Therapy isn't a formula. It's a process — one that's shaped by who you are, what you're carrying, and where you want to go. Here's how I think about that process, and what it looks like in practice.
A holistic approach to therapy means we look at all of you — not just the presenting problem, not just the diagnosis, not just this week's hard moment. Your thoughts, emotions, body, relationships, history, and circumstances are all connected, and real change tends to happen when we work with that connection rather than around it.
Rather than asking "what's wrong with you," the question becomes "what happened to you — and what do you need?"
This also means honouring your strengths. You already carry resilience, insight, and capacity for growth — therapy helps you access and build on those, not just patch over the difficult parts.
Mindfulness isn't a technique I use occasionally — it's woven into everything. It shapes how we talk about your experience, how we relate to difficult emotions, and how we build your capacity to respond rather than react.
A mindfulness-based approach helps you become more aware of your present-moment experience — your thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations — without immediately judging or reacting to them. Rather than trying to eliminate difficult feelings, the aim is to change your relationship with them.
Instead of being swept away by anxiety, you learn to notice it, name it, and give yourself room to choose what comes next.
This isn't about clearing your mind or always feeling calm. It's about building awareness and developing a more honest, compassionate relationship with your inner experience. Over time, that awareness becomes a resource — something you carry into daily life, not just into session.
Learning to turn toward what's difficult, with curiosity rather than dread, is often what breaks long-standing patterns.
Mindfulness creates space between a trigger and your response. That space is where choice lives.
Many people are far harsher with themselves than they'd ever be with someone they love. We work to close that gap.
I don't work from a single model. Depending on what you're navigating, different approaches will be more or less useful — and we'll find the combination that fits. Here's what each one actually means.
Rather than fighting unwanted thoughts and feelings, ACT focuses on accepting them for what they are — and committing to actions that align with your values. It's particularly useful for anxiety, depression, and chronic pain, and helps you build a richer, more meaningful life even when difficult emotions are present.
MBCT combines the structure of cognitive therapy with mindfulness practices. It was originally developed to prevent relapse in recurrent depression, and works by helping you recognize negative thought patterns early — before they spiral. It teaches you to relate to your thoughts as passing mental events, not facts.
CFT is particularly helpful for people who struggle with high levels of shame, self-criticism, or self-blame. It draws on neuroscience and evolutionary psychology to help you develop genuine self-compassion — not as a way of avoiding accountability, but as a more effective foundation for change than self-attack.
DBT is a skills-based approach that balances acceptance and change. It builds four core skill sets: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotional regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. Originally developed for borderline personality disorder, it's now widely used for emotional dysregulation, self-harm, and relationship difficulties.
CBT is one of the most researched therapeutic approaches in the world. It examines the relationship between your thoughts, feelings, and behaviours — helping you identify unhelpful thinking patterns and gradually shift them. Practical and goal-oriented, it's effective for anxiety, depression, OCD, and a wide range of other presentations.
SFBT looks forward rather than backward. Instead of spending most of our time on the problem, we focus on what you want your life to look like — and on the times when things have already worked better. It's strengths-based, efficient, and particularly useful when you have specific goals or limited time.
Schema therapy addresses deeply held patterns — called schemas — that typically develop in childhood and quietly shape how we see ourselves, others, and the world. These patterns often drive recurring relationship problems and emotional difficulties. Schema work is slower and deeper, and well-suited to people who feel stuck in long-standing cycles.
PE is an evidence-based treatment for PTSD and trauma. It involves gradual, supported exposure to trauma-related memories and situations that have been avoided — helping the nervous system process what happened and reducing the power those memories hold. It's done carefully, at your pace, and with considerable preparation beforehand.
Sessions are 50 minutes. There's no strict agenda, no worksheet to fill out before you arrive, and no performance required. We start wherever you are that day — sometimes that's a specific thing that happened, sometimes it's a feeling you can't quite name.
I'll ask questions, reflect back what I'm hearing, and gently help you make connections you might not have seen on your own. Sometimes we'll work on practical skills. Sometimes we'll sit with something difficult and just look at it together. The pace is yours.
There's no "right way" to do therapy. Showing up is enough.
Over time, you'll likely notice the gains showing up outside of sessions — in how you handle a hard conversation, how quickly you recover from a difficult day, or simply in feeling a bit more like yourself.
The free 15-minute consultation is a chance to ask questions about the approach, talk through what you're looking for, and get a sense of whether working together feels like a good fit. No pressure either way.
