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A strength-based approach
​Strength-based therapy is a therapeutic approach focusing on a person’s innate strengths, resources and resilience (rather than deficits) in order to foster wellness. It’s a collaborative process where therapists help clients to identify their best qualities, to recall successes, to orient towards looking for wins every day and then to anchor them in. Anchoring in involves the here-and-now intention of treating oneself with kindness and compassion.
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In session, symptoms and struggles are not ignored; they are important to understand and to address—but in strength-based therapy, continually harping on problems over and over will not heal them. Healing is what bodies do naturally. The psyche needs a little help.
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In our work together, I will guide you into each of these old stuck patterns and shine a light on new coping skills so you are no longer wandering around in the dark. I will teach you skills how to redirect towards what is working in your life in order to build solutions and change your negative worldviews. Ultimately, I will help you to integrate this “authentic self” into all that you do.
Types of strength-based therapy in CA
Somatic Therapy /TRM
The Trauma Resiliency Model (TRM) is a body-centered, neuroscience-informed therapy that teaches skills to help people regulate their nervous system after trauma, focusing on restoring mind-body balance and building resilience. It uses a "bottom-up" approach, guiding clients through nine key skills like tracking sensations, grounding, and resourcing to manage physical stress responses, complete thwarted survival actions, and create new neural pathways for well-being, moving beyond traditional talk therapy.
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IFS (Internal Family Systems)
Internal Family Systems (IFS) is an inherently strength-based, non-pathologizing approach that views all aspects of our personality (“parts”) as having positive intentions and the capacity for healing. Typical parts include: a self-critical part, an anxious part, people pleaser, conflict avoider, intellectual parts. They work really hard to keep the younger wounded parts of us banished—the shame, the sadness, the unloved parts. The goal of IFS is to reintegrate those vulnerable wounded parts into our “family system” with help from the the adult SELF.
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Mindfulness
Mindfulness-Based Therapy (MBT) integrates mindfulness meditation with psychotherapy, teaching you to focus on the present moment non-judgmentally to observe thoughts, feelings, and sensations, helping reduce reactivity and stress, and improve emotional regulation for issues like depression, anxiety, and chronic pain.
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1. How strength-based therapy works
Collaboratively set goals
You are the expert on your life, and I am the expert on how to best help you excavate your authentic self. It’s important that we do this together, as a team, but I will honor your self determination. I’m here to support you in the growth you want to make. The first session will be about identifying those goals and how best to attain them.
Family history
It’s important at the outset of therapy to get to know where you came from so we can identify any unmet needs. This is not about pathologizing or blaming your parents. We need to get a sense of your unhelpful/sabotaging/people pleasing patterns. To so, we need to return to the scene of the crime.
Identify strengths and capabilities
Once we’ve got your goals in mind, and know where some deficits came from, we will identify your inherent talents, skills, past successes, and resources, shifting focus from "what's wrong" to "what's right" and what you can do.
Develop a routine
Strengths need to be practiced like plants need to be watered. What we water grows. The skills and tools you learn in therapy to anchor in your wins and to give yourself credit, can lead to long lasting change.
2. Typical strength-based therapy session
“What went well?”
This question rocks! I start with it to throw you off balance, to short circuit your anxious brain, in order to really orient you into a space of positive gains and wins, however small. Negatively sticks, that’s why it’s easy to get stuck there. What’s positive however, slides right by—unless we grab it!
Body check in
Similarly to leaning into that familiar and alluring negative emotion, we also know when our bodies are out of whack. Early in session, I check in with your nervous system to see if you’re in the high zone (activated) or in the low zone (numbed, fatigued) Often, I will teach you somatic regulation skills to help you move away from distress and into wellbeing.
Building resilience
This is the meat of the session. We map your top 5 strengths. We slow down to pay attention to the body as we flow through the session. We learn about the different parts of your personality that are protecting your inner child—that wounded little kid inside. I teach you how to befriend your parts and maybe even give them new jobs. We role play asking your partner or boss for your needs, setting boundaries to do so.
Behavior change
Since we have your strengths mapped out, some protector parts identified and your ability to notice sensations of wellbeing inside your body, I’ll give you homework to notice when you use them IRL. (ie, when you’re in a positive headspace, feel love towards someone, or make a friend laugh). The key is to notice them and then to give yourself credit. These skills become the foundation to the work. How strength-based therapy works.
