Cognitive Behavioral Techniques
I was blown away by how effective Kurt’s approach is, and how deeply we explored my emotional reality. Kurt merges CBT, mindfulness, and his own idiosyncratic wisdom with no-nonsense, practical steps. I’m left with a newfound appreciation for CBT, and for Kurt’s therapeutic skills!
Arielle Friedman of ariellefriedman.com
I experience Kurt as a gifted and insightful healer, and highly recommend his CBT sessions for anyone who wants to transform something about themselves, or their life.
I came to him with quite a lot of existential grief over the state of a world that has descended so low, breathing is now a political act. I actually feel unsafe from the pervasive lack of reason everywhere, and am now prone to regular, spontaneous bursts of passionate crying as a result! We have been through sustained and incremental torture, and I have fully felt its effects for 7 months. So I know I did not present as an ‘easy’ case by any means… and you know what Kurt did? He connected me to calm, and skillfully guided me to a first-step solution that I cannot wait to implement tomorrow morning!
Erika Harris of The Empathic Writer and The Work of The Empath podcast
Kurt was hands down better than any therapist I’ve ever spoken to, because he actually listened to me and helped me think through my life in a new way.
Chris Guida, co-host of Multiversity Project
Kurt’s CBT sessions weren’t just valuable, they changed my life. Kurt didn’t give me any tangible treasure; he illuminated the path that allowed me to find the keys needed to unlock my OWN potential.
I did the work, Kurt helped me figure out what that work was. He walked with me, as we traversed the conflicting beliefs, doubts, fears, insecurities and unconscious behaviors of my own mind; and figured out better ways of thinking, together.
Super Ego, music producer from Milwaukee, USA
How do these sessions work?
Many times we are in a situation and we start to feel an emotion or we have physical reactions. We might even say “They made me feel this way!” or “I’m angry because of this!” We hear these things so often that we assume them to be true – but actually it is our thoughts, assumptions and interpretations about the situation that cause the emotions, not the situation itself.
Psychotherapist Albert Ellis came up with a model to demonstrate this, the ABC model. The “Activating Event” occurs, which is filtered by our “Beliefs”, which leads to “Consequences” in the form of our emotions and actions.
We can begin to ask ourselves questions such as “What is my assumption in this situation?” or “What is it I believe that makes this a problem?” It’s not always obvious what our beliefs are, and we have to think about it. Many times they come best expressed with the words “should” or “must”, e.g. “People should be nice to me!” Then when people are not nice to us, naturally we experience frustration.
Once the beliefs are made conscious, we can begin to question them, for example with these phrases from Ellis:
- If I believe this thought to be true, will it help me remain sober, safe, and alive?
- Is this thought objectively true, and upon what evidence can I form this opinion?
- Is this thought producing feelings I want to have?
- Is this thought helping me reach a chosen goal?
- Is this thought likely to minimize conflict with others?
Once we have made the belief conscious, and examined it, we can normally see in some form that it is not realistic, or that it’s not helpful. At that point, we can begin to create a new belief that is realistic, helpful, and even one that enables us to feel joy in our lives, even in the face of adversity.
Book a package below and we can begin to explore new ways to think about the world.
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10 min episodes Monday - Thursday
1 h interview episode on Fridays
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