Services: What we do and how we do it.
Holistic Therapies
Visit our Nature and Animal Assisted Therapies page.
AAT
Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) involves caring for or spending time with an animal during a goal-oriented therapy session. These goals can be physical, emotional, educational and/or psychological; AAT is used to complement the benefits of traditional therapy.
Equine Assisted Mental Health
Equine Assisted Mental Health or Equine Assisted Psychotherapy is the combined use of horses, a licensed therapist, and a horse specialist working with clients to address various individual psychotherapy treatment goals. EAMH is a form of AAT. Through the inclusion of the horse the client can achieve greater self-awareness, confidence, and insight about their own lives and issues in the therapy process. EAMH is for children and adults. Available only at the Hastings location.
NAT
Nature Assisted Therapy (NAT) is the use of plants, natural materials, and the outdoor environment to improve mental and/or physical health. NAT covers a variety of activities. These include therapeutic horticulture such as gardening, forest bathing, and plant-related activities to improve wellbeing and wilderness or outdoor adventure excursions.
Play Therapies
Visit our Play Therapy page.
AdPT
Adlerian Play Therapy (AdPT) is a play therapy method named for the work of famed psychotherapist Alfred Adler. A key feature of this method is the shared responsibility within the play environment - sometimes the adult is in charge, sometimes the child is in charge, and sometimes both are in charge together. The playroom is used for working therapeutically with children using play (toys, stories, art, drama, puppets, and role-playing) as the vehicle for communication. Available only at the Waterloo location.
CCPT
Child Centered Play Therapy (CCPT) is a developmentally responsive, play-based mental health intervention for young children ages 3 to 10 who are experiencing social, emotional, behavioral and relational disorders. ( CCPT; Landreth, 1991; 2002; 2012)
RPT
A Registered Play Therapist (RPT), is a counselor, psychologist, or other mental health professional who has received additional training in how to help children express feelings, work through problems, and practice new ways of interacting with others through play.
Sand Tray
Sand Tray Therapy is a nonverbal, therapeutic intervention that makes use of a sandbox, toy figures, and sometimes water, to create scenes of miniature worlds that reflect a person’s inner thoughts, struggles, and concerns. Sand tray therapy is based on the idea that if the client is given a safe space, they will use the sand tray to create solutions to their problems.
Theraplay
Theraplay is an attachment-based approach to child and family therapy. Theraplay aims to address behavioral, emotional, or developmental issues and improve the parent-child relationship through play, and attachment activities between caregiver and child. Theraplay promotes healthy interactions between caregiver and child and is specially designed for children who have experienced attachment breaks from caregivers, adoption, and parental changes. Available only at the Waterloo location.
Trauma Informed Therapies
CBT
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a common type of talk therapy (psychotherapy). You work with a mental health counselor (psychotherapist or therapist) in a structured way, attending a limited number of sessions. CBT helps you become aware of inaccurate or negative thinking so you can view challenging situations more clearly and respond to them in a more effective way.
CCTT
Client Centered Talk Therapy (CCTT) was developed by the famous psychotherapist Carl Rogers. It centers on the principle that everyone deserves and needs unconditional positive regard. By developing trust in the therapeutic relationship the therapist can assist clients in making positive growth and healthy changes.
DBT
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a type of cognitive-behavioral therapy. Its main goals are to teach people how to live in the moment, develop healthy ways to cope with stress, regulate their emotions, and improve their relationships with others
EMDR
Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) is a structured therapy that encourages the patient to briefly focus on the trauma memory while simultaneously experiencing bilateral stimulation (typically eye movements), which is associated with a reduction in the vividness and emotion associated with the trauma memories.
TST
Trauma Systems Therapy (TST) is a mental health treatment model for children and adolescents who have been exposed to trauma, defined as experiencing, witnessing, or confronting "an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others". TST focuses on the child's emotional and behavioral needs as well as the environments where the child lives (home, school, community).
Expressive Arts Therapies
Expressive Arts Therapies
Expressive Arts Therapy integrates therapeutic tools and techniques from many different art forms. The combination of a variety of arts-based therapeutic modalities creates a new approach which is distinct from its individual components. Certified expressive arts therapists rely on their creativity and training in order to decide which modality should be utilized at a particular time. Expressive arts therapists may even employ techniques from a range of other modalities in a single therapy session.
Hypnotherapy
Hypnotherapy
Hypnotherapy is guided hypnosis, or a trance-like state of focus and concentration achieved with the help of a clinical hypnotherapist. This trance-like state is similar to being completely absorbed in a book, movie, music, or even one's own thoughts or meditations. In this state, clients can turn their attention completely inward to find and utilize the natural resources deep within themselves that can help them make changes or regain control in certain areas of their life.
Since hypnotherapy is an adjunct form of therapy, used along with other forms of psychological or medical treatment, there are many applications. Hypnotherapy can be used to treat anxiety, phobias, substance abuse including tobacco, sexual dysfunction, undesirable spontaneous behaviors, and bad habits. It can be used to help improve sleep, learning disorders, communication, and relationship issues. This description is taken from Psychology Today. Available only at the Waterloo location.