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My Psychotherapy Approach
Psychotherapy through a Nurses Lens
My name is Cynthia Lockhart, RN Psychotherapist and I am the owner and operator of Roots and Sprouts. I provide virtual nurse psychotherapy service. I have 10 years of experience in mental health nursing, both in the community with children and youth, and in an acute inpatient adult mental health hospital. I build therapeutic relationships and provide holistic assessment and support of the whole person. My goal is to provide therapy by looking at your life as a whole person, understanding your past and current struggles (roots), with a positive attitude for a bright and hopeful future (sprouts). The goal of therapy is not about changing people. It's about helping people to reconnect with their authentic selves. It's about helping people become healthier, stronger, and more empowered. It's about healing injuries and building trust. It's about creating healthier relationships and living more fully in the present.
I embrace an approach to healing that focuses on emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual balance. My healing space is safe, confidential, supportive, compassionate, anti-racist, trauma-informed, non-judgmental and empowers your voice and choice. I am open and accessible to all socio-economic status,’ BIPOC and LGBTQ+ people of all ages.
I am passionate about the evolution of the self; becoming more aware of what we carry inside, our blocks, of where we may get stuck; to evolve into a human being who has compassion for oneself, and therefore for others too. I bring passion, compassion and empathy, and my life experiences to the table.
I provide individual therapy for a variety of clients, with specialization in supporting youth with anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, self-harming behaviours, and trauma.
Successful psychotherapy depends on a supportive, compassionate, and comfortable relationship with a therapist. As a therapist, my goal is to create a safe space that is warm and nonjudgmental, and in a way that empowers your voice and choice.
The aim of psychotherapy is to relieve your distress by:
- Increasing awareness of your thoughts and emotions
- Expressing your emotions clearly and calmly
- Helping change unhelpful attitudes, thoughts, behaviours, and habits
- To promote more constructive and adaptive ways of coping and healthy habits for living.
What I Offer
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based technique to assist people with managing their problems by changing the way they think, feel, and respond to situations in life. CBT empowers you with strategies for identifying and challenging your own negative thinking and responding to difficult problems.
The basic idea of cognitive behavioral therapy is that your thinking determines your quality of life. If you change your thinking, you will improve your life. External factors influence your life to some degree, but it is mostly how you interpret external factors that has the greatest impact.
If you think that you have to be perfect, small disappointments will feel like major failures. If you dwell on your worries or fears, you will eventually feel overwhelmed. If you hold on to disappointments or resentments, you will sap the joy out of life. How you choose to interpret events, and your ability to reframe them is the power of mind over mood.
As your therapist, I can help you figure out how you interpret your thoughts, and resulting feelings and behaviours that might be contributing to the problems you are experiencing, as well as assist you with developing balanced ways of thinking and responding to situations.
Cognitive therapy helps to change the wiring of your brain. When you challenge your negative thinking, you create new neural pathways. The more you practice your new way of thinking, the more you strengthen those neural pathways.
Cognitive processing therapy for ptsd
Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) is a cognitive-behavioural treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). CPT was developed in the late 1980s and has been shown to be effective in reducing PTSD symptoms related to a variety of traumatic events including child abuse, combat, rape and natural disasters. CPT is endorsed by the U.S. Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense, as well as the International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies, as a best practice for the treatment of PTSD.
CPT is short-term, typically conducted over the course of 12 weekly sessions, each about 60 to 90 minutes long, though this can vary slightly depending on the client’s specific needs.
In CPT, the therapist will help a patient who has undergone significant trauma to evaluate his or her thoughts surrounding the trauma, particularly maladaptive or self-blaming thoughts that may be exacerbating PTSD symptoms, and conditions including anxiety and depression that set on in the wake of the experience. The patient will then learn to challenge those thoughts and take a new perspective when appropriate.
When It's Used
CPT is a viable treatment option for most adults who have received a diagnosis of PTSD; it may also be used to treat older adolescents. Some researchers and clinicians believe that CPT might be particularly beneficial for those who anticipate encountering additional traumatic events—say, in the military or as an emergency worker, such as a firefighter, police officer, or EMT—as it aims to alter the way patients interpret and process trauma on an ongoing basis.
CPT is not recommended for those who have not received a diagnosis of PTSD or those with literacy difficulties, as it involves written homework.
Initial sessions are typically focused on psycho-education that helps the patient learn about PTSD and what they can expect from treatment. In subsequent sessions, the client will work with their therapist to identify and explore the ways that trauma may have altered the client's thoughts and beliefs, affecting both the way they feel and how they act. Specifically, the therapist will help the client pick out thoughts that create barriers to recovery. The client will learn a set of strategies to challenge and modify thoughts that are inaccurate and/or unhelpful and will practice these strategies with the therapist and on their own with worksheets and exercises.
Clients may be asked to write about the specific events of their traumatic experience, including any sensory details that they remember, or they may be asked to write more broadly about how their experience makes them feel and how they tend to think about what occurred.
CPT can be cognitively or emotionally intense, especially when the client is writing or talking about the experience itself. Feeling discomfort during CPT is normal, though many clients report that their discomfort was brief and was outweighed by the benefits they gained from completing the full course of treatment.
How It Works
Someone who has experienced significant trauma and has developed PTSD as a result may notice that they think very differently about themselves or their environment than they did prior to the trauma. This is often particularly noticeable in the following five areas:
- Safety: They may doubt their ability to protect themselves and others.
- Trust: They may question their judgment and/or the judgment and intentions of others.
- Control: They may feel unable to control their own life or influence the lives of those they care about.
- Esteem: They may view themselves and/or others differently, perhaps seeing themselves as “broken” or others as “evil.”
- Intimacy: They may feel incapable of connecting with or being understood by and accepted by others.
These thoughts tend to lead to negative emotions—fear, anxiety, guilt, and anger—and can halt the person's recovery from PTSD. CPT focuses on teaching a set of skills that will help the person challenge these negative thoughts.
CPT is based on the social cognitive theory of PTSD, which posits that incorporating a traumatic event into one’s worldview is often counterproductive and may lead to maladaptive beliefs. CPT, therefore, focuses on repairing the damage done by a traumatic event to someone’s beliefs about themselves and the world. By offering specific cognitive restructuring skills, CPT allows an individual to challenge these negative thoughts and interpretations (known as stuck points), gain a healthier perspective about the trauma (for example, “While I can’t trust my abuser, I can still trust other people”), cope better with any future trauma, and move forward with their lives.
Online Therapy
Online psychotherapy can be beneficial in helping people uncover their strengths and learn new skills that will allow them to manage challenges that arise in life. Online sessions are held from the safety of your own home at a time that is convenient for you, through our easy online Jane scheduling platform below.
Why Choose me as Your Therapist?
As a Registered Nurse, I have specialized training and experience in mental health. I combine compassion and strong assessment skills, to take a unique approach for each client. I meet client's where they are at and in my work of helping people, I subscribe to a compassionate and collaborative approach. In meeting a client where they are at, I always customize therapy to their personal needs.
Specialties
Children & Youth
Depression
Suicidal Ideation
Crisis Support Planning
Anxiety
Bipolar Disorder
ADHD
Coping Skills
Medication Management
System Navigation
Peer Relationships
School Issues
Self Esteem
Self-Harming Behaviours
Stress
Psychosis
Trauma
FAQs
Is an RN, Psychotherapist different than a Registered Psychotherapist?
Yes. And no.
An RN, Psychotherapist is a Registered Nurse who has completed a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing (mine is from the University of Toronto) with intensive and extensive training in mental health, counselling and psychotherapeutic interventions, such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, alongside years of experience. In Ontario, all nurses must be registered with the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO). Psychotherapy has been legislated as a controlled act that only members of 6 Colleges can perform, of which the CNO is one. Registered Nurses in good standing with the CNO can perform the controlled act of psychotherapy. For more information, please click the link below for the CNOs document on nurses performing the controlled act of psychotherapy.
Registered Nurses can choose to be registered with The College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO) however, this is not a requirement to perform the controlled act of psychotherapy given that registered nurses are able to do so under their license with the CNO.
Registered Psychotherapists (RPs) are not generally Registered Nurses. Although, Registered Nurses may choose to also be registered with the CRPO. Those that are not registered with the CNO but are registered singularly with the CRPO are considered RPs. The members of CRPO are individuals who have graduate education in social work, counselling psychology, etc.
I have chosen not to register with a secondary college. I am proud of my profession and the CNO and am confident in its ability to regulate nurses and protect the safety of patients here
What is your approach to psychotherapy?
My foundational approach to psychotherapy is the same as my foundational approach to nursing; person-centred and integrative. In simple terms, I believe my clients are the experts in their own lives and inner experiences. I integrate a variety of therapeutic modalities to tailor and personalize the sessions according to each client’s needs.
What is your social lens?
I believe in engaging in actions which maintain the dignity and wellbeing of all people. This means my practice is grounded in the intersectionality of people’s experience of race, colonization, sexuality, gender, class, discrimination, (dis)ability, health, poverty, education, health equity, rurality, trauma and adverse childhood experiences. I affirm and believe that all aspects of my client’s lived experience influence their words, thoughts and actions.
Is private psychotherapy covered under my insurance plan?
Private psychotherapy is covered under many extended health insurance plans. The best way to discover if it is covered under yours is to check directly with your insurance company. Some insurance companies do indicate that they cover psychotherapy and only cover members of the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario. Please make sure you review this with your insurance company. At this time, private psychotherapy is not covered under the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP). Currently, many Members of Provincial Parliament (MPP) are advocating alongside the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, for all insurance companies to provide coverage for nurse psychotherapists. Once you have paid for your session, I will provide you with a receipt that you can submit to your insurance company for reimbursement. I also offer sliding scale to increase accessibility and affordability for the essential service of private psychotherapy.
What might I experience in a psychotherapy session?
In sessions with me…laughter. Authenticity. Down-to-earth talking. And…maybe some tears.
Sessions are structured around your needs and goals both immediate and for the future; all sessions are personalized and tailored to you. We generally begin with a check in, perhaps a mindfulness-based grounding or relaxation exercise. Based on your needs, various psychotherapeutic interventions may be utilized. These include but are not limited to:
- Thought challenges
- Behavioural activation
- Mindfulness based reflection
- Behaviour modification techniques
- Positive psychology exercises
- Emotion and needs identification
- Problem solving
Ideally, you will come away from each session with me better able to cope with the challenges you are experiencing and a deep experience of relief and ease.
How long are the sessions, how much do they cost and how many do I need?
Psychotherapy sessions typically last 60min. The cost per session is $150. I also provide a sliding-scale price for people without insurance.
When we begin working together, I would suggest that you schedule 6-8 sessions with me over a 2 – 4 month period.
After this time, I typically move into a maintenance schedule with my clients. This means an appointment once per month or every other month.
Of course, life happens, and challenges arise, and my clients can choose to return to a more intensive schedule for a while to help support their therapeutic needs during that time.