What is Psychotherapy?	Our Approach
When might you seek pyschotherapy?	How long does psychotherapy take?

Dr. Ruth Slater, Dr. Stacey Whyne and Ruth Benedikt Krauze offer psychotherapy services.

What is Psychotherapy?

To us, psychotherapy (also called “counselling” or “therapy”) means:

meeting privately and confidentially with a therapist who has professional training,to sort out personal difficulties and to enhance psychological well-being
developing a trusting relationship that creates a safe place where individuals can be heard, accepted and understood, in order to explore varied aspects of the self and consider new possibilities

Our Approach

We see:

individual adults
adolescents
children
couples
families

We build on the foundation of established theories and tested (“evidence-based”) practices, such as:

emotion focused therapy (EFT)
cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
psychodynamic theory
attachment theory
systemic theory
motivational interviewing
mindfulness

We incorporate our knowledge of human responses to different developmental stages, interpersonal dynamics, mental health issues, emotional needs, and learning styles.

We integrate our areas of expertise to provide a tailored, individualized approach that focuses on the “here and now”, while still being informed by relevant past events and future concerns.

We collaborate with the individual(s) seeking therapy to ensure that the focus of the session(s) fits with, and enhances, the choices that they want to make in their life.

When might you seek pyschotherapy?

when your own efforts to resolve a problem have not been successful
when you are not sure exactly what is wrong but you feel:

unhappy
worried
depressed
anxious
overwhelmed
exhausted

when there has been a (big) change in your life (e.g., separation/divorce, death/loss, moving, job change, health) and you do not feel you can cope
when you want to change your life but you are not sure how
when you have concerns about someone you love (e.g., due to addictions, mood, school performance, mental health)
when you cannot stop thinking about upsetting events or experiences from your past (e.g., trauma, abuse, loss)
when you cannot decide what to do about the future
when there are problems in your relationship(s) (e.g., between partners, within a family, between a parent and child, at work)
when you want to better understand yourself

How long does psychotherapy take?

each session is typically about one hour long

the course of therapy can range from short-term (e.g., several sessions) to longer term (e.g., extending over many months) depending on the issue(s) being addressed and the wishes of the individual seeking therapy
sessions can be weekly, more frequent, or less frequent, depending on how the therapist and the person seeking therapy decide to structure them
every problem does not need to be resolved in order for therapy to stop: work on problems can be interspersed with periods of time where the individual tries out new ways of living, without therapy support