Amy Babcock CBT in downtown Toronto/Counseling Services:
CBT is one of many therapeutic modalities I can use in our counselling/therapy together. CBT is generally understood to be a short-term, goal oriented form of psychotherapy that offers a practical approach to problem solving. The goal is to help you become more aware of inaccurate or negative thinking patterns and behaviours that may be impacting your everyday life and relationships. The idea in CBT is to work toward building insight around these patterns and changing them in ways that will improve your emotional experience and overall functioning. CBT provides a context through which you can challenge distorted cognitions and change destructive behaviours. In most cases, these cognitive and behavioural patterns develop over time and become engrained or automatic. CBT allows us to look at ourselves through a new lens. Also included in this work is exploring 'core beliefs' (the essence of how we see ourselves) and 'triggers'(an event or situation that causes a reaction).
Some people have done CBT before and are looking to strengthen or better understand how the skills can be applied to their lives by accessing counseling services. Other people feel that CBT does not really resonate for them. As a Social Worker, I work from an integrative therapeutic approach in which I incorporate models and interventions that best suit the person and the clinical picture. Other approaches I use in my therapeutic work include:
Attachment Informed Adult Psychotherapy
Trauma Recovery Frameworks
Interpersonal Therapy (IPT)
Eye Movement and Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR)
Exposure Therapy (a form of CBT used in the treatment of anxiety)
Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT)
Narrative Therapy
Solution Focused Therapy
Motivational Interviewing (used in context of lifestyle changes)
Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT)
Mindfulness/MBSR
Relational Cultural Therapy