Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) is a unique empirically-based approach, based on methods designed to help people accept, express, regulate, make sense of, and transform emotion. EFT approaches healing from the belief that emotions are strongly linked to identity. Emotions guide us in defining preferences and making decisions on a daily basis. EFT assumes that lack of emotional awareness is harmful, avoiding your emotions can lead to negative outcomes in your life and ignoring or avoiding your emotional response may alter your ability to process emotions later on.

Attachment-based therapy looks at the connection between a child’s early attachment experiences with primary caregivers, usually with parents, and the child’s ability to develop normally and ultimately form healthy emotional and physical relationships as an adult. Attachment-based therapy aims to build or rebuild a trusting, supportive relationship that will help prevent or treat mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression.

Trauma-informed therapy is not about a specific intervention but tailoring interventions in the context of the individual’s trauma history, triggers, and specific needs. It is a lens through which the therapist views their clients, taking into account the impact of trauma on emotions, regulation, and behavior. The effects of intergenerational trauma on clients will be examined and considered.

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) concentrates on finding solutions in the present time and exploring one’s hope for the future to find quicker resolution of one’s problems. This method takes the approach that you know what you need to do to improve your own life and, with the appropriate coaching and questioning, are capable of finding the best solutions.

Narrative therapy is a form of psychotherapy that views people as separate from their problems. This allows clients to get some distance from the issue to see how it might be helping them, or protecting them, more than it is hurting them. With this new perspective, individuals feel more empowered to make changes in their thought patterns and behaviour and “rewrite” their life story for a future that reflects who they are, what they are capable of, and what their purpose is, separate from their problems.

Strength-based therapy is a type of positive psychotherapy and counselling that focuses more on your internal strengths and resourcefulness, and less on weaknesses, failures, and shortcomings. This focus sets up a positive mindset that helps you build on you best qualities, find your strengths, improve resilience, and change worldview to one that is more positive. A positive attitude, in turn, can help your expectations of yourself and others become more reasonable.

Structural family therapy (SFT) is a treatment that addresses patterns of interaction that create problems within families. Mental health issues are viewed as signs of a dysfunctional family; therefore, the focus of treatment is on changing the family structure rather than changing individual family members. The goal of SFT is to improve communications and interactions among family members and to highlight appropriate boundaries to create a healthier family structure. Families and children at risk, including single parents, blended families, and extended families, can benefit from SFT.

Motivational interviewing is often used to address addiction and the management of physical health conditions. This intervention helps people become motivated to change the behaviours that are preventing them from making healthier choices. It can also prepare individuals for further, more specific types of therapies. Research has shown that this intervention works well with individuals who start off unmotivated or unprepared for change. Clients may not be ready to commit to change, but motivational interviewing can help them move through the emotional stages of change necessary to find their motivation.

Polyvagal therapy (PVT) is a therapeutic approach that helps individuals to understand better and manage their body’s response to stress and trauma. It focuses on the vagus nerve and the role it plays in regulating emotions and behaviours.