Nick Chasler

Dialectical Behavior (DBT)

I have 20+ hours of formal training in DBT. I find it especially helpful for clients who feel overwhelmed by emotions, shut down, react more intensely than they want to, or struggle to know what to do when they’re activated. In our work, I may draw from the 4 DBT skill modules, which include mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness. Together, we’ll look at what’s actually happening in your life and find skills that feel realistic and useful. I’m also interested in what’s underneath the overwhelm. The emotional learnings, patterns, etc., so we aren't just managing symptoms, but also getting to the root of the concern.

Acceptance and commitment (ACT)

I use ACT to help clients relate differently to difficult thoughts and inner experiences/feelings. Rather than trying to force painful emotions or experiences to go away, ACT helps us to manage those things while still pursuing what is important to us. My approach with ACT is collaborative and practical. We’ll look at where you may be getting stuck, and we’ll work on building more psychological flexibility. That means helping you notice what’s happening internally without being completely controlled by it. I often use ACT to support clients in reconnecting with their values and making choices that feel more aligned.

Somatic

I use somatic-informed approaches to help clients pay attention to the connection between their emotions and nervous system. This can be especially helpful in trauma work, because trauma often shows up in the body before we have words for it, like through tension, numbness, panic, shutdown, restlessness, etc. If you tend to intellectualize, this approach might feel a little annoying at times! This is because it asks us to do something different than analyze or explain everything. Instead of staying mostly in the thinking part of the brain, somatic work pays attention to the more automatic parts of the nervous system. This would be fight, flight, freeze, and shutdown. I try to use this approach in a gentle and paced manner. We won’t force anything or push you into overwhelm. We’ll slow down and build more capacity to feel grounded and safe in the present.

Internal Family Systems (IFS)

I use IFS-informed work to help clients understand the different “parts” of themselves with more curiosity and less judgment. Many people come to therapy feeling frustrated by their own reactions, like shutting down, overthinking, people-pleasing, getting defensive, feeling numb, or becoming really self-critical. From an IFS perspective, these reactions often developed for a reason. My approach is to slow down and get curious about these parts instead of trying to immediately get rid of them. I find this approach especially helpful for clients who feel internally conflicted or who know they want to change but keep getting pulled back into familiar patterns. Over time, the goal is to build a more compassionate and trusting relationship with yourself.

Attachment-based

I use an attachment-based lens to help clients understand how early relationships and important life experiences may still be impacting how they relate to themselves and others. I pay attention to the patterns that show up both in your outside relationships and sometimes in the therapy relationship itself. We can use those moments to better understand your attachment patterns and what old strategies may still be trying to protect you. Together we can make sense of how you learned to survive emotionally and work to build more security and self-trust now.