Our Approach to Working with You
Science & Creativity
There are countless types of psychotherapy (or, in jargon, “theoretical orientations”). Our clinicians have been trained in multiple treatments and have witnessed the merits and shortcomings of each. Every client is different with their own unique goals, history, personality, preferences, communication style, strengths, and challenges. As a result, we don’t believe that any one type of therapy is better for everyone than others (and research bears this out!).
Flexibility
Our psychologists work closely and thoughtfully with each client to decide on the best and most personalized approach for them. A key aspect of this approach is flexibility. Goals and priorities can change over time, and it is important to maintain open channels of communication regarding how therapy is going, what is working well, and what needs to be adjusted. We will welcome feedback from you at every step of the way.
Strong Relationship
Contrary to stereotypes of therapists as “blank slates,” our psychologists are real people (!) in the room with you and prioritize genuineness. It can be difficult to work through painful material in therapy, and we believe that humor and lightheartedness also have their place in our work. Check out how our therapists describe their interpersonal style.
Several beliefs guide our practice:
Change comes from increased insight (understanding) and behavior change.
Traditionally, different styles of therapy have focused on one or the other. Our work is characterized by a combination of curious exploration and creative, action-oriented thinking.
Defense mechanisms and problem behaviors work…until they don’t.
Humans are incredibly resourceful and adaptive. From young ages, we figure out how to cope with stressful parts of our environments. The problem is, sometimes when our environments change, those coping skills are no longer helpful and may even wind up causing problems. For example, a child with neglectful or absent parents may learn to be entirely self-reliant and to reject others’ help. This tendency might help them survive as a child, but when they get older, it could get in the way of forming meaningful relationships and asking for help when they need it. We believe that understanding the origins of behaviors is important so that individuals can validate themselves for responding resourcefully to stressful environments, rather than blame themselves for creating problems.
Symptom reduction is important, and so is building a life that feels more worth living.
Symptoms (such as depressed mood, binge eating, or insomnia) often bring people to therapy. Decreasing such symptoms is a priority, and so is increasing the positive and meaningful aspects of one’s life. For example, if someone uses alcohol to cope with boredom and loneliness, it is probably impossible to reduce their alcohol use without introducing new, positive experiences to combat their boredom and loneliness.
People are doing the best they can at any given moment, given their constraints…and they are capable of doing better.
This belief can be hard to wrap your mind around. As mentioned above, people are tremendously resilient. At any given moment, there are constraints on our behaviors, including the influence of our environments, other people, biological factors, and past experiences. We believe people do the best they can given such constraints. We also believe that there is always room for improvement.
The therapeutic relationship is crucial.
The relationship between therapist and client is a main vehicle for therapeutic change. We share our reactions to clients with them and encourage them to be open with us about their feelings toward us and toward therapy so that we can make the best use of our time together.