We Believe Not All Paths Are The Same.

This page offers brief descriptions, and some external resources, of the therapeutic methods referenced on our Services page. These summaries are intended to provide a general overview rather than a comprehensive explanation. Their purpose is to help you better understand the approaches we may draw upon during individual therapy sessions.

If you would like more detailed information, please don’t hesitate to contact us via our contact page. We’ll be glad to answer your questions and provide additional resources as needed.

Solution-Focused Therapy is a goal-oriented approach that focuses on finding practical solutions rather than analyzing problems in depth. Clients are encouraged to identify their strengths, resources, and past successes to create strategies for positive change. This method helps individuals set achievable goals, build confidence, and take actionable steps toward the outcomes they want to see in their lives.

Solution Focused Therapy

Person-Centered/Rogerian Therapy

Person-Centered Therapy, is a supportive, non-judgmental approach that focuses on the client’s own experience and personal growth. The therapist provides empathy, acceptance, and understanding, creating a safe space where individuals can explore their thoughts, feelings, and goals. This approach encourages self-discovery, self-acceptance, and empowerment, helping clients find their own solutions and paths toward meaningful change.

Laura Szyikowski, River Lily Counseling’s primary Psychotherapist and Director, primarily combines Person-Centered and Solution-Focused strategies. She believes therapy goals should be guided by the client, with sessions focused on their needs, experiences, and priorities. Laura’s approach is strengths-based and flexible, allowing clients to choose what is discussed in each session. Her focus is on helping clients build a sense of agency, empowerment, and joy while providing supportive guidance and practical strategies for positive change.

Additional Note:

Motivational Interviewing

Motivational Interviewing is a client-centered counseling method designed to strengthen motivation for positive change. This approach encourages individuals to explore the benefits and drawbacks of different choices, helping them resolve ambivalence and gain clarity about their goals. Through this process, clients are supported in making meaningful commitments to the changes they wish to create in their lives.

Gestalt Therapy is an approach that emphasizes self-awareness and integration. Often, people distance themselves from parts of their identity or past experiences, which can make it difficult to see the bigger picture or create change in the present. Gestalt techniques focus on bringing these parts together into a unified whole, fostering acceptance and personal growth.

Common practices include exploring existential questions, using the “empty chair” technique, developing a nonjudgmental attitude toward oneself and one’s past, and practicing “I” statements to strengthen personal responsibility and self-expression.

Gestalt Therapy

Existential Therapy emphasizes understanding a person within the broader context of their life and the challenges they face. Rather than focusing solely on symptoms, this approach views therapy as a shared journey, with the therapist and client working together to navigate life’s difficulties. The goal is to clarify one’s values, purpose, and sense of meaning, creating a foundation for more authentic and intentional living.

Existential Therapy

Holistic Brain Interventions and Neurobiological Strategies

This approach looks at the body and mind as one connected system. Sometimes the way we react to stress, emotions, or everyday situations on the outside is deeply influenced by what’s happening inside our bodies. For example, stress can raise certain hormones, affect sleep, lower attention span, and change the way we process emotions. By learning how the brain and body interact, clients can better understand their own reactions and develop strategies to restore balance.

For those interested in learning more, we’ve included links to additional resources:

Stress Effects on the Body
Harvard Health, Understanding the Stress Response

Somatic Therapy

Somatic Therapy focuses on the connection between the body and mind, exploring how stress, tension, or past experiences can be physically held in the body. This approach helps clients notice and release physical tension while building greater awareness of bodily sensations. Techniques may include body scans, grounding exercises, progressive muscle relaxation, and self-regulation practices, all aimed at supporting emotional balance through bodily balance and overall well-being.

This Psychology Today article provides a lot of insight into the history, details, and specifics of Somatic Therapy.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

ACT helps clients recognize and accept their thoughts and feelings without judgment while focusing on taking meaningful, value-driven actions. By increasing awareness and practicing mindfulness, individuals can better understand their experiences, clarify what matters most to them, and commit to choices that align with their values. This approach emphasizes both self-acceptance and purposeful action, supporting personal growth and well-being.

Holistic Healing

Holistic Healing focuses on the integration of mind, body, and spirit, using a multisensory approach to support overall wellness. Techniques may include energy-based practices such as qigong, meditation, yoga, deep breathing, as well as experiences like aromatherapy or forest bathing. Each client’s preferences guide the approach, whether they are drawn to more esoteric or energy-based practices or prefer techniques grounded in science. The goal is to create a personalized path toward balance, relaxation, and well-being.

Feminist Theory

Feminist Theory explores how societal expectations and gender-based inequalities can shape identity, values, and mental health in our society. While River Lily Counseling believes in and emphasizes equality, this approach acknowledges that social structures are not always set up in an equal way for all genders. Feminist Theory and Feminist Therapy helps clients examine how these dynamics influence their personal experiences and relationships, emphasizing that the personal and the political are deeply interconnected. This perspective supports empowerment, self-awareness, and meaningful change.

For those interested in learning more, we’ve included links to additional resources:

Psychology Today, Feminist Therapy
Introduction: Feminist Therapy - Not for Cisgender Women Only (Chapter 1) American Psychological Association - This is more about the History/Origin of Feminist Therapy, than it is about the actual process.

Dialectic Behavioral Therapy (DBT)

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) provides clients with concrete strategies to manage stress, improve emotional balance, and enhance overall functioning. These skills focus on four main areas:

Mindfulness - Learning to stay present in the moment with non-judgmental awareness.
Emotional Regulation - The ability to understand, manage, and respond to your emotions in a healthy and appropriate way.
Distress Tolerance - The ability to handle difficult situations, intense emotions, and uncomfortable sensations without resorting to impulsive behaviors or escaping them.
Interpersonal Effectiveness - The ability to build healthy relationships and get your needs met while maintaining self-respect.

River Lily Counseling is not currently offering DBT classes, however, DBT skills may be taught and integrated into individual sessions as needed.

Structural Family Therapy focuses on strengthening family organization and boundaries, ensuring that parents maintain appropriate authority while children are respected, nurtured, and heard. While this approach is primarily used in family sessions, elements of Structural Family Therapy may be referenced when working with individual clients who are parents or minors struggling to communicate effectively within their family system. The goal is to support healthier family dynamics and improve relationships through clearer roles and communication patterns.

Structural Family Therapy

Psychodynamic Therapy helps an individual understand how their thoughts, feelings, and experiences are connected and how they affect behavior. It looks at patterns in an individual’s life, including how past experiences may influence current emotions and relationships. This approach draws on concepts such as the conscious and subconscious mind, ego, identity, defense mechanisms, transference, and regression. By examining these patterns, clients can gain deeper insight into the underlying influences on their emotions and behaviors, fostering self-understanding and personal growth.

Psychodynamic Therapy

Narrative Therapy

Narrative Therapy helps you see your life as a story that you can shape. It encourages you to separate yourself from the problems you face, so they don’t define you. By exploring and re-writing your story, you can gain new perspectives, make sense of challenges, and create the life you want to lead.

Theories of Development and Psychosocial Development

These approaches explore how people grow, change, and develop throughout their lives. Erickson’s psychosocial stages, for example, describe key challenges and milestones from childhood through adulthood, helping us understand how early experiences can shape our sense of identity, relationships, and coping skills. By looking at developmental patterns and brain growth over time, therapists can better identify the roots of current struggles, understand behavior in context, and support healthier emotional and social development.

For those interested in learning more, we’ve included link to additional resources:

Erik Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development
Psychology Today - Understanding Life as a Developmental Process

Expressive Arts Techniques use creative activities - such as art, music, or movement - to help clients explore thoughts, feelings, and concerns in a safe and non-threatening way. By engaging creatively, individuals can express emotions that may be difficult to put into words, gain new insights, and connect with their experiences in a deeper, more personal way. These techniques help remove barriers between internal experiences and self-expression, supporting growth, reflection, and healing.

Expressive Arts Techniques

Theories Of Memory and Learning

This approach explores how people process, store, and recall information, as well as how learning takes place. The therapist may provide education about memory and learning theories to help clients better understand challenges they face, whether it’s difficulty focusing, retaining information, or navigating school or work tasks. This is especially helpful for individuals whose memory or concentration has been affected by trauma, stress, or other life experiences. Understanding these processes can give clients tools to improve focus, learning, and daily functioning.

Jungian theories of personality explore how the conscious and unconscious parts of the mind shape who we are. Concepts such as the collective unconscious, dream interpretation, and the journey toward individuation help us understand patterns in thoughts, behaviors, and relationships. The MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) is based on Jung’s ideas and can provide insights into personality preferences. These concepts may be incorporated into therapy to help clients better understand themselves, their motivations, and how they relate to others.

You can learn all about the MBTI and Carl Jung’s Theory of Personality below:

Myers & Briggs Foundation
Carl Jung’s Theory of Personality

Jungian Theories of Personality

Theories on Adapting to Immigration

These theories explore how individuals adjust to a new culture while balancing their own cultural identity. People may move through different stages of adaptation, sometimes seeking integration into the new culture and other times emphasizing the preservation of their original culture. This framework can also help understand broader personal experiences, such as navigating conformity versus individuality, or adaptation versus maintaining one’s own values. In therapy, these ideas can support clients in understanding their cultural experiences and finding a healthy balance between belonging and authenticity.

Culturally specific interventions are tailored to a client’s unique cultural background, values, and experiences. These approaches incorporate practices and perspectives that have been meaningful or effective within particular cultural communities. For example, therapy may explore ancestral history in some Latino cultures or the significance of community and legacy when working with Black clients. These interventions aim to honor cultural identity, enhance relevance, and support personal growth in ways that feel authentic to each individual.

Culturally Specific Interventions

Gender identity is a personal and fluid experience that is not strictly determined by biology. In therapy, clients are encouraged to explore their own understanding of gender, including preferred pronouns and how they wish to be seen by others. The therapist provides a supportive space to discuss experiences, affirm identity, and process any frustrations or challenges that arise when others do not recognize or respect the client’s gender identity.

Theories on Gender Identity

Gender Development and the WPATH Standards of Care

Laura Szyikowski is trained in the WPATH Standards of Care, Version 8 (SOC 8) for transgender and gender-diverse individuals. The guidelines provide evidence-based recommendations for supporting the health and well-being of transgender clients. Information from SOC 8 may be used in therapy to educate clients, provide guidance, and ensure affirming, informed care.

The Stages of Change

The Stages of Change model helps clients understand the process of making and sustaining personal changes. It highlights different phases, including precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance, and relapse, to help individuals recognize where they are in their journey. By identifying their current stage, clients can develop strategies that fit their readiness for change and take practical steps toward their goals. The therapist may reference this model as needed to guide reflection and support progress.

Harm Reduction Model

The Harm Reduction Model is an approach that focuses on reducing the negative effects of behaviors, rather than expecting complete abstinence or strict adherence to specific goals. In substance use treatment, this might mean identifying safer ways to use substances or making incremental changes that reduce risk. This approach meets clients where they are, supporting practical strategies that improve safety, health, and overall well-being, while respecting the client’s autonomy and readiness for change.