Dr. Brian Ferraccio’s approach to caring for you

Therapeutic Style

I believe that creating a warm, trusting, genuine, and welcoming relationship with each one of my clients is necessary for their effective treatment. My relationship with my clients is professional in nature, but that does not mean the relationships are not real or meaningful. I care for each one of my clients, and so I work to create a safe, welcoming, empathetic environment for each of them to heal, grow, and change while they work to achieve their unique mental health goals in pursuit of their overall well-being.

Therapeutic Orientation

My therapeutic orientation is integrative. That is just fancy jargon for saying that I borrow from several effective and well known (to therapists, at least!) approaches to therapy. My underlying approach is humanistic and existential. In a nutshell, these therapeutic philosophies place tremendous value on the healing power of the therapeutic relationship itself, and their core values have shaped my approach to clients as described in the therapeutic style section above. They also mean that I believe that each person has intrinsic strengths, the potential for healing and growth, and the ability and freedom to make healthy choices for themselves, especially when empowered to do so (my role).

Now for the integrative part! I utilize aspects of cognitive behavioral (CBT) / rational emotive (REBT) theories. These are similar approaches that focus on assisting clients in identifying distorted (incorrect or damaging) beliefs and patterns of thinking (e.g. I can never be good enough, I will always fail, I am unlovable), challenging these distortions, and working with the client to discard them and replace them with healthy (adaptive) thoughts and beliefs (e.g. I am often quite good, I sometimes fail but often succeed, I can love and be loved).

I also often draw on aspects of several psychodynamic theories. Bowenian Family Therapy can be transformative for clients and couples working on familial, relational, and intrapersonal (how one relates to oneself) difficulties. This is a type of family systems therapy that often offers invaluable insights for assisting many of my clients in addressing their problems. Interpersonal Therapy (IPT) offers many techniques to assist clients whose own depressive or anxious symptoms can be tied to problems in relating to self and others, and I draw on it when this is a central theme. Finally, I am experienced in and frequently utilize Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) when working with clients who have survived trauma.

So, Doctor, what does all that mean for me?

I provided all of the detail above for those that want it, but I realize that many potential clients are mainly concerned about the bottom line, that is, meeting their goals / achieving symptom relief, and so they may understandably want to leave the nuts and bolts of how we will get there to me. If that’s you, the long and short of it then is that I take a warm, caring, individualized, strengths based approach to your treatment, and I use well known and well respected techniques from several types of therapy, depending upon what your individual needs are and what stage in your journey to mental health you currently find yourself in. I hope to hear from you soon.