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Evidence-Based Care

Our Therapy Approach

At CPC Clinics, therapy begins with you.

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Tailored To You

Our clinicians draw from evidence-based modalities and tailor their approach to your unique needs, goals, and lived experiences.

The Relationship Matters

Research shows the therapeutic relationship plays a central role in change. Feeling understood, safe, and supported is foundational.

Free Connection Call

Meet a potential therapist, ask questions, and explore whether the fit feels right, before beginning therapy.

Therapeutic Modalities

Click on any approach below to learn more about how it works and
what it can help with.

Person-Centered Therapy

A supportive, talk-based approach where you guide the focus and your therapist offers empathy, respect, and non-judgment.

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Strength-Based Therapy

Builds on your values, skills, and resilience so you can heal while also growing what is already working in your life.

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Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

A structured approach that helps you notice patterns between thoughts, feelings, and actions, then practice skills to create change.

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Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

Helps you make room for difficult thoughts and feelings while taking meaningful action based on your values, even when life feels hard.

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Motivational Interviewing (MI)

A collaborative style that helps you work through mixed feelings, strengthen motivation, and choose next steps without pressure or judgment.

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Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT)

A practical, goal-oriented approach that focuses on strengths, small steps, and what is possible now, not only on what is wrong.

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Internal Family Systems (IFS)

Helps you understand different inner parts, like a protector or inner critic, and relate to them with compassion to support healing.

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Existential Therapy

Supports you in exploring meaning, identity, choice, and life transitions through thoughtful conversation that builds clarity and direction.

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Constructivist Therapy

Explores how your experiences shaped your beliefs and self-story, then helps you rebuild perspectives that better support your well-being.

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Attachment-Based Therapy

Focuses on how early and current relationships shape trust, boundaries, and emotional regulation, and helps you build healthier connections.

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EMDR

A structured therapy that helps the brain process distressing memories using bilateral stimulation so they feel less intense over time.

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Mindfulness-Based Therapy

Teaches skills to notice thoughts, emotions, and body sensations with less reactivity so you can respond with more choice and steadiness.

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Trauma-Focused CBT (TF-CBT)

An evidence-based approach for children and teens impacted by trauma, building coping skills for both the young person and caregiver.

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Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)

A skills-based therapy that supports emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and healthier relationships, especially when feelings feel intense.

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Gottman Method Couples Therapy

A research-informed approach that helps partners understand each other, reduce conflict, and strengthen emotional connection and friendship.

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Person-Centered Therapy

You lead. We support.

What It Is

Person-centered therapy is a supportive, talk-based approach where you lead the conversation and your therapist provides empathy, respect, and non-judgment. The goal is to help you understand yourself more clearly, reconnect with your strengths, and make choices that feel true to you.

What It Can Help With

  • Stress, burnout, and overwhelm
  • Low self-esteem or self-doubt
  • Anxiety or low mood
  • Identity questions and life transitions
  • Relationship challenges and communication

How It Works

Your therapist focuses on a safe relationship (feeling understood matters), your meaning (what experiences mean to you), and your pace (no pressure to “perform” or be “fixed”). Sessions usually feel like an honest conversation. Your therapist may reflect what they hear, ask gentle questions, and help you notice patterns, emotions, and needs.

Evidence Snapshot

Research on patient/person-centered approaches consistently highlights the importance of the therapeutic relationship and client experience in outcomes, and recent reviews show benefits in depression/negative emotions in group formats.

Frequently Asked Questions

It can be flexible, but your therapist will still help you stay connected to goals.

No. Many people come for growth, clarity, and support.

It varies. Some people use it short-term; others prefer longer support.

Yes. Many therapists integrate person-centered principles with skills-based methods.

Strength-Based Therapy

Build from what is strong.

What It Is?

Strength-based therapy focuses on your capabilities, values, resources, and resilience, not just symptoms or problems. It does not ignore pain. It helps you build from what is strong while you heal what hurts.

What It Can Help With?

  • Confidence and self-worth
  • Anxiety and stress management
  • Recovery after setbacks
  • Motivation and goal-building
  • Identity development and life direction
 

How It Works

You and your therapist identify strengths (skills, values, character, supports), exceptions (times the problem is smaller), and practical steps that fit your real life.

Evidence Snapshot

Strength-based methods are widely used across therapies. A large review noted they are common in many approaches and can be helpful, while also emphasizing that research on their “unique contribution” is still developing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, when needed. The difference is you also build skills and hope alongside the hard parts.

No. It is realistic, compassionate, and grounded in your lived experience.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

Understand patterns. Build new skills.

What It Is?

CBT is a structured therapy that helps you notice links between thoughts (what you tell yourself), feelings (emotions and body sensations), and behaviors (what you do or avoid). Then you practice new skills to shift patterns that keep you stuck.

What It Can Help With?

  • Anxiety (worry, panic, social anxiety)
  • Depression and low mood
  • Stress and burnout
  • OCD-related patterns (with specific CBT methods)
  • Sleep problems (with CBT-I)
  • Anger and emotion regulation

How It Works?

CBT often includes identifying “hot thoughts” and beliefs, testing thoughts with evidence (not forced positivity), exposure and behavioral experiments (at a safe pace), and building routines that support mood and confidence.

Evidence Snapshot

Major clinical guidelines consistently recommend evidence-based psychological therapies such as CBT for depression, and CBT is also widely used for anxiety-related concerns.

Frequently Asked Questions

Often yes, but it is collaborative and tailored.

No. It is about realistic thinking and helpful action.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Understand patterns. Build new skills.

What It Is

ACT (said as one word: “act”) helps you stop getting pulled into mental struggles, build psychological flexibility, and take action based on values, even when life feels hard.

What It Can Help With

  • Anxiety and worry cycles
  • Depression and low mood
  • Stress, perfectionism, and burnout
  • Chronic pain or health-related distress
  • Shame and self-criticism

How It Works

ACT uses skills like mindfulness (present-moment awareness), cognitive defusion (stepping back from thoughts), values clarification (what matters most), and committed action (small steps that fit your life).

Evidence Snapshot

Overviews of research report ACT can improve depression and anxiety compared with waitlist or usual care, often showing similar outcomes to traditional CBT in many studies.

Frequently Asked Questions

No. It means making space for reality so you can move forward with choice.

No. It is a psychological approach, though it can align with many belief systems.

Motivational Interviewing (MI)

Your reasons. Your pace.

What It Is

Motivational Interviewing is a collaborative approach that helps you work through “part of me wants to change, part of me does not.” It is not confrontation. It is a structured conversation that strengthens your own reasons for change.

What It Can Help With

  • Substance use goals (reduction or stopping)
  • Health behavior change (sleep, routine, lifestyle)
  • Procrastination and follow-through
  • Readiness for therapy and coping skills
  • Parenting or relationship change goals

How It Works

MI focuses on empathy and respect, exploring ambivalence, strengthening “change talk,” and building a practical plan that fits your values.

Evidence Snapshot

A Cochrane review found MI may reduce substance use compared with no intervention in the short term, with smaller or mixed differences versus other active approaches.

Frequently Asked Questions

No. MI is designed to avoid pressure and increase autonomy.

It can be a short intervention or combined with CBT/ACT and other approaches.

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy

Focus forward. Build solutions.

What It Is

SFBT is a practical approach that spends less time analyzing the past and more time building clear goals, small, realistic steps, and confidence from progress.

What It Can Help With

  • Work stress and burnout
  • Confidence and decision-making
  • Relationship and communication goals
  • Parenting support
  • Life transitions and problem-solving

How It Works

Common tools include the “miracle question” (clarifying what you want), exception-finding (when the problem is smaller), and scaling questions (measuring progress in real terms).

Evidence Snapshot

Recent umbrella/meta-analytic research reports SFBT shows positive outcomes across issues and settings, with generally small-to-moderate effects depending on context and study quality.

Frequently Asked Questions

If it is important, yes. The focus stays on what helps you move forward safely.

Often brief, but it depends on goals and complexity.

Internal Family Systems (IFS)

Understand your parts. Lead with compassion.

What It Is

IFS views the mind as having different “parts” (for example, an inner critic, a protector, a people-pleaser). These parts are not bad. They usually developed to help you survive or cope. Therapy helps you relate to these parts with compassion and restore inner balance.

What It Can Help With

  • Trauma-related symptoms and emotional overwhelm
  • Shame, self-criticism, and perfectionism
  • Anxiety and inner conflict
  • Relationship patterns and boundaries
  • Chronic stress responses

How It Works

IFS helps you identify parts and what they protect, unblend (step back) from intense emotions, and build self-leadership (calm, clarity, compassion).

Evidence Snapshot

IFS has emerging research. Recent publications describe it as promising, with growing studies in areas like trauma-related symptoms and depression, but the overall evidence base is still smaller than older modalities like CBT.

Frequently Asked Questions

No. "Parts" is a normal way to describe inner experiences, not a diagnosis.

Not necessarily. Your therapist will pace the work and prioritize safety.

Existential Therapy

Find meaning. Live authentically.

What It Is

Existential therapy helps you explore big human questions such as “Who am I now?”, “What matters to me?”, and “How do I live with uncertainty, grief, or change?” It is not about giving you answers. It is about helping you find clarity and meaning that fits your values.

What It Can Help With

  • Grief and loss
  • Identity shifts, life transitions
  • Anxiety related to uncertainty
  • Purpose, meaning, and motivation
  • Relationship and values conflicts
 

How It Works

Existential therapy often focuses on meaning-making and values, responsibility and choice, exploring fear, uncertainty, and hope, and building a life that feels aligned.

Evidence Snapshot

Existential approaches have a meaningful clinical tradition, and research literature includes growing work in specific areas (for example, existentially oriented interventions in health and chronic pain contexts), though the evidence base is not as standardized as CBT-style protocols.

Frequently Asked Questions

It can be deep, but it stays grounded in your real life decisions and relationships.

It may help, especially when symptoms connect to life meaning, identity, or loss.

Constructivist Therapy

Reshape your story. Rebuild meaning.

What It Is

Constructivist therapy focuses on how people “construct” meaning from life experiences. When life has been painful, the meaning you learned (“I am not safe,” “I am not enough”) can keep showing up. Therapy helps you examine these meanings and rebuild them in a healthier way.

What It Can Help With

  • Identity and self-worth concerns
  • Relationship patterns
  • Life transitions and decision-making
  • Coping after trauma or adversity (with appropriate pacing)
  • Depression and anxiety linked to self-beliefs

 

How It Works

You might explore core beliefs about self, others, and the world, personal narratives and identity themes, and new ways to interpret events without self-blame.

Evidence Snapshot

Constructivist approaches include therapies like Personal Construct Therapy (PCT), which has clinical trials in specific populations and focuses on identity and interpersonal meaning. Evidence varies by the specific constructivist model and presenting concern.

Frequently Asked Questions

Only if it helps your goals. The focus is on how past meanings affect you now.

It may help, especially when symptoms connect to life meaning, identity, or loss.

Attachment-Based Therapy

Understand patterns. Build secure connection.

What It Is

Attachment-based therapy focuses on how early and later relationships shape trust and safety, boundaries, emotional regulation, and how you connect, avoid, or people-please. It is not about blaming caregivers. It is about understanding patterns and building healthier attachment and communication now.

What It Can Help With

  • Relationship conflict or repeated cycles
  • Fear of abandonment or closeness
  • Emotional shutdown or overwhelm
  • Parenting support and family dynamics
  • Healing after betrayal or rupture

How It Works

You learn to notice triggers and protective patterns, build safer emotional communication, and strengthen secure attachment behaviors over time.

Evidence Snapshot

Attachment insecurity is strongly linked with emotional distress in research, and attachment-oriented interventions (especially family-based models in youth) show measurable improvements in attachment and mood-related outcomes in some settings.

Frequently Asked Questions

No. It can be individual, couples, or family work.

Yes. Many people build more secure patterns through insight, practice, and safe relationships.

EMDR

Process memories. Reduce distress.

What It Is

EMDR is a structured therapy used to help the brain process distressing memories so they feel less overwhelming. It uses a sequence of steps and “bilateral stimulation” (such as guided eye movements or tapping) while you focus on aspects of a memory in a controlled, supported way.

What It Can Help With

  • PTSD and trauma symptoms
  • Distressing memories
  • Anxiety linked to past experiences
  • Triggers, nightmares, and hypervigilance
  • Grief after traumatic loss (when clinically appropriate)

How It Works

EMDR typically includes stabilization and coping skills first, identifying target memories and triggers, processing in short sets with therapist guidance, and integrating new beliefs and body calm.

Evidence Snapshot

Major guidelines recognize EMDR as a recommended/supported treatment option for PTSD and stress-related conditions, and systematic reviews support EMDR and trauma-focused CBT as first-line psychological treatments for PTSD.

Frequently Asked Questions

Often less detail is needed than in some exposure-based approaches, but your therapist will explain options and ensure consent and pacing.

Some people feel temporarily activated. A well-trained therapist prioritizes stabilization and pacing.

Mindfulness-Based Therapy

Present moment. Calm awareness.

What It Is

Mindfulness-based therapy teaches skills for noticing thoughts, emotions, and body sensations with less reactivity. It is not about “emptying your mind.” It is about building awareness so you can respond with more choice. Common evidence-based formats include MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction) and MBCT (Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy).

What It Can Help With

  • Stress, burnout, and overwhelm
  • Anxiety and rumination
  • Depression relapse prevention (MBCT)
  • Emotion regulation and sleep routines
  • Chronic stress responses

How It Works

You practice breathing and attention training, body scan and grounding, mindful movement (as appropriate), and applying mindfulness to daily stress.

Evidence Snapshot

MBCT has strong evidence for reducing relapse risk in recurrent depression, including individual participant data meta-analysis findings. MBSR also has RCT evidence for anxiety disorders and a broad research base across stress and mood outcomes.

Frequently Asked Questions

No. Your therapist can start small and build gradually.

It can be, but it must be adapted. Your therapist will adjust pace and techniques.

Trauma-Focused CBT (TF-CBT)

Healing for young people. Family support.

What It Is

TF-CBT is a structured, evidence-based therapy designed primarily for children and adolescents impacted by trauma. It helps reduce trauma symptoms while building coping skills for both the child and caregiver (when appropriate).

What It Can Help With

  • Post-traumatic stress symptoms in youth
  • Anxiety, depression, and grief linked to trauma
  • Nightmares, avoidance, and triggers
  • Emotional and behavioral dysregulation after trauma

How It Works

TF-CBT commonly includes psychoeducation (understanding trauma reactions), relaxation and emotion regulation skills, thought skills (helpful thinking), gradual trauma narration/processing (paced carefully), and caregiver involvement and safety planning when appropriate.

Evidence Snapshot

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses consistently find TF-CBT is effective for pediatric post-traumatic stress symptoms and related depression/anxiety/grief symptoms, often outperforming control conditions and supporting guideline recommendations.

Frequently Asked Questions

It includes trauma processing, but it is gradual, skills-based, and paced to the child's readiness.

Often yes, because caregiver support improves safety and follow-through.

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)

Balance acceptance and change.

What It Is

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) is a structured, skills-based form of therapy designed to help people better understand, manage, and respond to intense emotions. It combines acceptance strategies with practical tools for change, supporting both emotional validation and personal growth. DBT is especially helpful for individuals who experience emotions very strongly, feel overwhelmed by distress, or struggle with impulsive reactions that affect relationships, work, or wellbeing.

What It Can Help With

  • Intense or rapidly changing emotions
  • Difficulty managing distress or crisis moments
  • Impulsive behaviours or reactions
  • Relationship challenges and conflict patterns
  • Chronic stress, emotional sensitivity, or burnout
  • Difficulties with emotion regulation and self-control

How It Works

DBT focuses on building practical life skills while also helping you feel understood and supported. Therapy often includes learning and practicing skills in four core areas: Mindfulness (building awareness without judgment), Emotion Regulation (understanding and managing emotions), Distress Tolerance (coping with intense situations), and Interpersonal Effectiveness (improving communication and boundaries).

Evidence Snapshot

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy is a well-researched treatment originally developed for individuals experiencing significant emotion regulation difficulties. Research supports DBT in reducing emotional distress and improving coping, interpersonal functioning, and quality of life across various clinical populations when delivered by trained professionals.

Frequently Asked Questions

No. While DBT was originally developed for specific clinical concerns, many people benefit from DBT skills even without a formal diagnosis.

No. DBT can support both crisis management and long-term skill development.

DBT is structured, but therapy is collaborative and paced according to your needs.

DBT often includes skill practice between sessions, but this is discussed collaboratively.

Yes. DBT is frequently integrated with other therapeutic approaches based on individual needs.

Gottman Method Couples Therapy

Strengthen connection. Navigate conflict.

What It Is

The Gottman Method is a structured, research-informed approach to couples therapy focused on helping partners better understand one another, navigate conflict more effectively, and strengthen emotional connection. Developed from decades of relationship research, this method emphasizes practical skills, emotional awareness, and building a strong foundation of trust, respect, and friendship within relationships.

What It Can Help With

  • Ongoing conflict or communication breakdowns
  • Feeling disconnected or emotionally distant
  • Repeated arguments that never feel resolved
  • Trust concerns or relationship strain
  • Life transitions (parenthood, career changes, stress)
  • Strengthening an already stable relationship

How It Works

Gottman Method therapy focuses on both understanding patterns and building skills. Sessions often involve identifying communication and conflict patterns, learning how to manage disagreements safely, strengthening emotional connection and friendship, building respect, appreciation, and understanding, and developing shared meaning and long-term relationship goals.

Evidence Snapshot

The Gottman Method is grounded in decades of observational and longitudinal relationship research. Studies associated with this approach highlight the importance of emotional attunement, effective communication, and conflict management skills in relationship satisfaction and stability.

Frequently Asked Questions

No. Many couples use this approach to strengthen connection, communication, and understanding before problems escalate.

No. The focus is on patterns within the relationship, not fault. Therapy is balanced and respectful of both partners.

Yes. The Gottman Method includes practical tools that couples can practice between sessions.

Yes. Couples therapy can complement individual work, depending on clinical needs and goals.

Many couples find it helpful. Your therapist will assess fit and recommend the most appropriate approach for your situation.