[ Browse by Service Category : Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Services : Sub-Topics of Counselling Approaches (18) ]
Behavioural Learning Therapy
Programs that specialize in providing therapeutic interventions that are based on the principle that most disorders are learned ways of behaving that are maladaptive and consequently can be best modified in more adaptive directions through relearning. Treatment focuses directly on modifying the individual's troublesome behaviours without reference to introspection, mental processes and contents, or analysis of the origins of the problem.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Programs that specialize in providing therapeutic interventions that treat thoughts and cognitions as behaviours which are amenable to behavioural procedures.
Faith Based Counselling
Programs that specialize in providing therapeutic interventions which focus on helping people relate to and resolve their problems and concerns in the context of their religious/spiritual beliefs. Services are typically provided by ministers, rabbis, priests, imams or lay representatives of a religious tradition who integrate modern psychological thought and methods with traditional religious training. Included are pastoral counselling programs which are offered in a variety of settings including pastoral counselling centres, inpatient and outpatient mental health facilities and in private practice; chaplaincy services where non-denominational clerics are attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, school, business, police department, fire department, university or private chapel; and other religious counselling disciplines.
Neurolinguistic Programming
Programs that specialize in providing therapeutic interventions that are based on a combination of cognitive-behavioural theories of personality, studies in linguistics, and brain-function research which suggests that different individuals have different cognitive styles which derive from right or left brain hemisphere preferences and which result in different mechanisms for processing sensory information. The goal of the therapist is to identify the individual's preferred sensory system and related learning strategies, and to instruct the person in how to use these modalities for effective functioning.
Psychodynamic Therapy
Programs that specialize in providing therapeutic interventions that are based on any of the psychological systems that explain behaviour in terms of motivational forces at the unconscious level. Therapy focuses on the mental and emotional forces or processes, especially those experienced and developed in early childhood, and their effects on the individual's past and current behaviour and mental states.
Solution Focused Therapy
Programs that specialize in providing task-oriented therapeutic interventions which focus on helping people resolve a particular problem in their lives as opposed to looking at the etiology of the problem, e.g., a personality disorder that may be an underlying causal factor. Therapy is generally relatively brief, focuses on practical suggestions for dealing with the issue and concludes when a strategy for approaching the problem has been agreed upon and the person's situation has been stabilized. Clients may return for a new series of brief therapy sessions on an as-needed basis if new problems surface.
The above terms and definitions are part of the Taxonomy of Human Services, used here by permission of INFO LINE of Los Angeles.