We are living in a day and age where there is abundant evidence available regarding what works in psychotherapy. The provider’s role is to be familiar with the data from relevant research and choose what will work best to help people resolve problems. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an umbrella term for empirically supported treatments to reduce anxiety, depression, and other related problems. CBT is often referred to as the “gold-standard” for treating specific psychological problems.
Our approach to therapy is collaborative, encouraging, and supportive. We enjoy learning about people’s values and goals and helping them live more meaningful, consistent lives. We strive to listen well to help people feel heard and understood. Being in therapy ideally creates an emotionally safe space to identify patterns of problems, process feelings, and develop resilient ways of coping.
CBT helps to reduce anxiety, mood and behavior problems and increase inner peace, ease, and balance. We value the opportunity to help others identify and change problems, process thoughts and feelings, and experience personal growth. Our goals are to assist people in reducing distress and gaining insight, self-awareness, and coping skills. With Dr. Rachael and her colleagues, CBT tends to unfold in 3 stages: psychoeducation, behavior change, and generalizing use of skills.
Dr. Schuster and her colleagues provide strategic guidance and skills training for parents based on their unique child and her experience treating children and people of all ages with mental health challenges. They will share perspective and give advice on effective techniques which can be difficult for parents to determine on their own while in the midst of raising children with high emotional needs, anxiety, and/or behavioral problems.
While one person is typically an “identified patient”, the family system can unintentionally maintain individual and systemic problems. If this is happening, often family therapy is recommended to change the homeostasis and work on dynamic family patterns as a whole. Family therapy sessions can be combined with individual sessions, or be the primary mode of intervention, depending on the presenting concern(s) and needs.
Dr. Schuster and her associates use the following methods in their integrative cognitive-behavioral approach:
| ACT | Acceptance and Commitment Therapy |
| BA | Behavior Activation |
| CFT | Compassion Focused Therapy |
| CPT | Cognitive Processing Therapy (helps with processing traumatic events and working through stuck points) |
| DBT | Dialectical Behavior Therapy (to help with distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness) |
| ERP | Exposure and Response Prevention (treatment of choice for OCD) |
| FAP | Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (addresses problem behavior patterns and how they function the context of relationships) |
| FFT | Functional Family Therapy |
| IFS | Internal Family Systems |
| MI | Motivational Interviewing |
| PE | Prolonged Exposure (treatment of choice for PTSD) |