CBT is a therapy that focusses on identifying and changing unhelpful styles of thinking or distorted belief systems. By changing cognitive patterns, it can lead to reductions in unpleasant emotions and facilitate the development of more helpful coping behaviours. CBT is a relatively short to medium term therapy and has been adapted to help treat many different mental health issues.
ADHD coaching is a collaborative and goal-oriented process that helps individuals with ADHD develop practical strategies to manage their symptoms and improve daily executive functioning. An ADHD coach assists clients in enhancing time management, organization, focus, and self-regulation. Coaching emphasizes strengths, fosters self-awareness, and empowers individuals to achieve their personal, academic, or professional goals.
Couples therapy using Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) is a structured, evidence-based approach designed to help partners strengthen their emotional bond. It focuses on identifying and transforming negative interaction patterns while fostering deeper emotional connection and understanding. EFT helps couples explore underlying feelings, unmet needs, and vulnerabilities, creating a safe space to rebuild trust, resolve conflict, and develop secure, loving relationships.
ACT is predominantly a mindfulness-based behaviour therapy that teaches skills for mindfully distancing from unhelpful thoughts and cultivating acceptance for difficult experiences, in order to live a values-driven life. The core processes of ACT work together to help develop psychological flexibility, which can improve resiliency, fulfilment and general well-being.
CFT is an integrative therapy that was developed for people who experience shame and high levels of self-criticism to learn how to be more compassionate towards themselves and others. The practice of compassion has been shown to be effective in regulating emotions, developing self-acceptance and promoting feelings of comfort or safety, even in the face of difficult experiences such as criticism or rejection.
DBT is a different form of cognitive behaviour therapy that was originally developed to treat people who experience extreme swings in their emotions and have the tendency to see themselves, their world and their relationships in quite a “black-and-white” way. This can cause high levels of emotional reactivity, anger, anxiety, depression or self-destructive behaviours. DBT incorporates four core modules for managing these experiences, including mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness, distress tolerance and emotional regulation.
CPT is a time-limited therapy that was developed to treat post- traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It uses cognitive therapy techniques to help identify, challenge and transform unhelpful beliefs in order to reduce the ongoing negative impacts that the trauma has in a person’s life.
Schema Therapy is a medium to long term, integrative psychotherapy that was originally developed to treat the symptoms of personality disorders, but now can be used to treat a wide variety of issues including addictions and eating disorders. People may form maladaptive schemas if their needs were not met in childhood or adolescence and also develop unhelpful coping behaviours as a result. Schema Therapy can help a person to identify these maladaptive schemas and improve their ways of coping through corrective emotional experiences in therapy.
IPT is an effective, time-structured therapy for treating depression and mood disorders, eating disorders and addictions. IPT helps a person to improve the quality of their interpersonal relationships and enhance their social functioning, by identifying and changing unhelpful interpersonal dynamics and patterns within the current relationships the person has.
SFBT is a brief, goals-driven therapy that helps a person to develop solutions to their problems, rather than focusing on the causes of these problems. SFBT emphasizes a person’s existing knowledge in developing clear and realistic goals for their future and then visualising practical solutions for implementing these solutions in their life. These solutions may be based on what the person has used in the past, or what they have seen other people try or even what they imagine would be helpful.
Narrative therapy works by helping a person to separate themselves from their problems, which may have arisen from negative life events and become stories that shape how a person thinks, behaves or identifies themselves in life. This therapy allows a person to evaluate and gain new perspectives on the role of these life events or problems so that they feel empowered in “rewriting” a new narrative or life story to define themselves.
Existential psychotherapy developed from existential philosophers, such as Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Heidegger and Sartre and over time emerged in many streams of humanistic and relational psychology. Existential psychotherapy is concerned with helping people accept and come to terms with concepts such as death, isolation, meaninglessness, freedom and personal responsibility. Where a person may have previously experienced deep anxiety or despair, this therapy helps them to find meaning and purpose in their future by promoting self-awareness, self-acceptance and self-motivated action.
Mindfulness therapies refers predominantly to mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and stress-reduction programs whereby mindfulness meditation or mindful movements comprise the active components of the therapy. These approaches have been found to be helpful for those who have experienced recurrent depression.
In the spirit of Reconciliation, Dr Salena Bhanji acknowledges and pays respect to the Dharug People as the Traditional Owners of the land on which she works. As a visitor on this Land, she is very grateful to be here.
Dr Salena Bhanji is committed to embracing diversity and eliminating discrimination.
