EMDR is an evidence-based therapy treatment that has been shown to help people recover from trauma and other distressing life events. Unlike traditional talk therapy, EMDR allows clients to process distressing life events without detailed explanation of their experience. EMDR focuses on changing emotions, thoughts, and body sensations related to negative belief systems in order to aid the brain to resume its natural healing process.

Exposure and response therapy can help people manage obsessive thoughts, compulsive behaviors, and behavioral responses to trauma. Over time, individuals are presented with stimuli that evoke distress. They also learn therapeutic techniques to manage these distressing responses. Eventually, they become accustomed to experiencing these events without also experiencing the distress.

Attachment-based therapy uses the client-therapist relationship as a tool to develop or rebuild trust and centers on expressing emotions. This therapy looks at early attachments with primary caregivers and the ways in which those attachments impact an adult’s ability to connect and form healthy emotional and physical relationships.

“When you say, ‘A part of me feels that…’ you have already embraced the basic idea of IFS.” - Jon Schwartz

Internal Family Systems is an approach that assumes that each individual is comprised of a complex system of inner parts that interact with one another. Some parts are wounded and others serve as protectors, and all parts have certain wants and needs. Ultimately, the goal of IFS is to integrate all parts into a fully functioning and complete self. Sessions focus on delving into the inner world where these parts reside and resolving any conflicts that arise there.

Everyone participates in systems, both on a small scale as well as a large one. Each individual has a personal system made up of their own unique biology and psychology. Beyond that, every individual participates in broader scale systems - these involve the relationships that people have and the ways in which people work together. To understand a person we have to first understand the systems that they are a part of and the ways they are impacted by those systems. This therapy works to understand theindividual as well as the broader landscape that each person finds themselves in.