CP PSYCHOTHERAPY
~HEALING IS POSSIBLE, HOPE IS ESSENTIAL~
Welcome
Welcome to CP Psychotherapy. I commend you on taking a step toward better health. It's not the size of the step that matters, it's the direction.~E Jong One of the most important journeys we can embark upon is the journey within, the journey to better understand ourselves and our lived experiences. It's my belief that three of the healthiest words we can say are, I NEED HELP. Help seeking behaviour is positively correlated with long-term success, achievement and well-being. Those that seek help are more likely to report success in various areas of their life, and to experience better overall physical and mental health. Treatment is informed by a strengths-based, holistic approach built upon each client’s inherent strengths and abilities. We all possess innate resilience and immense potential for healing, when we have the supports and resources to do so. Healing comes from within, but is facilitated by the therapeutic process and the client-therapist relationship. We are relational beings, hard-wired for connection and secure attachment. We get wounded in relationships and we heal in relationship. At CP Psychotherapy, you will be supported and guided on your journey to better health toward being fully equipped to cope with whatever life circumstances you are facing or have faced. Together, in a supportive, compassionate, non-judgemental environment, healing can begin.
The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change. ~Carl Rogers~
01.
IFS or Internal Family Systems Therapy is a treatment modality rooted in family systems therapy and attachment theory. Developed by Dick Schwartz, it has been referred to as "attachment theory turned inside". We are relational beings who are deeply affected by our environment and relationships. While we cannot control our outer world, by working to heal our inner self, we become more resilient and better able to cope with whatever we are facing. When we cultivate a healthier relationship with ourself, stressors are diminished and our ability to face life's challenges are bolstered with confidence, clarity and compassion. The result is more calm and peacefulness internally. IFS is highly effective in treating past trauma and in clinical trial, has been shown to have a positive effect on conditions such as arthritis. Research is ongoing and IFS is emerging as a powerful treatment for overall mind-body integration and health.
02.
EMDR is a highly effective, evidence- based treatment for trauma and other psychological difficulties. While commonly used to treat disorders such as PTSD, it is also highly effective in treating many other conditions. Often, life events and their impact, have a negative, lingering effect on us. This is particularly true when they are overwhelming or when we don't have the supports necessary to cope. No matter how big or small we believe our "traumas" to be, if we have lived, we have been impacted by our lived experiences. Through EMDR we can heal these experiences and our self-concept in the process. Through processing these events, they can truly be a part of the past and not something that robs you of the present. Effective trauma therapy should go beyond symptom management and aim to restore the individual to homeostasis or balance in the body and nervous system. This is achieved by processing the trauma not merely talking about it. EMDR and other trauma treatment modalities address this by treating the traumatic memory itself as well as the somatic symptoms present in the body where the memory is stored.
03.
Mindfulness based meditation/stress reduction has become an antidote in many ways to the busy stressful lives so many of us lead. The mind-body connection to healing is now well established. The impact of chronic stress poses a significant risk to our health and longevity. Mindfulness, meditation and other somatic, body-based practices have emerged as being highly effective and often preferential in treating stress and trauma. Through a mindfulness practice we can learn to shift out of automatic pilot and free ourselves from incessant worry. We become less reactive and better able to respond mindfully to our stressors. The numerous and varied benefits of a mindfulness practice are well documented and include improved cognition, better sleep, stronger immune function among many, many others. In fact, on brain imaging scans, the brains of regular meditators appear on average, 7 years younger.
