Question 1

Trauma-Informed Therapy

Accepted Answer

Trauma affects the individual and the collective. Safety in the therapeutic relationship is of utmost importance, as we build systems to help you stay safe. This means that we can work on understanding how and why things are triggering, and ways to safely regulate emotions, with an emphasis on honoring and nurturing your immense resilience.

Question 2

Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR)

Accepted Answer

This therapy approach focuses on changing negative beliefs, and the physiological sensations associated with traumas and adverse life events. Bilateral stimulation (BLS) is applied to the body, which promotes communication between the limbic system part of the brain (where emotions and reactivity come from) and the prefrontal cortex (where logic and meaning-making occur). When the BLS is applied, while focusing on a distressing event, the brain can fully process the event, arrive at a more helpful set of beliefs, and heal their body's pain related to the event.

Question 3

Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT)

Accepted Answer

This therapy embraces emotions as informative, and encourages clients to fully experience and express them, to learn what is needed from them. The therapist will focus on attuning with the client's emotional experience and will invite clients to get up and move among different chairs, acting out the different parts of them in conflict, or the conversations with those with whom there are unresolved issues.

Question 4

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Accepted Answer

This therapy examines the role of thoughts on a person's mood and behaviors. We will notice cause and effects, test out the validity of assumptions, and learn ways to recognize and challenge distortions and negative spirals. I use a mindfulness-informed approach to CBT.

Question 5

Mindfulness-Informed Therapy

Accepted Answer

This is the process of bringing non-judgemental awareness to the big and small aspects of our day. It is very much about cultivating presence, where choice and possibility lie.

Question 6

Polyvagal-Informed Therapy

Accepted Answer

I am interested in helping clients get to know their autonomic nervous system. I help clients identify their body's responses to stress, and build systems to regulate themselves, moving between states with more ease and flexibility.

Mary Clark, LMFT Psychotherapy

My Approaches