Disclaimer: I am not available for crisis calls. If you are in immediate distress please call 780-482-4357. If you are in danger right now, call 911. You can also call or text 988 any time. More crisis resources →
How I work · CBT
CognitiveBehaviouralTherapyin Edmonton
CBT helps you understand how your thoughts, feelings, and actions are connected, then gives you practical tools to change the patterns that keep you stuck. I offer it in person in Edmonton and by video and phone across Alberta.
A consultation is a conversation, not a commitment. You can change your mind at any time.
Where it helps
What I use CBT for
The tools are the same. The work they do is specific.
01
Anxiety
CBT helps by challenging irrational thoughts, teaching coping strategies, and gradual exposure to feared situations. We slow the spiral down and look at what the worry is actually saying.
02
Stress
CBT teaches problem-solving, healthy coping, and relaxation techniques to help manage stress. You leave sessions with tools you can use the same week.
03
Trauma
CBT addresses negative thoughts, processes memories, and teaches grounding techniques. We go at your pace, and you decide what we open and when.
04
Depression
CBT restructures negative thoughts, sets goals, encourages activities, and teaches problem-solving. Small, doable steps that add up.
Breaking down CBT
What is CBT?
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a type of therapy that helps people understand how their thoughts, feelings, and actions are connected. It focuses on changing unhelpful thought patterns and behaviours to improve mental well-being. Through CBT, individuals learn practical skills to manage challenges and develop healthier ways of coping with life's ups and downs. It's like learning a new set of tools for your mental toolbox, empowering you to navigate through difficulties with more clarity and resilience.
CBT is for anyone looking to improve their mental well-being by understanding and addressing their thought patterns and behaviours. Whether you're struggling with anxiety, depression, stress, trauma, or other mental health concerns, CBT offers practical strategies to help you manage your emotions and overcome challenges. In my practice, that means adults, in person in Edmonton or by video and phone across Alberta.
Some people come to CBT with a diagnosis. Plenty come with a pattern they're tired of. Both are good reasons.
In session
How does CBT work?
We look at the pattern
Through guided conversation, we explore the patterns in your thinking and behaviours that might be causing distress. Naming the pattern is the first move, and it changes how the pattern feels.
We test the thoughts
Together, we identify and challenge unhelpful thoughts and replace them with more realistic, balanced perspectives. Not forced positivity. Accuracy.
You practise the skills
You learn practical skills and techniques to cope with difficult emotions and situations, then practise them where they matter, in your actual life.
“It's like unraveling a puzzleand putting the pieces back togetherin a way that brings you peace and clarity.”
Working with Carly
How I Work
We work as partners. You bring what you know about your own life, I bring the structure, and together we challenge the patterns that aren't serving you. You leave with insight into what sits underneath the difficulty and practical skills to manage it. The goal is lasting change you can feel in your everyday life.
“Hi, I'm Carly Colasimone. I work with adults who experience anxiety, depression, trauma, and a variety of other issues. My approach to therapy is client-centered and collaborative, I believe that you are the expert in your own life, you are always in the driver's seat, and I might just pop in as GPS from time to time.”
The bigger picture
Where CBT Fits in Our Work
CBT is one tool, not the whole toolbox. The ground everything sits on in my practice is client-centered: you steer, and we go where you need to go. When a thought pattern keeps running no matter how well you understand it, that's usually when CBT earns its place. And when something won't move by talking about it, EMDR may be the better route.
You don't have to know which approach you need before you reach out. Figuring that out together is part of the work.
Where this gets specific
CBT when you're the one who always accommodates
If you're the person who keeps the peace, the thoughts CBT works with are ones you know well.
- They'll be upset with me.
- It's easier if I handle it.
- It's selfish to ask for what I want.
Those thoughts fire automatically, and they feel like facts.
In CBT we write them down, look at the evidence for them, and test them in real situations. That work overlaps with Speak Up Skills, the assertiveness program I run. The between-session practice might be practising a direct no with the lowest-stakes person in your week, then comparing what happened against what the thought predicted. Often the disaster you braced for never arrives, and that gap between prediction and reality is where the pattern starts to loosen.
Sessions
Helping In Person, By Phone, or Online
My office is at Chiropractic Plus & Wellness, 9811 34 Ave. NW, Edmonton. Whether you'd like to come by for in-person therapy or you'd prefer phone call/video chat, I'm here to offer support in whatever way is most comfortable to you.
Questions
Questions people ask about CBT
How many sessions of CBT will I need?
It depends on you and what we're working on. CBT tends to be structured, so some people come for a focused stretch around one stuck pattern, and others fold it into longer-term work. We check in on how it's going as we go, and you can change your mind about the approach at any point.
Is there homework between sessions?
Usually there's something small to try, like noticing a thought when it fires, or testing one of the predictions we've been talking about. It's practice, not a graded assignment. If a week gets away from you, we pick it up in session and nothing is lost.
Does CBT work over video?
Yes. CBT translates well to video because so much of it is conversation, worksheets, and practice you do in your own week. I see people by video and phone across Alberta, and in person at my Edmonton office.
What if CBT doesn't feel right for me?
Then we adjust. CBT is one of several approaches I use, and the relationship comes first. If the structure feels wrong, we can shift toward client-centered or EMDR work, or blend them. Telling me it isn't working is exactly the kind of speaking up this whole practice is built around.
Next step
Let'sTalkAbout What You Need
You don't have to arrive with the right words or a plan. A consultation is a conversation about what's going on and whether working together makes sense. Nothing is locked in when you book it.