem, personality disorders, relationship issues, emotional regulation issues, disordered thinking and addictive behaviors.

If you feel as though you may benefit from supportive psychotherapy book in a session with one of our highly trained Therapists. We look forward to speaking with you!

frustrated sad man
ACCELERATED RESOLUTION THERAPY

Accelerated resolution therapy (ART) is a therapeutic approach that has roots in other older evidence-based therapies. It is designed to achieve results at a much faster rate than some of the more traditional methods of therapy. ART is unique in that the client is always completely in control of each session, while the therapist just guides them through the process. In the initial stages, this treatment may involve visualization of difficult or traumatic experiences. However, the goal of ART is for the client to move quickly from being stuck in these painful experiences to growth and positive changes.

ART involves the client using relaxing eye movements and a special technique to rewire the brain to store negative or upsetting images in a different way. The end goal is that traumatic events and difficult life experience then won’t cause the strong, negative emotions or physical reactions they previously did. One of the most attractive aspects of ART is that clients don’t even need to talk about their traumas with their therapist to experience positive results.

Accelerated resolution therapy has been shown to help clients achieve rapid benefits with notable improvements often being observed as early as after the first session. This approach has shown clinically significant improvements for clients in the treatment of trauma, anxiety, depression, phobias, panic attacks, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), addictions/substance abuse, family issues, poor self-image, relationship issues, grief, sexual abuse, memory enhancement and pain management.

Several of our Therapists are trained in this ground-breaking therapeutic approach and are passionate about helping their clients achieve positive results with ART.

If you would like further information on ART, please book in with one of our Therapists today.