What is a Theoretical Orientation?

Every therapist will select a theoretical orientation, which is a framework through which they understand their clients' therapeutic needs. This guides therapists to understand your experiences and behaviours, develop goals and a specific course of interventions to support you, and evaluate whether we are making progress during sessions. We will interact with you and apply interventions in an intentional way based on our framework.

Another way to think about this, is that the therapist's theoretical orientation is like a pair of glasses through which your therapist sees you, understands your distress, identifies strategies to help you feel better, and determines whether it is working.

My Theoretical Orientation

During my earlier years helping people, I had been trained in several theoretical orientations, as various agencies I worked for each selected different "glasses" (i.e. theoretical orientations). While I obtained Advanced Level certifications in these modalities, and my clients were definitely learning new strategies and talking about hard things,  I felt like something was missing. 

When I integrated a Trauma and Attachment Therapy lens, it became the roadmap for how to implement the modalities I had learned in a more effective way! My clients often told me they thought something was "wrong" with them in our first few sessions. In actuality, something really hard had happened to them and they were making sense of it and coping with it in the best way they knew how; only now it was no longer working for them. 

These hard things that happened could include a one-time traumatic event(s) - something that overwhelmed their capacity to cope at the time -  or an ongoing experience that their environment or relationships were unpredictable and felt emotionally unsafe. With this new perspective, my approach felt like a better fit for me and the people I was helping, as client's now how the lens they were "coping normally in response to abnormal situations!"

My Integrated Approach (Alphabetically)

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

This approach focuses on understanding how our thoughts, emotions and behaviours can influence each other. Recognizing how we may be stuck in our thinking and shifting or correcting these thoughts can be helpful in feeling better. This is about THINKING differently.

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)

A skills-based approach to help individuals learn to accept their thoughts, emotions, and behaviours, and provides ways of thinking and behaving differently to change them. DBT is especially great for individuals who are experiencing really intense emotions that feel overwhelming. This is about THINKING and DOING differently.

Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP)

DDP involves creating a safe relational environment where individuals who have experienced trauma can explore their intense emotions and experiences safely while developing trust and communication in their relationships. This is about EXPERIENCING differently.

Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT)

Allows individuals to make sense of their emotions and experiences which they were previously unable to express and/or experience safely. We explore the stuck patterns we get into that perpetuate our hurt and interfere in our important relationships and move into new more effective ways of being, based on our new understanding of ourselves, others, and the world. This is about EXPERIENCING EMOTIONS differently.

Motivational Interviewing (MI) 

Not everyone who attends therapy is ready to make changes. MI allows us to start from where you are and explore what, why, and how you may want to make changes in your life. This is about exploring your READINESS and MOTIVATION to make change.

Polyvagal Theory

This is often a starting place for individuals who have experienced trauma and need some support in understanding their emotional and physiological experiences. We work together to understand how you feel when you feel safe, stressed, or overwhelmed, how to identify what triggers you, and learn what you can do to take care of yourself and cope more effectively. This is about UNDERSTANDING yourself and COPING differently.

Psychoeducation 

I like to "give you the science" behind what you may be experiencing and will teach you strategies and skills for coping and communicate effectively, as needed. This is about LEARNING and UNDERSTANDING yourself and INTERACTING and COPING differently.

Reality Therapy (RT)

Focuses on how we are thinking and behaving in our present relationships that is getting us close to or further from what we want. We explore how you are currently satisfying your basic needs and how you may wish to show up differently in your relationships. This is about UNDERSTANDING and MAKING CHOICES differently.