If you’ve read about my philosophy/orientation to therapy you have seen the phrase strengths based. I often get asked, what does that mean? For me, strengths based services mean focusing on identifying and understanding strengths in order to overcome weaknesses and/or struggles. A huge part of my guiding philosophy is that self-understanding leads to self-acceptance and self-acceptance leads to an increase in happiness, a decrease in depression, and a decrease in anxiety or other emotional concerns. Strengths based does not mean ignoring the struggles. From my experience in the therapy room I have discovered that when the session time is spent focusing solely on things that are going wrong, people tend to leave the session feeling discouraged and even hopeless about their future; however when the session is spent acknowledging the struggles while also acknowledging the strengths that have been used to overcome past struggles, people tend to leave the session feeling hopeful and encouraged. It is because of witnessing this hope instilled in people when they are able to see some of their strengths that I continue to use a strengths based approach throughout all of my clinical services.