Narrative therapy seeks to be a respectful, non-blaming approach to counseling and community work, which centers people as the experts in their own lives. It views problems as separate from people and assumes people have many skills, competencies, beliefs, values, commitments, and abilities that will assist them to reduce the influence of problems in their lives.

This approach is future-focused, goal-directed, and focuses on solutions, rather than on the problems that brought clients to seek therapy. Described as a practical, goal-driven model, a hallmark of SFBT is its emphasis on clear, concise, realistic goal negotiations. The SFBT approach assumes that all clients have some knowledge of what would make their life better, even though they may need some (at times, considerable) help describing the details of their better life and that everyone who seeks help already possesses at least the minimal skills necessary to create solutions.

Emphasizes understanding the issues that motivate and influence a child’s behavior, thoughts, and feelings. It can help identify a child’s typical behavior patterns, defenses, and responses to inner conflicts and struggles. Psychodynamic psychotherapies are based on the assumption that a child’s behavior and feelings will improve once the inner struggles are brought to light. It helps people gain greater self-awareness and understanding about their own actions. It helps clients identify and explore how their non-conscious emotions and motivations can influence their behavior.

Expressive or creative arts therapy is based on the idea that people can help heal themselves through art, music, dance, writing, or other expressive acts. Therapy is centered around self-expression, with therapy providing a safe and private place to express feelings, confusion, worries, secrets and ideas. We also use Play Therapy with younger children or with children for whom self-expression through play would be easier than verbal expression.

Focuses on helping the family function in more positive and constructive ways by exploring patterns of communication and providing support and education. Family therapy sessions can include the child or adolescent along with parents, siblings, and grandparents.

Parent Work is a form of psychotherapy that focuses on the parent and their relation to the child. Different from individual psychotherapy, this type of therapy provides the parent with the opportunity to explore various themes and determine the effects each has on his or her parenting. By being able to recognize particular “stories,” a parent will develop the skills to make the necessary changes to effectually rewrite the story of their parenting. The therapist and the client examine all aspects of a parent’s life in order to determine what resources are being relied on and which ones are counterproductive.

Humanistic therapy focuses on the whole person, building their sense of self and insight about their conflicts. A strength based approach, it sees clients and therapists as equals. It helps individuals recognize their strengths, creativity and choice in the ‘here and now’.

CBT helps a person focus on his or her current problems and how to solve them. Both patient and therapist need to be actively involved in this process. The therapist helps the patient learn how to identify distorted or unhelpful thinking patterns, recognize and change inaccurate beliefs, relate to others in more positive ways, and change behaviors accordingly. We also use techniques from Interpersonal Therapy and Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.

We have an 8-session model that caters to building up executive skills like organization skills, time management, planning & prioritizing, self-monitoring, self-regulation, and motivation along with study skills in children and adolescents.

We have a model that caters to building social skills in adolescents with development delays or who have Autism Spectrum Disorder. One of these is a program based on the PEERS model (University of California, Los Angeles) and consists of teaching everyday social skills like conversational skills, choosing appropriate friends, dealing with rejection and teasing, etc. to teenswith a parallel session for parents.

This approach focuses on understanding problems in a context. In this type of therapy, the “identified client” in a family – the one seen by family members as having the problem — is viewed by the therapist as part of a larger system that is creating or sustaining this problem. This approach can be particularly useful when one member of a family seems resistant to therapy or to change; it opens up other avenues for intervention.

Psychoeducation refers to the education offered to individuals with a mental health condition and their families to help empower them and deal with their condition in an optimal way.Psychoeducation is a therapeutic approach under which the psychological practitioner’s functioning is viewed not in terms of abnormality (or illness) diagnoses prescription leads to therapy which leads to cure; but rather in terms of client dissatisfaction (or ambition) that informs goal-setting and skill-teaching to reach satisfaction or goal achievement. Content of psychoeducation is discussed in terms of general skills (i.e., communication skills, interpersonal skills, relationship skills, etc.) and specific skills (i.e., coping with frustration, sexual satisfaction, handling aggressive impulses, etc.)

The objective of the therapist is to reinforce the patient’s healthy and adaptive patterns of thought and behaviors. The therapist engages in a fully emotional, encouraging, and supportive relationship with the patient as a method of furthering healthy ways of coping, especially in the context of interpersonal relationships.