Psychotherapy in Winchester

Beginning therapy can be a big step toward being the healthiest version of yourself and living the best life possible—no matter what challenges you may be facing. Through therapy, you can change self-destructive behaviours and habits, resolve painful feelings, improve your relationships, and more.

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Though no one can tell you exactly what your therapy process will be like, in all modes of therapy you will establish goals for your therapy and determine the steps you will take to get there. Whether in individual, group, or family therapy, your relationship with your therapist is a confidential one and focuses not only on the content of what you talk about, but also the process. The therapeutic process–how you share your feelings and experiences–is considered to be just as important as the specific issues or concerns you share in therapy.

On the whole, you can expect that your therapist will be someone who supports you, listens attentively, models a healthy and positive relationship experience, gives you appropriate feedback, and follows ethical guidelines. Good therapy should be tailored to you and your experiences.

You are not alone in facing life’s problems; many people are experiencing similar pains, difficulties, and worries, and many people are getting help and growing through therapy. In fact, there are countless reasons why people seek the support of a counsellor. Don’t let common myths or misconceptions about therapy stop you from finding help. The idea that people who go to therapy are “crazy” or “damaged” is false. Mental health concerns affect millions of people throughout the world and help is available.

Techniques:

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a type of psychotherapeutic treatment that helps people learn how to identify and change the destructive or disturbing thought patterns that have a negative influence on their behaviour and emotions.

Cognitive behavioural therapy focuses on changing the automatic negative thoughts that can contribute to and worsen our emotional difficulties, depression, and anxiety. These spontaneous negative thoughts also have a detrimental influence on our mood. Through CBT, faulty thoughts are identified, challenged, and replaced with more objective, realistic thoughts.

Solution Focused Therapy

Solution Focused Therapy (SFT) 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, SFT is a hope friendly, positive emotion eliciting, future-oriented vehicle for formulating, motivating, achieving, and sustaining desired behavioural change.

Acceptance & Commitment Therapy

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a form of psychotherapy that emphasizes the importance of acceptance, commitment, values and mindfulness. The goal of this therapy is to teach people how to accept themselves and their lives as they are now, rather than how they wish things were or how others want them to be.

The theory of ACT states that our core beliefs are connected to our highest values, which are then connected to our behaviours. ACT encourages clients to identify their core beliefs and work toward changing them so they match their highest values, as well as reduce their habitual patterns of avoidance and reactivity. It’s called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy because it requires you to accept painful thoughts, feelings, and sensations while committing to new actions. ACT is a psychotherapeutic approach that has been shown to help people with depression, anxiety, or other mental health problems.

Narrative Therapy

Narrative therapy is a style of therapy that helps people become—and embrace being—an expert in their own lives. In narrative therapy, there is an emphasis on the stories that you develop and carry with you through your life.

As you experience events and interactions, you give meaning to those experiences and they, in turn, influence how you see yourself and the world. You can carry multiple stories at once, such as those related to your self-esteem, abilities, relationships, and work.

Narrative therapy seeks to have an empowering effect and offer counselling that is non-blaming and non-pathological in nature. Narrative therapy allows people to not only find their voice but to use their voice for good, helping them to become experts in their own lives and to live in a way that reflects their goals and values.

Mindfulness-Based Therapy

Mindfulness, from a therapeutic, secular perspective is a conscious awareness of our present moment. This includes openness and non-judgment about the experience. It is often coupled with other types of therapy, such as Cognitive-based Therapy (CBT), or Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).

Mindfulness therapy is not concerned with relaxation, though that might be a result of certain practices. The focus is on increasing our awareness of the thoughts, feelings, and actions that hinder our progress. When we are better able to do that, we can engage with those aspects of ourselves, learn to tweak our language, and choose how to respond.

Mindfulness therapy teaches clients how to react to their thoughts, environment, and relationships using present-moment techniques to reduce negative emotions and overwhelm. It can combat dissociation, anxiety, worrying thoughts, stress, and chronic pain.

Mindfulness therapy involves changing how you think about yourself and your circumstances using meditative practices and other mindfulness exercises. Instead of automatically responding to events, you can learn to observe them. Observance, acceptance, and labelling are a few common strategies in this technique, helping individuals break negative thought patterns under the guidance of a therapist.

Conditions: Experience in Treating

Psychotherapy Winchester, North Dundas ON | (613) 774-1177