Access to Therapy Network is a group of licensed and experienced mental health practitioners who offer a range of therapeutic approaches to mental health care, including the following:
Coaching
Life coaches help individuals
realize their goals in work and in life. An executive coach, for example, may
be enlisted to help a chief executive become a better manager, while a
"love" coach may map out a plan to help a client find romantic
fulfillment.
Cognitive
Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Cognitive-behavioral
therapy stresses the role of thinking in how we feel and what we do. It is
based on the belief that thoughts, rather than people or events, cause our
negative feelings. The therapist assists the patient in identifying, testing
the reality of, and correcting dysfunctional beliefs underlying his or her
thinking. The therapist then helps the client modify those thoughts and the
behaviors that flow from them. CBT is a structured collaboration between
therapist and client and often calls for homework assignments. CBT has been
clinically proven to help clients in a relatively short amount of time with a
wide range of disorders, including depression and anxiety.
Eclectic
Many practitioners now take an
eclectic approach to therapy, drawing upon various aspects of
cognitive-behavioral and psychodynamic methods to create their own custom-made
approach. Such therapists often work with their clients to create a treatment
plan that encompasses different techniques to best address the client's
particular problems and to appeal to her sensibility.
Family Systems Therapy
Family Systems therapists view
problems within the family as the result not of particular members' behaviors,
but of the family's group dynamic. The family is seen as a complex system
having its own language, roles, rules, beliefs, needs and patterns. The
therapist helps each individual member understand how his/her childhood family
operated, his/her role in that system, and how that experience has shaped his/her role
in the current family.
Humanistic Therapy
The humanistic method takes a
positive view of human nature and emphasizes the uniqueness of the individual.
Therapists in this tradition, who are interested in exploring the nature of
creativity, love, and self-actualization, help clients realize their potential
through change and self-directed growth.
Marriage and Family Therapy
Family and Marital therapists work
with families or couples both together and individually to help them improve
their communication skills, build on the positive aspects of their
relationships, and repair the harmful or negative aspects.
Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)
For patients with chronic pain, hypertension,
life threatening illnesses, and other health issues such as anxiety and
depression, MBCT is a two-part therapy that aims to reduce stress, manage pain,
and embrace the freedom to respond to situations by choice. MCBT blends two
disciplines -- cognitive therapy and mindfulness. Mindfulness helps by
reflecting on moments and thoughts without passing judgment. MBCT patients pay
close attention to their feelings to reach an objective mindset, thus viewing
and combating life's unpleasant occurrences.
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is an in-depth form
of therapy. The client learns what conscious and unconscious wishes drive their
patterns of thinking and behavior on the theory that, by making the unconscious
conscious, they will make more educated choices over how they think and act.
Traditional psychoanalysts may treat clients intensively but reveal little of
their own views or feelings during therapy. Modern psychoanalysts may treat
less frequently and take a more interactive approach.
Psychodynamic Therapy
Psychodynamic therapists believe
that bringing the unconscious into conscious awareness promotes insight and
resolves conflict. Psychodynamic therapy focuses on the relationship between
the therapist and the client, as a way to learn about how the client relates to
everyone in his or her life.
Relational Therapy (RLT)
Relational life therapy offers
strategies to combat marital dysfunction and restore harmony in relationships.
Couples -- those recovering from affairs, traumatic events, or a lull in
passion -- can find RLT helpful. To repair discord, the therapist identifies
the main conflict upsetting the couples' emotional intimacy. Once the partners
see how they both contribute to the problem, the therapist teaches them skills
to improve the ways they relate to each other. Couples may see a change in
their relationship within three to six months.


