The kind of therapy that doesn’t feel like therapy.

What is Attachment-Based Therapy?

Attachment-based therapy explores how early relationships and experiences can influence the way we connect with ourselves and others later in life.

Therapists may use an attachment-based approach to help clients understand recurring relationship patterns, responses to closeness or conflict, fears around rejection or abandonment, difficulty trusting others, and beliefs about themselves within relationships. It’s not about blaming your childhood for everything. It’s about understanding where certain patterns may have come from so you have more choice in what you do with them now.

What this might look like in therapy: Exploring people-pleasing, relationship patterns, fear of rejection, difficulty trusting others, boundaries, or those “Why do I keep doing this even though I know better?” moments.

What is Solution-Focused Therapy?

Solution-Focused Therapy is a goal-oriented approach that explores where you want to go, what’s already working, and practical steps you might take toward your goals.

Rather than spending all of therapy analyzing the problem, therapists use Solution-Focused Therapy to help clients identify their strengths and resources, recognize times when the problem feels more manageable, clarify what they want to change, and turn bigger goals into realistic next steps.

What this might look like in therapy: Getting unstuck, making a difficult decision, identifying what’s already working, setting realistic goals, building on your strengths, or figuring out what to actually do with all the insight you’ve gained.

What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)?

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an approach focused on changing how we relate to difficult thoughts and emotions rather than constantly trying to get rid of them.

Therapists use ACT to help clients build psychological flexibility, become more accepting of experiences they can’t necessarily control, identify what matters most to them, and take actions that align with their values.

What this might look like in therapy: Working through overthinking and self-doubt, making space for uncomfortable emotions, getting clearer on your values, or learning how to move forward even when fear or uncertainty is still along for the ride.

What is Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)?

DBT is a therapeutic approach that focuses on practical skills for navigating difficult emotions, coping with distress, and managing relationships.

Therapists commonly use DBT skills in four main areas: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotional regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. These skills can help you become more aware of your thoughts and emotions, get through stressful situations without making them worse, manage intense emotional reactions, and communicate your needs more effectively.

What this might look like in therapy: Learning how to manage emotional overwhelm, cope with stressful situations, communicate more clearly, set boundaries, or pause before reacting in ways you might later regret.

What are Somatic and Nervous-System-Informed Practices?

Somatic and nervous-system-informed practices recognize that our experiences don’t just show up in our thoughts. Stress, emotions, and difficult experiences can also affect how we feel and respond physically.

Therapists may incorporate body-based awareness and nervous-system-informed strategies to explore physical signs of stress or overwhelm, responses to difficult situations, and practices related to grounding and regulation. Sometimes you can logically know you’re okay, while your body seems to have missed the memo.

What this might look like in therapy: Noticing where you hold stress in your body, recognizing when you’re becoming overwhelmed or shutting down, practicing grounding techniques, building greater awareness of your body’s cues, or finding strategies that help you feel more present and regulated.

What is Person-Centred Therapy?

Person-Centred Therapy is an approach built around the belief that you are the expert on your own life. Rather than having a therapist tell you what you should do, the focus is on helping you better understand yourself, explore what matters to you, and find your own way forward.

Person-centred therapists aim to create a relationship grounded in empathy, authenticity, acceptance, and respect. The therapist acts more as a guide than an advice-giver, helping clients explore their thoughts, feelings, experiences, and values without judgment or pressure to arrive at a particular answer.

What this might look like in therapy: Having space to say what you’re really thinking, exploring what you want instead of what you think you should want, building trust in yourself, making decisions that feel right for you, or simply having someone in your corner while you figure things out.

What is Narrative Therapy?

Narrative Therapy is an approach that looks at the stories we tell ourselves about who we are, what we’ve been through, and what those experiences mean about us. Over time, certain stories can become so familiar that they start to feel like facts, even when they don’t tell the whole story.

Narrative Therapy may help clients separate themselves from their problems, question beliefs or narratives that may no longer serve them, and make space for different ways of understanding themselves and their experiences. The idea is simple: you are not the problem. The problem is the problem.

What this might look like in therapy: Challenging stories like “I’m a failure,” “I’m too much,” or “I should have my life figured out by now,” exploring where those beliefs came from, recognizing strengths or experiences that don’t fit the old narrative, and creating a more balanced story about who you are and who you want to become.

What is Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)?

Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) combines principles of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) with mindfulness practices, with a focus on awareness of thoughts, emotions, and automatic patterns.

Therapists may use MBCT to help clients recognize unhelpful thought patterns, relate to their thoughts with more curiosity and less judgment, and bring their attention back to the present moment. The goal isn’t to stop negative thoughts from happening. It’s to get better at noticing them without automatically believing, reacting to, or spiralling with every thought that shows up.

What this might look like in therapy: Noticing when you’re getting caught in an overthinking spiral, recognizing recurring thought patterns, learning to observe thoughts without treating them as facts, becoming more present, or creating some space between what pops into your head and what you do next.