James McCracken, LCSW
  • Home
  • Services
    • Couples Therapy | Marriage Counseling
    • Individual Psychotherapy
    • Supervision/Consultation >
      • EFT Supervision
      • Level Up Group for EFT Supervisors
      • EFT Supervision of Supervision
      • Clinical Social Work Supervision
    • Online Therapy
  • Areas of Practice
    • Couple and Marital Distress
    • Emotionally Focused Therapy
    • Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy
    • LGBQ-TGNC+ Affirming Therapy Services
    • Sex-Positive Services
    • Discernment Counseling
    • Affair Recovery
    • Premarital Assessment & Counseling
    • Divorce Recovery
  • About
    • About James
    • Therapy Approach
    • Philosophy of Supervision
  • Contact
  • Client Resources
    • Client Portal
    • Additional Helpful Resources

My Approach To Therapy

This sounds funny to most people I meet with, but makes sense: Essentially, I believe that therapy should be a "weird" experience (meaning, unusual in a good and vitalizing way), but the therapist shouldn't be experienced as a weirdo by the client.

I am emotionally accessible, responsive, and engaging
, meaning I won't just sit and stare at you, leaving you to feel alone in the room.  Rather, I am a present, active part of meetings, sometimes gently leading, sometimes following, and always collaborating with a focus on your goals, respect, and an accepting and affirmative attitude. I bring compassion, curiosity, and warm authenticity to the work of therapy, which helps my clients establish trust and safety, get in touch with all parts of themselves, and learn how to get their needs met. I know that our lives and our relationships can make sense, and they can come back from dark and desperate places when we are given what we need. When we receive emotional support that is validating and reflective, healing and growth naturally occur. I welcome all people equally. I want you to come as you are no matter who you are, where you come from, who you love, or how you soothe yourself.  I believe that everything we do can make sense and has a good reason for existing as it has.

In addition to the clinical training I completed at the New York University School of Social Work, and over 20 years of experience in direct practice, I have continued post-graduate training and consultation in a variety of evidence-based approaches to psychotherapy, which inform my client-centered style. In industry-lingo, I am:
  • relational - working with the real and imagined relationship between therapist and client in a nurturing way 
  • experiential - privileging moment-by-moment experience in session rather than on what's outside the room
  • emotion-focused - making sense of cues, feelings, physiological response, thoughts, and action tendencies
  • systemic - focusing on the larger context of our individual behaviors and how we internalize our environment
  • attachment-based - understanding of the importance of secure relationships with caregivers and spouses
  • self determination-informed - inclusive of autonomy and competence needs in addition to relationships
  • healing-oriented - starting from understanding the underlying psychological phenomenon to behavior as signals to natural righting tendencies held core within the body: we do everything we do for a reason that aims for health
  • dialogically-informed - tolerant of uncertainty and "figuring it out" together
  • inclusive - sex-positive, body-positive, LGBTQ+ affirming, Anti-racist, kink-friendly
I have found myself most at home with, and inspired and assisted by the structures ("maps") of two different approaches to psychotherapy: Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) and Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP), both humanistic and client-centered integrative/unifying and empirically-supported treatments for interpersonal/relationship distress and mental/emotional health problems. I have earned post graduate competency-based certification as an Emotionally Focused Therapy Practitioner and Supervisor, and continue to engage in advanced professional study, supervision, and training through formal ICEEFT approved activities, and am a "Level 3" AEDP Practitioner working towards competency-based post-graduate certification. EFT offers couples, families and individuals a scientifically-supported therapy / counseling experience that can predictably reach the core of our common emotional and relationship problems and needs, and AEDP offers individuals depth and support towards harnessing the goodness, healing and growth within us all waiting to be set in motion to be "better than fine."

In addition to EFT certification and ongoing training, and extensive AEDP training and supervision, I have also studied and integrate key insights and techniques from perspectives and interventions from other models of psychotherapy and couple/family therapy that I have engaged in a mixture of study, supervision, and training in.  These include:
  • "3rd Wave" CBTs: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Functional Analytic Psychotherapy, Compassion-Focused Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
  • The Gottman Method to Couples Therapy
  • Discernment Counseling (Certified through Doherty Institute)
  • Systemic and Integrative Sex Therapy
  • Transformational Couple Therapy (formerly AEDP for Couples)
  • Motivational Interviewing and Motivational Enhancement Therapy
  • Community Reinforcement Approach and Family Training (CRAFT)
  • Harm Reduction Psychotherapy
  • Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy
  • Solution-Focused Therapy
  • Dialogic Practice (related to "Open Dialogue")
  • Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy (IBCT)
  • Narrative Therapy
  • Other Experiential Dynamic Therapies (i.e. ISTDP, APT, DEFT)
  • Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Intimacy From the Inside Out (IFIO)
  • Somatic Experiencing
  • Sensorimotor Psychotherapy
  • Cognitive Behavioral Conjoint Therapy for PTSD (CBCT for PTSD)
  • Alcohol Couple Behavioral Therapy (ACBT)
The purpose of listing these is to let you know that I keep up with the art and science of psychotherapy, and aim to remain flexible and humble in order to stay client-centered and responsive to both therapy clients and those seeking clinical supervision and consultation.  I am interested in being of service to my clients, and not to having clients need to fit the mold of a theory of change or approach to therapy.  I am a non-dogmatic therapist.  Put another way, I don't confuse maps (although helpful) with the actual territory of people's lived experiences.

​I am endlessly interested in a wide variety of evidence-supported theories about human life, love, health and approaches to healing and growth. I see personal and professional development as an ongoing process and an ethical imperative as a therapist and a Clinical Social Worker. My clients can be assured I will always strive to provide the best possible therapy experience that I can. I am an inclusive and culturally-responsive clinical social work practitioner who stays engaged in my own personal work around my own biases and impacts. Whether in couple therapy, marital therapy, family therapy, individual psychotherapy or supervision/consultation, I will take the needs of you, your identity and context, and your relationships seriously, and always aim to treat you with respect.

To learn more about EFT, please go to ​http://www.iceeft.com/index.php/about-us/what-is-eft or visit my page on Emotionally Focused Therapy. To learn more about AEDP, please go to http://www.aedpinsitute.org or visit my page on Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy
Call 919-267-1661 or fill out the contact form below for a brief consult or to set up an appointment.
​
Let's work together to get your needs met.

    Contact Me Today @ North Carolina Therapy Professionals

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James McCracken, LCSW Durham Couples Therapy
James McCracken is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker,  Certified Emotionally Focused Therapy Practitioner and Supervisor, and Certified Discernment Counselor dedicated to improving the mental health and emotional well being of North Carolina residents.  He provides couple therapy, marriage counseling, premarital counseling, sex therapy, Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), Discernment Counseling, divorce counseling, Conscious Uncoupling, co-parenting counseling, family therapy, Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), individual psychotherapy, grief & loss counseling, LCSW Supervision, and EFT supervision services through North Carolina Therapy Professionals, PLLC (Managing Member and Clinical Director), in his Durham, NC office and online.  His office is conveniently located to Carrboro, Chapel Hill, Raleigh, Hillsborough, Morrisville, Apex, and Cary for in-office visits, and is available online for all residents of and visitors to North Carolina. ​If you would like to learn more about this practice directly, receive a free brief consult, or set up an appointment, please call
919-267-1661 or visit https://www.nctherapists.com/

Racial Equality
We welcome and celebrate diversity in this practice and stand against oppression and social injustice including discrimination based on any aspect of identity including: national origin, religion, racism and white supremacy, patriarchy & sexism, ageism, gender conformism & transphobia, and heteronormativity & homophobia.  We work with adolescent and adult clients from diverse racial, ethnic, cultural, socioeconomic and religious backgrounds, and are allied and affirmative providers to LGBQ-TGNC+ persons, and are sex-positive, body-positive, and kink-friendly providers.
James A McCracken is listed at AllTherapist.com
verified by Psychology Today
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LGBTQIA affirmative
North Carolina Therapy Professionals, PLLC.  All Rights Reserved
3326 Durham Chapel Hill Blvd., B-130, Durham, NC 27707

https://www.nctherapists.com/ | 919-267-1661
  • Home
  • Services
    • Couples Therapy | Marriage Counseling
    • Individual Psychotherapy
    • Supervision/Consultation >
      • EFT Supervision
      • Level Up Group for EFT Supervisors
      • EFT Supervision of Supervision
      • Clinical Social Work Supervision
    • Online Therapy
  • Areas of Practice
    • Couple and Marital Distress
    • Emotionally Focused Therapy
    • Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy
    • LGBQ-TGNC+ Affirming Therapy Services
    • Sex-Positive Services
    • Discernment Counseling
    • Affair Recovery
    • Premarital Assessment & Counseling
    • Divorce Recovery
  • About
    • About James
    • Therapy Approach
    • Philosophy of Supervision
  • Contact
  • Client Resources
    • Client Portal
    • Additional Helpful Resources