Therapeutic Approach

The human brain is amazing at processing and storing thoughts, feelings, and experiences throughout our lives, but sometimes memories get filed away in the wrong place and the brain makes connections that aren't entirely helpful.  This happens because a big part of our brain belongs to a survival system that has been around since the caveman days and when that system is activated, we can spend too much time navigating the various threats that our brain falsely perceives. Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy helps us rewire our brains to be more effective while giving us more control over our thoughts, feelings, and experiences. In addition, EMDR increases performance by reducing the unnecessary stress caused by anxiety, depression, fear, and trauma.

Animal Assisted Therapy is a research-based and evidence-supported therapeutic adjunct that allows clients to work with the honest nature and unconditional acceptance of animals to overcome obstacles and foster personal growth.  Highly skilled and trained professionals partner with trained and certified animals to build on the concept of the human-animal bond and produce a wide variety of therapeutic changes and benefits for clients.

CBT or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy helps you learn how to identify, question, and change unhelpful thinking patterns.  Your thoughts, feelings, and behaviours are all connected.  When part of this system is out of balance, it can result in difficulties in your life.  Thoughts aren't facts, they are the result of our perception of the situation.  If we alter our perception, we can alter our feelings and behaviours.  This empirically-validated approach has been used successfully on a wide variety of concerns with many diverse clients.

Clinical hypnosis is sometimes misinterpreted as you being under the control of the therapist when in reality, it is the complete opposite.  Hypnosis is only possible if you want to be hypnotized, and it is often described as the process of ultimate self-control.  During hypnosis, your therapist induces a state of intense concentration or focused attention. This is a guided process with verbal cues and repetition.  The trance-like state you enter may appear similar to sleep in many ways, but you’re fully aware of what’s going on.  In this trance state, your subconscious mind is more open to proposals or suggestions that you may ignore in your daily life.  This shift in consciousness enables us to tap into many of our natural abilities and allows us to make change more quickly.