Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Tired of feeling tired?

Struggling to break free from the shackles of anxiety, toxic relationship cycles, low self-worth, or addiction?

Do you feel trapped, angry, drained, or like you're repeating the same toxic arguments over and over. Whether it's a romantic relationship, family dynamic, or a friendship, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) can help you identify the destructive thoughts and reactions that fuel these unhealthy relationship patterns. Do you find yourself saying, “What if I don’t find someone else", or “I can never do anything right” or “They’ll never change,”? CBT can help you learn and adopt healthier perspectives to improve communication and set boundaries.

Maybe your feeling nervous or self-conscious in social settings, or you’re feeling stressed or overwhelmed at work. If your feeling overwhelmed by life’s pressures, CBT offers practical tools to help you manage stress more effectively and avoid burnout. CBT can help you to reframe your assumptions and build confidence in order to engage with others more confidently, and handle challenges more effectively.

Are you feeling hopeless or empty? CBT can help you challenge negative thinking and focus on small steps to rebuild a sense of purpose and joy. Or maybe you're battling self-doubt or feeling inadequate. If this is the case, CBT will teach you how to challenge those negative self-judgments and develop a healthier, more compassionate view of yourself.

If you're feeling out of control or guilty about addictive behaviors, CBT can help you understand the thoughts and triggers driving those addictive behaviors and provide you with healthier coping strategies to break free.

CBT is designed to help you understand and shift the thoughts and behaviors that are keeping you stuck. It provides you with practical tools to break toxic cycles, set healthier boundaries, and create more fulfilling relationships. Ready to stop the pattern and start a new chapter of emotional well-being and healthy connections?

That’s where CBT comes in.

What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)?

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a talk therapy with a focus on how our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are interconnected. CBT holds the core belief that negative or unhelpful thinking patterns contribute to emotional distress, leading to unhealthy behaviors. By changing our negative thought patters, our feelings and behaviors will also change.

In doing CBT together, we work to identify and assess the negative or unhealthy thoughts that contribute to our areas of concern. For example, if I think, "I'm a failure", that likely contributes to feelings of sadness or anxiety. Then we can look at how our behavior has been influenced by our negative or unhealthy thoughts. For example, If I think I’ll fail at something, I might just avoid trying altogether which then reinforces that negative thinking pattern, or cycle.

CBT is meant to be a short-term, structured, and goal-oriented process. The primary goal is to identify specific problems to address and work on changing the negative thinking patterns and behaviors associated to the problems, in order to find relief. In utilizing CBT, we learn practical skills, like recognizing our cognitive distortions (e.g., black-and-white thinking patterns) and replacing them with healthier and more balanced thoughts. We also may utilize other exercises like relaxation exercises, journaling or skills to practice between sessions (“homework”, but the fun kind).

While CBT acknowledges past experiences, it focuses on current challenges and helping us manage them in a healthier way moving forward. CBT can help with a wide range of mental and physical health issues, such as anxiety, depression, stress, insomnia or chronic pain. It’s often considered one of the most evidence-based, effective forms of therapy.

How does CBT work?

✨ Present-Focused, Short-Term & Structured. CBT understands that we need help today. So, CBT tends to focus on our current problems, for future solutions, rather than delving deeply into the past. While CBT recognizes that past experiences have led to today’s issues, and does make time to explore those areas, CBT remains action-oriented and practical by focusing on the current issues as hand. One of the benefits of CBT is that it’s usually short-term (5 to 20 standard sessions). CBT is structured with clear goals to help us understand and manage our mental health more independently over time.

✨ Identifies Negative Thought Patterns. With CBT we become aware of our negative or unhealthy thinking patterns. CBT recognizes that these thoughts can be automatic and occur unconsciously, sometimes without us realizing how they are affecting us day to day.

✨ Challenges & Reframes Negative Thought Patterns. CBT helps us learn to challenge the evidence behind those negative thoughts. Through CBT, we explore whether our thoughts are based off of fact, if they are realistic and grounded, or if their assumptions. Then, CBT helps us to reframe those negative thoughts to create a more balanced and realistic thought pattern.

✨ Behavioral Changes. CBT recognizes that negative thinking patterns are related to negative behavioral patterns. CBT encourages us to try new, healthier behaviors that do not align with those negative thinking patterns. CBT often includes homework or exercises between sessions, like journaling, thought records, or other exercises. CBT prioritizes activities that help us to practice what we learn in therapy in order to reinforce those positive changes in or daily lives.

Break the cycle and take control. Empower yourself with CBT.

CBT Therapy can help with…

  • Trauma/PTSD

  • Adverse childhood experiences/CPTSD

  • Abuse or neglect

  • Grief & Loss

  • Eating disorders

  • Life Transitions

  • Anxiety

  • Depression

  • Addictions/substance misuse

Frequently asked questions about CBT therapy

FAQs

  • Together we’ll work to identify your goals for therapy or any specific problems you want to address. We will explore any negative thinking patterns or behaviors that may be contributing to your distress or problem areas.

    Utilizing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) techniques, you will learn practical skills, like recognizing cognitive distortions (e.g., black-and-white thinking) and replacing them with healthier, more balanced thoughts. You will also learn some exercises to utilize between sessions in order to strengthen your skills for long-term change, like journaling, relaxation techniques, or other exercises.

    We will work together on changing those thinking patterns and behaviors and creating more positive thoughts, feelings and behaviors, as we know that they are all interconnected.

  • Many people really like doing CBT from the safety and comfort of their home, as they can then have supportive objects, people, or pets nearby. Online CBT works just as well as in-person CBT!

  • CBT is a GREAT fit for you if you're feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or disconnected in any way.

    If life feels like it's too much to handle or you don’t know how to move forward, CBT can offer guidance on how to approach your challenges.

    If you’re noticing that your thoughts are often negative, self-critical, or if you're feeling sad often, highly anxious, or hopeless, CBT can help you to reframe and change these patterns.

    If you have recently or are currently experiencing any BIG CHANGES, a move, job transition, or shift in a relationship, this can throw anyone off. CBT can help you process these changes, how they have impacted you, and help you to adjust to them in a healthy way.

    If you're dealing with perinatal issues, whether you are a new mother, have been dealing with infertility or loses, or have been a mother for a while, and feel lost, like you don’t know who you are anymore. CBT can help you to process your experiences, and feel like yourself again.

    If you're curious about your own behavior, reactions to events, or emotional expression, CBT can provide a space to explore these parts of yourself without judgment.

    If you find yourself facing ongoing conflicts with your partner, friends, or family, CBT can help you learn how to communicate more effectively and understand those underlying relationship dynamics.

    If something from your past is weighing on you, CBT can help you work through it, find closure, and heal in a safe, supportive space.

    If you're facing a lot of stress and it feels constant or overwhelming, CBT can help you develop tools to cope and better manage those stressors.

    Sometimes, people just feel like they need a space to talk, without the pressure to be “okay” all the time. CBT can offer that.

    If any of this resonates with you, then CBT would be a GREAT FIT for you!

  • You can start with a free 15 minute consultation or schedule an intake session to get your process moving.

    We truly believe the connection between therapist and client makes all the difference in therapy, so if either of us decides we are not the best fit, we will be happy to provide you with referrals.

IFS Therapy for Trauma