Treatment Approaches at Mindshift Center
At Mindshift Center, our therapists use therapeutic approaches that fit your needs and preferences. Rather than one approach for everyone, your care is individualized, collaborative and paced to you.
How We Choose Therapeutic Approaches
Our therapists draw on interventions, tools and strategies that fit each client’s needs and preferences. This work is grounded in an understanding of human development, attachment theory, family systems, ecological systems theory and neuroscience. It also draws on humanistic, psychodynamic, narrative and relational frameworks.
Your therapist considers your concerns, experiences, relationships, strengths, ways of coping, functioning and goals, rather than assuming that a diagnosis, symptom or trauma history automatically determines treatment. Treatment is then adjusted based on what is helping.
What Can Cause Trauma?
Many different experiences can lead to trauma. For example, trauma symptoms often follow experiences like the ones listed here.
- Being bullied or harassed
- Being repeatedly manipulated or lied to
- Being physically hurt or attacked
- Being in a car accident or another unsafe situation
- Sexual abuse or sexual assault
- Seeing or hearing about dangerous events, including those involving loved ones
- Growing up in a neglectful or abusive home
- Growing up with a caregiver who was impaired or incarcerated
Going through one of these experiences doesn’t necessarily mean someone will develop trauma symptoms.
A Phase-Oriented Approach to Trauma
When trauma is part of what brings you in, treatment begins with establishing safety. From there, your therapist considers how past experiences may be affecting how you function today.
Trauma therapy at Mindshift Center is phase-oriented and sequential, and each phase is adapted to you. Learn more about our trauma-responsive care.
Therapeutic Approaches We Use
This list isn’t exhaustive, and not every approach is used with every client. Instead, your therapist works with you to find what fits.
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
- Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT)
- Reality Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)
- Affirming and inclusive services for the LGBTQ+ community and allies
- Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)
- Internal Family Systems (IFS)
- Psychoeducation
- Somatic Psychotherapy
- Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI)
- Brief Solution-Focused Therapy
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Mindfulness-based skills
- Psychological First Aid (PFA)
- Structured Psychotherapy for Adolescents Responding to Chronic Stress (SPARCS)
Questions About Treatment Approaches
What therapeutic approaches does Mindshift Center use?
Mindshift Center therapists use a range of evidence-based therapeutic approaches, including EMDR, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Internal Family Systems (IFS), Trauma-Focused CBT, SPARCS and somatic psychotherapy. The approach is chosen to fit each client’s needs and preferences.
How does my therapist choose a therapeutic approach?
Your therapist at Mindshift Center considers your concerns, experiences, relationships, strengths, ways of coping, functioning and goals, rather than assuming that a diagnosis, symptom or trauma history automatically determines treatment. Treatment is then adjusted based on what is helping.
Do I need to know which approach I want before starting therapy?
No. You don’t need to choose an approach ahead of time. Your Mindshift Center therapist will work with you to find interventions, tools and strategies that fit your needs and preferences.
Does Mindshift Center offer EMDR therapy?
Yes. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is one of the evidence-based approaches used at Mindshift Center in Quincy, Illinois. EMDR uses bilateral stimulation to help the brain and body process distressing experiences.
What is phase-oriented trauma therapy?
Phase-oriented trauma therapy moves through treatment in a sequence, beginning with establishing safety. At Mindshift Center, trauma therapy also considers how past experiences may affect current functioning, and each phase is adapted to the individual client.
Does Mindshift Center offer LGBTQ+ affirming therapy?
Yes. Mindshift Center offers affirming and inclusive services for the LGBTQ+ community and allies, alongside its other evidence-based therapeutic approaches.
Find the Approach That Fits You
Every person’s path looks a little different. Reach out when you’re ready, and we’ll talk through which therapeutic approaches may fit your needs and preferences. You don’t need a diagnosis to get started.


