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One of our approaches
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
CBT stands for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. It’s one of the most researched approaches in therapy. The idea behind it is simple: thoughts, feelings, and actions are all connected, and shifting one can shift the others.
Thoughts feel like facts. They aren’t always, and that’s where we start.
How it works
The idea behind it
When you’re anxious, depressed, or stuck, certain thinking patterns tend to keep the difficulty going, often without you noticing. Assuming the worst. All-or-nothing thinking. Guessing what others think of you. Those thoughts then drive actions, like avoiding things, that make the original belief feel truer. It becomes a loop that’s hard to break from the inside.
CBT helps you notice these patterns as they happen. You learn to ask whether a thought is actually accurate, or just familiar. Then you try out different ways of thinking and responding, testing them like small experiments rather than just trying to “think positive.” Over time, this builds new, more flexible habits to replace the automatic ones.
In session
What a session looks like
Sessions are structured and done together. They usually start with a brief check-in on the week and a look at anything you tried since last time. You and your clinician might use a thought record: writing down a specific situation, the automatic thought that came up, the feeling it triggered, and a more balanced way to see it. This is practice for catching unhelpful patterns as they happen.
Between sessions, you’ll often try small experiments, like gradually approaching something you’ve been avoiding, to test whether the feared outcome actually happens. Progress is tracked with check-in questionnaires, so you can both see the shift over time rather than guess at it.
Frequently asked questions
Is this covered by insurance?
The approach doesn’t change the coverage. Most extended health plans cover sessions with a Registered Counselling Therapist or Registered Social Worker. Call the number on your benefits card and ask. We bill most major insurers directly, so you only pay what your plan doesn’t cover; otherwise you get a receipt after every session.
How many sessions will it take?
It depends on you and what you’re working on. By session two you’ll have a written plan, and every few sessions we check in with the same short questions so you can see what’s changing. You can stop at any time.
Does it work online?
Yes. We offer every approach in person in Dartmouth and by secure video anywhere in Nova Scotia. If one of them works better in person, we’ll tell you.
Does it cost more?
No. Whichever approach we use, it’s included in your standard session fee. See fees and insurance.
Ready when you are.
You don’t need to choose an approach before you book. That’s our job, together with you, in the first two sessions.