Types of Therapy
There are numerous forms of therapy to choose from. Being informed about the different options available may help you select a therapist. But then maybe not! (See "A note on ... orientation" that follows)
We provide different types of individual, couple, and family therapy depending on your sitatuion and how a specific technique may fit for you. Some of our therapists specialize in certain areas. To learn more about our therapists and their way of working, view our counsellor profiles page.
To learn more about some of the types of therapy we provide, click on one of the links below:
A Comment on Education and Theoretical Orientation
It may make little difference to you whether the counsellor has a PhD or Master's degree; whether their discipline was in educational counselling, expressive therapy, family medicine, family nursing, family therapy, pastoral counselling, psychology, or social work. It may make little difference if their framework for working with people is Adlerian, Cognitive-Behaviouralism, Hypnosis, Narrative, Pharmacology, Reality, Social Constructionism, Solution Focused, or Structuralism, to name a few.
If the therapist is not good at doing therapy then no amount of course work or research or scholarly publication will change that. What makes a good therapist most of all is experience and excellent supervision. It's like hoping that reading books about singing will make you a good singer. Books may help, but mainly you have to actually sing and have a teacher listening when you do.
Apart from behaviour therapy, all tschools of therapy share the goal of increasing awareness, or insight. Yes, there are differences in how one attains that insight, but the important difference is between good and bad therapists, not between schools of therapy. Outcome research has shown this rather consistently (Miller, Duncan, & Hubble, 1997)
It turns out that successful verses unsuccessful therapy is the result of the quality, not the type of therapy. But even more important is how prepared you are for making your own changes at this time in your life; your feelings and beliefs about how helpful the therapist is, and; your connection with the therapist. In short, approximately 85% of positive outcome is attributed to these three factors that you control (Duncan & Miller, 2000).
What counts then is not the therapist's theoretical orientation or technique, but whether what he or she says "clicks" for you at a gut level. Period. If it does not, all her or his theory, expertise, advice, counselling, and coaxing will not lead to much change in your feelings and behaviour.
So ... it is up to you to select a therapist that you feel comfortable talking with and whom you can connect with on a personal level.
References
Duncan, B.L. & Miller, S.D. (2000). The heroic client: Doing client-directed, outcome-informed therapy. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Miller, S.D., Duncan, B.L. & Hubble, M.A. (1997). Escape from babel: Toward a unifying language of psychotherapy practice. New York: Norton