Counseling utilizes various evidence-based approaches. Whether supporting clients through depression, anxiety or trauma, the techniques employed can make a profound difference in your clients’ outcomes. Traditional therapeutic models have long been foundational in clinical practice, used in various settings from professional private practice to mental health clinics, hospitals, telehealth and schools. These approaches include:
CBT is a structured, goal-oriented approach that helps clients identify and reframe negative thought patterns. It is grounded in the principle that thoughts, emotions and behaviors are deeply interconnected — by shifting how someone 
thinks, we can influence how they feel and act. Because of its clarity and effectiveness, CBT is widely used in school counseling, clinical settings, and even during brief interventions.
Dr. Galicia says, “This approach is common because it’s natural.” She further explains, “You’re trying to change the cognition to change the behavior.” This intuitive process resonates with many clients, especially young people, who benefit from learning how to challenge automatic negative thoughts and replace them with more constructive ones. CBT techniques often include journaling, role-playing, and thought-tracking exercises that help clients build self-awareness and foster resilience.
DBT is a structured and evidence-based approach initially developed to treat individuals with borderline personality disorder. However, it is now widely used to address a variety of emotional and behavioral challenges, including trauma, anxiety and self-harm. DBT helps clients regulate intense emotions, enhance interpersonal relationships and develop healthier coping strategies.
This therapeutic model combines cognitive-behavioral techniques with mindfulness practices. According to Dr. Galica, “Dialectic [DBT] talks about the words you say to yourself to help you try to change the behavior.” Dr. Galica calls DBT the sister to CBT and is often used together because “sometimes you need to hear the way you talk to yourself to change the cognition in your brain, to change the behavior.”
Narrative therapy is a collaborative approach that empowers individuals to see themselves as the authors of their own lives. It helps clients reframe their personal stories to reveal strength, resilience and possibilities while separating the individual from the problem.
Using storytelling as a therapeutic tool, the counselor and client work together to externalize the issue, explore dominant narratives, and create alternative stories that align with the client’s values and aspirations. Dr. Galica explains this as letting your clients “tell the story.” She advises her clients to ensure they “navigate that story to keep it on the rails.”
Dr. Galica sees artificial intelligence continuing to play a role in counseling. For instance, counselors are directing sessions, but AI opens the door to assist them with methods such as play therapy. AI can allow counselors to help their clients develop characters with the technology.
One technique, in particular — the “empty chair” — can be used with these characters in a modern way. The traditional method was to have a client speak to the person they conflict with, pretending they are in the empty chair. Dr. Galica discusses, “I can have AI characters replicate that to make them feel more comfortable than speaking to an empty chair.”
She also posits using AI to create “environments where you are immersive as the avatar to get into the trauma.” This can help clients who may have difficulty going through the process of opening up, because they are not actively in the environment and the trauma, but merely witnessing it.
As Dr. Galica emphasizes, the most effective counselors remain flexible and curious and draw from a broad spectrum of approaches to tailor their practice to each client. Counselors use these techniques to foster healing, growth and resilience.
