Therapy Designed Around You
At Lighthouse Youth & Family Therapy, we believe effective counseling is never one-size-fits-all. Every person brings a unique story, personality, strengths, relationships, values, and life experiences into the therapy room. Because of that, we take a personalized, integrative approach to treatment.
Rather than relying on a single therapy model, our therapists thoughtfully blend techniques from a variety of evidence-based approaches. We tailor therapy to your unique needs, goals, personality, values, stage of life, and lived experiences, selecting the methods that are most likely to help you experience meaningful, lasting change.
Some people benefit from practical tools to manage anxiety or depression. Others need to process trauma, improve relationships, heal from painful experiences, or gain a deeper understanding of themselves. Many people benefit from exploring questions of identity, purpose, and personal growth. Most clients benefit from a combination of approaches, and your therapist will adapt treatment as your needs evolve.
The approaches described below represent many of the evidence-based therapies used by our clinicians, but they are not an exhaustive list. Our therapists have diverse training and experience and may incorporate additional therapeutic models and techniques when they believe those approaches will best support your goals. We are committed to lifelong learning and continually expanding our knowledge so we can provide thoughtful, personalized care grounded in current research and best practices.
Not every therapist practices every approach, but every therapist at Lighthouse is committed to providing compassionate, evidence-based care that is tailored to the unique needs of each individual, couple, and family we serve.
Building Skills and Creating Change
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
May be helpful for: Anxiety • Depression • OCD • Stress • Panic Attacks • Low Self-Esteem • Life Transitions
CBT helps you understand the connection between your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Together, you and your therapist will identify unhelpful thinking patterns, develop healthier ways of responding to challenges, and build practical skills you can use in everyday life.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
May be helpful for: Anxiety • Depression • Chronic Stress • Grief • Life Transitions • Perfectionism • Values Clarification
ACT teaches you how to respond differently to difficult thoughts and emotions rather than letting them control your life. Instead of striving to eliminate uncomfortable feelings, you’ll learn to accept them while taking meaningful action toward the life you want to live.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
May be helpful for: Emotional Regulation • Anxiety • Depression • Relationship Difficulties • Self-Harm • Stress
DBT provides practical tools for managing overwhelming emotions, improving relationships, tolerating distress, and staying present in the moment. It is especially helpful for people who experience intense emotions or want to strengthen emotional regulation and coping skills.
Solution-Focused Therapy
May be helpful for: Life Transitions • Goal Setting • Parenting Challenges • Anxiety • Relationship Concerns • Personal Growth
Solution-Focused Therapy emphasizes your strengths, resources, and goals. Rather than spending all of your time focused on problems, you’ll work with your therapist to identify what’s already working and build practical solutions that help you move forward with confidence.
Healing from Difficult Experiences
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
May be helpful for: Trauma • PTSD • Anxiety • Grief • Distressing Memories • Childhood Trauma
EMDR is an evidence-based therapy that helps the brain process traumatic or distressing memories so they become less emotionally overwhelming. As memories are processed, many people experience relief from symptoms of trauma, anxiety, grief, and other difficult life experiences.
Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART)
May be helpful for: Trauma • PTSD • Anxiety • Grief • Phobias • Distressing Memories
ART is a research-supported therapy that uses guided eye movements and visualization techniques to help reduce the emotional impact of distressing memories. Many clients experience meaningful relief without needing to repeatedly discuss painful events in detail.
Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)
May be helpful for: Childhood Trauma • Abuse • Neglect • Anxiety • PTSD • Behavioral Concerns • Family Healing
TF-CBT helps children, adolescents, and their caregivers heal after traumatic experiences. By combining trauma-sensitive interventions with practical coping skills and caregiver involvement, this approach helps young people feel safer, more resilient, and better equipped to move forward.
Strengthening Relationships
Attachment-Based Therapy
May be helpful for: Relationship Challenges • Parenting • Adoption • Childhood Trauma • Anxiety • Family Conflict
Our earliest relationships shape the way we experience trust, connection, conflict, and emotional safety throughout life. Attachment-Based Therapy helps clients understand these patterns, heal relationship wounds, and develop healthier, more secure connections with themselves and the people they care about.
Family Systems Therapy
May be helpful for: Family Conflict • Parenting • Blended Families • Communication • Sibling Conflict • Adoption • Behavioral Concerns
Families influence how we think, communicate, and cope with life’s challenges. Family Systems Therapy explores the patterns and dynamics within relationships, helping family members improve communication, strengthen connection, and work together toward healthier ways of relating.
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)
May be helpful for: Couples • Marriage Counseling • Premarital Counseling • Emotional Connection • Communication • Trust
Emotionally Focused Therapy helps couples recognize the negative cycles that keep them feeling disconnected and replace those patterns with greater understanding, trust, and emotional closeness. By strengthening the emotional bond between partners, couples often experience deeper connection and healthier communication.
Gottman Method
May be helpful for: Marriage Counseling • Couples Therapy • Conflict Resolution • Communication • Trust • Parenting Together
Based on decades of relationship research, the Gottman Method teaches couples practical skills for improving communication, managing conflict respectfully, rebuilding trust, increasing friendship, and creating a stronger partnership that can weather life’s challenges together.
At Lighthouse, we believe healthy relationships are worth investing in. While every situation is unique and safety always comes first, our goal is to help individuals, couples, and families strengthen communication, deepen understanding, and build relationships that can grow and heal over time.
Discovering Meaning and Growth
Narrative Therapy
May be helpful for: Identity • Trauma • Depression • Anxiety • Self-Esteem • Life Transitions • Personal Growth
Narrative Therapy recognizes that people are more than the problems they face. Together, you’ll explore the stories you’ve come to believe about yourself, recognize your strengths, and begin creating a new story that reflects hope, resilience, and the life you want to build.
Person-Centered Therapy
May be helpful for: Anxiety • Depression • Personal Growth • Self-Esteem • Relationship Concerns • Life Transitions
Healing begins with feeling genuinely heard and understood. Person-Centered Therapy provides a compassionate, accepting environment where you can openly explore your experiences, discover your strengths, and build greater confidence, self-awareness, and personal growth.
Existential Therapy
May be helpful for: Life Transitions • Grief • Anxiety • Depression • Identity • Purpose • Spiritual Exploration • Personal Growth
Life’s challenges often lead us to ask deeper questions about purpose, identity, relationships, and what truly matters. Existential Therapy provides a space to explore these questions with honesty and compassion. Together, you and your therapist will examine your values, navigate life’s uncertainties, and discover greater meaning, purpose, and direction.
Faith-Informed Counseling (Upon Request)
May be helpful for: Faith Integration • Spiritual Questions • Marriage • Parenting • Grief • Identity • Life Transitions
For clients who desire it, our therapists can thoughtfully incorporate your faith, spirituality, and personal beliefs into the counseling process. We respect people of all faiths, cultures, and backgrounds, as well as those with no religious affiliation. Faith is never assumed or imposed. Instead, it is integrated only when it is meaningful to you and supportive of your counseling goals.
Finding the Right Approach
You don’t need to know which type of therapy is right for you before scheduling an appointment. That’s our job.
During your first few sessions, your therapist will take time to understand your story, your goals, your strengths, and the challenges you’re facing. From there, they will create a treatment plan that fits your unique needs, drawing from one or more evidence-based approaches as therapy progresses.
While our therapists are trained in a variety of evidence-based models, research consistently shows that one of the strongest predictors of successful therapy is the relationship between you and your therapist. We believe meaningful healing begins with feeling safe, understood, and genuinely supported.
Our goal isn’t to fit you into a particular therapy model. Our goal is to help you experience healing, strengthen your relationships, discover greater purpose, and build a life filled with hope, meaning, and lasting change.