I take a directive approach to mental health counseling while still remaining humanistic and client-centered when working with both couples and individuals. This means that I work collaboratively with clients to identify their goals and develop a personalized treatment plan, rather than prescribing goals for them. Additionally, I assign exercises and tools for clients to use at home in service of those goals. In short, my approach combines at-home practice of techniques with in-session emotional and cognitive processing.
With individuals, I use Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) as my theoretical foundation, along with resources and techniques from other modalities like Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy, Somatic Therapy, and Gestalt Therapy. ACT integrates mindfulness strategies with behavioral interventions to help clients create a more fulfilling life, rather than trying to control our internal emotional and cognitive processes. You can find more information on ACT here:
https://contextualscience.org/act
For couples therapy, my foundation is in Gottman Therapy and Emotionally Focused Therapy. Utilizing Gottman's 50+ years of research on what makes strong relationships, we can apply their tools to enhance your practical skills in a structured format. Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) is less structured and is used to navigate the slower conversations. You can learn more about both of these styles here: