Pink Lotus Counselling & Psychotherapy

We work collaboratively to find a combination of well-researched approaches suitable to your needs. Often, we combine several therapies so that our work is unique to you. Here is some information on some of the therapeutic methods that we use. If you feel particularly drawn to an approach, feel free to let your therapist know, otherwise, we will explore with some options to figure out the best fit.

• Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT) – this type of therapy involves mindfulness, helps us accept our difficult thoughts and emotions, and explores how we can live more in line with our values, helping with issues such as anxiety, depression, and grief.
• Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) – this therapy involves increasing our compassion for ourselves and others and is especially helpful for shame and complex trauma.
• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) – this therapy explores how our thoughts impact our feelings and our actions. We identify unhelpful thoughts and develop more helpful ones to alleviate issues such as anxiety and depression.
• Cognitive Processing Therapy for Trauma (CPT) – this therapy was designed for trauma work and is one of the most well-researched approaches to treating post-traumatic stress. It is similar to CBT and it is structured, exploring how the trauma impacts your beliefs about yourself, others, and the world, and how we can develop more helpful beliefs. This is great for folks who want the option to do trauma work without having to relive every detail of their story (though a deep exploration of one’s story is an option too).
• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Polyvagal Informed Therapy – this involve using regulation strategies to discuss traumatic memories. Bi-lateral stimulation techniques allow you to process trauma while remaining connected to the safe, present moment.
• Feminist Therapy – this therapy involves looking at gendered power structures and how tools like activism can be therapeutic.
• Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS) and Parts Work – this therapy helps us look at the different parts of ourselves that operate as a system within us, often to serving protective functions, and allows us to learn how to help our wise self or higher self lead this system more effectively. It can be particularly helpful for complex trauma and inner child work.
• Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) – this therapy combines mindfulness with CBT and is very well researched for dealing with depression. It is also helpful for other issues such as anxiety.