Laura Alleva

Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)

I help clients to understand how their thoughts impact their feelings and actions. It's difficult to change how we feel about a situation without first noticing and challenging our automatic thoughts. For example, if I'm someone seeking therapy and my initial thoughts are "I don't need therapy, it's not that bad, people will judge me, getting help means I'm weak," this will of course lead to feelings of shame, anxiety and sadness, which will likely lead to me not seeking treatment. However if my thoughts instead were "getting help doesn't mean I'm weak, many people seek out mental health treatment, this could be really helpful for me," this will change the way I feel and make it more likely for me to seek out treatment.

Exposure Response Prevention (ERP)

I use this treatment modality for issues related to OCD and intrusive thoughts. Together with the client, we create a fear hierarchy and exposure plan to overcome challenges such as social anxiety, phobias, and health related anxiety

Strength-Based

I have a background in social work which has greatly shaped my practice as a therapist. Throughout treatment I continually use a client's strengths to help them work through their challenges.

Attachment-based

I look at how clients' relationship patterns impact their ability to function in healthy relationships with friends, family members, and partners.