Susie Kat

Solution Focused Brief Treatment

In my practice this therapy works on the premise of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". I love this modality and base much of my approach on building on a clients current strengths and helping clients work to tweak the parts of their life where they are facing challenges. I tell my clients SFBT requires them to be open to adjusting areas they want to work on with a socket wrench, not dynamite. If a person, place, emotion, or behavior is no longer serving you SFBT helps you to identify what you really want and the confidence to name it and claim it.

Strength-Based

Strength-based therapy is talk therapy that guides you toward a retelling of your personal history of traumas, stressors, and pain with more emphasis on yourself as a survivor than as a victim, and more emphasis on resilience as opposed to helplessness. I work with my clients and make them see the bravery that exists in the stories they share. I point out who they are, reframed in a light that is more gentle than our culture can be at times.

Compassion Focused

I always say if you are going to bring your measuring stick to session you are not allowed to beat yourself with it as well. We are all works in progress! I encourage all my clients to see the uniqueness of themselves and to not accept being defined by anyone else for any reason. I mostly utilize CBT and Compassion Focused therapy together for my clients who are presenting with eating disorders. Reframing and self-talk that is nurturing is a huge part of this modality for me.

Person-centered (Rogerian)

I am highly person centered in my approach and have always build rapport with clients quickly because I feel judgement is the end of any relationship that is successful. I always tell people that they can take a high dive into the truth or dip their toe with the right to step back, but if we can't speak with open and honest hearts they are wasting their time. My goal is to help them get where they want to go. We can go anywhere but we need to get real, at their pace and comfort level of course. I am self deprecating and truly cheering on all my clients.

Narrative

Much of my experience in Narrative therapy was born and honed working with pedophiles and traumatized refugees (separate practicums). So many of my frequently applied modalities crossover into one another and narrative therapy is no exception. Narrative therapy is done in almost all of my sessions through assisting clients in reframing narratives that are often false or assigned by others for a multitude of reasons. Journaling and feedback is HUGE for how I apply this modality. I reenforce therapy goals they have set and the mantra of thoughts becoming things, so if they change/replace that thought they will change their life. If a story is ours we need to own it, owning is about getting the lesson of our role and releasing the experience to the universe. Lessons are just that, lessons. They are not life sentences.