Dr. Howard draws from two primary therapeutic approaches in her work, allowing her to tailor each session to the needs of the individual. Rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach, she integrates these modalities to support both insight and practical change—helping clients better understand themselves while also building tools for moving forward.

Internal Family Systems (IFS) is a treatment approach developed by Dr. Richard Schwartz.  It is gentle, non-pathologizing and accessible for everyone. It helps us heal from trauma, improve our relationships and gain a better understanding of our choices and actions. IFS says that each of us is comprised of many parts that exist from birth to help us, but through negative life experiences, these parts can develop annoying or destructive roles (like overeating to manage anxiety, for instance).  Everyone also has a “Self” which is compassionate, curious, calm, confident and undamaged.  Often times our parts are running the show, and the goal of IFS is to access Self leadership to get to know and heal our parts.

Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) is a manualized, evidence-based treatment that was developed by Patricia Resick, Kathleen Chard and Candince Monson to treat trauma and PTSD.  Trauma leads people to change the way they think and feel about themselves, others and the world around them.  Through CPT, people learn skills to evaluate and change the thinking that keeps them stuck in their trauma reactions.