We provide treatment for a number of mental health issues for adolescents and adults in the context of individual psychotherapy, including, but not limited to:
What is Individual Psychotherapy?
Individual psychotherapy allows adolescents and adults to discuss their concerns in a one-to -one confidential therapy session. Individuals might be seeking psychotherapy for social anxiety disorder or obsessive compulsive disorder. During any type of individual psychotherapy session, you will work directly with your therapist in a personalized manner to ensure that your treatment is tailored to your presenting issues.
We provide evidence-based treatments to help you learn strategies and deepen your understanding of the challenges that are preventing you from living the life you want. We provide psychotherapy for social anxiety disorder, CBT for OCD, counselling for depression and trauma-informed approaches.
Your therapist will begin with an evidence-based assessment approach, allowing you to better understand what is interfering in your life. From there, you will create a collaborative treatment approach and work together to achieve your treatment goals.
What are the Goals of Individual Psychotherapy?
People often have different goals when entering into therapy. Depending on your presenting issues, your therapist will suggest different treatment plans. Our therapists work from a variety of different therapeutic orientations, including cognitive behaviour therapy, exposure therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, dialectical behaviour therapy informed skills, motivational interviewing and emotion focused therapy.
At FTPS, we provide psychotherapy for social anxiety disorder for adolescents and adults. During this type of treatment, individuals learn skills and strategies to face their fears and decrease avoidance behaviours. Treatment for social anxiety disorder will often focus on gradually increasing comfort within social situations that likely cause distress and fear. These are the types of skills you would learn in individual psychotherapy for social anxiety disorder:
- Psychoeducation on anxiety and avoidance
- Learning to create an exposure hierarchy about different social situations
- Thought record work to gain different perspectives about anxious thinking styles
- Acceptance work to learn how to tolerate uncomfortable emotions and thoughts in distressing situations
- In session role plays to enhance confidence and comfort in social situations
Treatment for social anxiety disorder helps both adults and adolescents engage in social situations. This can help people to live in a way that is more consistent with the values of having meaningful friendships and relationships.
If you are a teen or adult experiencing low mood, you might be wanting individual counselling for depression. Our therapists offer this intervention as well. These are the types of skills and tools you would learn when engaging in counselling for depression at FTPS:
- Psychoeducation on depression and mood changes
- Behavioural activation and scheduling meaningful activities into your day
- Thought record work to gain different perspectives about rumination and black and white thinking styles
- Mindfulness work to allow difficult thoughts to pass through your mind without getting hooked on them
- Acceptance-based therapy to learn defusion and other skills to allow you to make space from difficult thoughts and feelings
During treatment for social anxiety disorder and counselling for depression, adults and adolescents will learn valuable skills and tools to enable them to overcome anxiety and avoidance, challenge negative thoughts, enhance low mood and incorporate everyday mindfulness. These types of skills and tools are also learned in counselling for depression and other forms of individual psychotherapy as well.
Other strategies are also developed for different presenting concerns. For example, an individual with OCD will learn to create a different relationship to their intrusive thoughts and decrease compulsions and rituals. Teens and adults who have experienced traumatic events will also learn skills to process these traumatic experiences. This may be accomplished by shifting their stuck points and processing their emotions. This can lead to decreased avoidance and more balanced thoughts regarding traumatic events.
In-between therapy sessions, individuals will be asked to engage in life practice. This will allow adolescents and adults to have skills to work on in-between therapy sessions. During psychotherapy for social anxiety disorder, individuals will likely be asked to practice engaging in different social activities (in a gradual manner). During counselling for depression, individuals will plan out activities to engage in that will provide them with a sense of pleasure or mastery. These types of activities are often lost when our mood is very low.
Other skills for different treatment interventions may also include: raising your present-moment awareness, shifting your unhelpful thinking styles, guiding you to move towards what matters to you in life and embracing your values. Overall, planning out things to work on in-between sessions is a very valuable component of therapy and can contribute to long-term gains.
When adolescents and teens engage in the treatment, such as counselling for depression or treatment for social anxiety disorder, they might want to have family members involved. With consent, family members can play an important role in learning skills and strategies as well as supporting the work done in therapy sessions.
How Can I Access Individual Psychotherapy?
AT FTPS, we work with youth, teens, and adults for individual psychotherapy services. We also offer individual parent coaching sessions, when requested. These services are offered throughout all of Ontario and BC. If you reach out to the intake team at FTPS, we can tell you more about all of our individual psychotherapy offerings. You can see what would be the best fit for you!