OUR COUNSELLING & PSYCHOTHERAPY TOOLBOX

Shauna Switzer's counselling and psychotherapy for trauma, anxiety disorders, personality, mood, and depressive disorders and symptoms is a powerful integrative treatment. Shauna's method  uses evidence-based approaches, such as EMDR, with interventions from Relational Psychotherapy, IFS, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, and, for kids and families, Theraplay®.  This method transforms painful memories into growth and learning, turning the suffering into something from the past that one no longer feels the need to avoid, fear, or relive.   Call us, healing is just around the corner.

As our neurological understanding expands, so too does the variety of our toolboxes and the richness of our skills sets in our clinical work. Deep Brain Reorienting appears to offer therapists a gentler mode for trauma work and reduces the risk of emotional overwhelm. DBR provides a way to address  somatic residues of adverse interpersonal experiences underlying relational patterns and aims to undo the residual shock and horror of interpersonal trauma. Patterns and sequences established at the brainstem level can underlie repetitive attachment and relationship responses that repeat over many years in different contexts.

This therapeutic approach is about increasing our   capacity to mentalize - the ability to understand one's own and others' mental states, thereby comprehending one's own and others' intentions and  feelings. This will involve thinking about what is causing other people and ourselves to think about the way that we do. The therapy teaches empathy and makes it easier for people to relate to those around them. These skills may come naturally to some people, but for others, this is a very important neurological process that must be actively developed.

Psychotherapists have long understood that disturbing memories (emotional learning) stored in non-conscious, implicit emotional processes, contribute to mental health issues and that new emotional experiences lead to therapeutic change. Neuroscientists recently confirmed that  change results from updating  emotional learning (memories) through a process of reconsolidation. Coherence therapy is a psychotherapeutic treatment that explicitly harnesses the reconsolidation process to change emotional learnings about self and the world that drive symptoms such as anxiety, depression, low self-esteem and many more.

This therapeutic approach is about increasing our   capacity to mentalize - the ability to understand one's own and others' mental states, thereby comprehending one's own and others' intentions and  feelings. This will involve thinking about what is causing other people and ourselves to think about the way that we do. The therapy teaches empathy and makes it easier for people to relate to those around them. These skills may come naturally to some people, but for others, this is a very important neurological process that must be actively developed.

The powerful human needs inherent in our family & couple bonds often generate strong emotions and fears, leading to difficult relationship and parenting issues. Emotionally focused and experiential individual, family, couple, and step-family counselling, often combined with play therapy based on the principles of Theraplay®, help families process their emotions, overcome their worries, and strengthen  bonds, healing  struggles between loved ones.  We can help you establish peace and understanding in your home and relationships.

Theraplay® is a dyadic child and family therapy recognized as a seminal psychotherapy for children that supports healthy child and caregiver attachment. A secure attachment between the child and important adults in their life is the basis of lifelong mental health as well as the source of resiliency. The therapist guides child and parent to engage fun games, developmentally challenging activities, and tender, nurturing activities, which supports the parent to regulate their child's behavior, communicate their love and joy in their child's presence and builds the child's sense of security, worth, and connection.

The evidence is out! Increasing your capacity to accept and observe your inner and outer experience calmly and with neutrality leads to both mental and physical health and well-being. Mindfulness based counselling is a core treatment approach that we offer to support your peace of mind. In fact, we combine treatment approaches, such as emotion and compassion focused therapies, with CBT, EMDR, and mindfulness based therapies to help you cope with difficult emotions & transform the lens through which you view the world. See the world through new eyes today!

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of psychological treatment that has been demonstrated to be effective for a range of problems such as depression, anxiety disorders, alcohol and drug use problems, marital problems, eating disorders, and severe mental illness. Numerous research studies suggest that CBT leads to significant improvement in functioning and quality of life. In many studies, CBT has been demonstrated to be as effective as, other forms of psychological therapy or psychiatric medication. It is ot for everyone, so speak to a psychotherapist today about the best approach for you