Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

I have received special training and continuing education in therapy for anxiety, specifically exposure and response prevention with CBT. I am a certified clinical anxiety treatment professional (CCATP). I practice CBT regularly with people suffering from OCD, GAD, social anxiety, and even binge eating.

In my CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) approach, I help clients identify and challenge negative thought patterns that contribute to emotional distress. By exploring the links between thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, we develop strategies to replace harmful beliefs with healthier ones. This empowers you to manage anxiety, depression, and other challenges more effectively, fostering resilience, emotional balance, and a more positive outlook on life.

Here's a lot of acronyms for you! I pull from concepts in DBT, ACT, and Behavioral Activation. I love behavioral therapies. I can explain more of each of these in our sessions. I try to make things understandable and easy to implement.

My desire is to guide people through the process of being able to see the connection between their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors in order to overcome obstacles in their lives and make positive, lasting changes.

My training and experience in cognitive behavioral therapy is at the heart of much of my therapeutic work. Utilizing cognitive behavioral therapy principles I aid my clients in overcoming limiting beliefs and in setting realistic goals for their lives. I am also trained in trauma focused cognitive behavioral therapy.

While a studying clinical mental health counseling at Johns Hopkins University, I selected CBT as my preferred theoretical orientation. I have applied CBT interventions with clients and found that it has been one of the most successful approaches to help clients. I naturally believe we must observe our thinking patterns to understand, reframe, and improve our mental health.

What you think as you go through your day affects how you feel. When you feel better, you act better. The way you behave contributes to how you feel. CBT is empowering. We'll look at the interaction of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. When we examine your Core Beliefs- about yourself, your life, and your future, you will gain the power to change how you think about every situation you are in, and you can think, feel, and act more effectively.

My principle training was in addictions, pain management and rehabilitation psychology. I was trained in this modality as a principle intervention with these populations.

The importance of looking at faulty thinking and our negative self talk is examined. Techniques to challenging and replacing those thoughts are taught.

CBT is one of the main therapeutic approaches I’ve had extensive training in and utilize daily with clients. I like this approach because it is effective for a wide range of problems and fairly straightforward in terms of clients being able to implement the strategies. It is based on the idea that unhelpful ways of thinking and behavior patterns contribute to our emotional responses and mental health issues. I can assist you with noticing and addressing your thinking or behavioral patterns.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy is a cornerstone of my practice because it produces powerful, positive, and meaningful results that last. I can provide specialty CBT services for specific issues such as stress management, fears of flying or public speaking, insomnia, and more. I can also use CBT techniques more generally to address underlying anxiety at work, school, or socially.

CBT skills are evidence based to effectively treat the majority of mental health challenges. I have been well trained in these coping tools.

CBT can be very helpful with challenging perfectionistic expectations many moms may have of themselves and the parenthood experience. We work to create new beliefs and thoughts that serve to reduce anxiety and improve mood.

CBT is the gold-standard of effective treatment for most issues. Its basic approach is to help you identify your own problem-causing or problem-worsening thought and feelings and behaviors. Then, together, we identify ways you can choose to be different.

Bringing awareness and acceptance to how you think and what you do can help you feel supported and understood. Naming what is happening in your life gives you affirmation and power. Let's boost your ability to understand and accept yourself, so that you can make affirming and realistic change.

If you are struggling with racing thoughts, negative self worth, and you have a pattern of being hard on yourself, CBT is a highly effective tool for changing these thoughts patterns. It is possible to create a healthy internal dialogue. This is created in the therapy session, and we work to improve this week by week. Trauma can cause what I call "going dark" in the thought process, and it can be disruptive. You can break this cycle and learn self compassion and a sense of lightness.

Sometimes the roots run deeper than simple, practical coaching skills. CBT allows us to dive deeper as we discuss core fears, trauma and beliefs that hold you back. We may look at your earliest memories and beliefs as we work on reframing them to be beliefs that are in line with who you are becoming. We then give space for processing the "cognition" (thoughts and beliefs) and then look at how we can adjust the behaviors to be in line with who we are becoming.