We train the next generation of clinicians in Truth-Centered Agreement Therapy — and bring that work to the people who need it.
Not a technique. Not a medication. A clinician who has internalized a coherent, truth-based way of working with human beings. CICT forms those clinicians — and the framework spreads through every clinician trained, every client served, every program launched.
A three-tier certification in TCAT — from foundations to advanced specialist, with supervision and training pathways.
See the tiersIndividual, couples, and group programs grounded in the TCAT method, delivered by certified clinicians.
Explore programsTCAT is an integrative psychotherapy framework developed by Dr. Ina Creekbaum. It rests on three foundations, unified by a single organizing principle: truth.
Thoughts, emotions, and behavior are linked; examining distorted cognition changes how we feel and act.
Beliefs are tested against reason and evidence — not accepted because they are familiar. Unconditional self-acceptance keeps the work from chasing approval.
People live by agreements, often inherited and unexamined. Those agreements can be surfaced, questioned, and consciously re-chosen.
Functional truth is what is accurate, evidence-supported, and present-grounded. The clinical question is always whether the agreement a client lives by is true in this practical sense — and whether it still serves them.
Licensed Psychologist (PSY30705) · Qualified Medical Evaluator · Founder & Director
Dr. Ina J. Creekbaum is a licensed psychologist and the founder and director of the Creekbaum Institute for Clinical Transformation. She is the creator of Truth-Centered Agreement Therapy (TCAT®) — the integrative framework at the heart of the Institute's training, blending evidence-based CBT and REBT with a structure grounded in honesty, accountability, and measurable change.
A clinician and educator, Dr. Creekbaum founded Illuminating Psychological Services, an established group practice and training site developing the next generation of clinicians — of which CICT is the training and certification arm. As a Qualified Medical Evaluator, she pairs clinical depth with diagnostic precision and objectivity.
Her conviction is straightforward: lasting change begins with truth — and with clinicians formed to support it at every step.
Recovery begins with truth.
The principle behind TCAT®
Areas of focus: adult mental health · substance use & co-occurring disorders · trauma · structured outpatient care
A Framework for Getting Back to What Is Real
So much of what we struggle with isn't a flaw — it's a quiet agreement we made long ago and never questioned. In her book, Dr. Ina Creekbaum, Ed.D., lays out the complete TCAT framework: how to find the agreements running beneath the surface, test them against what's actually true, and rebuild your life on something solid. Clear enough for any reader, rigorous enough to certify clinicians.
Recognize the inherited agreements quietly driving anxiety, burnout, and stuck relationships.
The Four Queries — a clear, repeatable tool for moving from a painful belief to what is true.
A daily practice that turns insight into durable, lived change — not just a good session.
What you agreed to in a moment of pain is not a verdict. It is a document — and documents can be redrawn.
A three-tier credential that takes you from foundational knowledge to advanced mastery — and the ability to supervise and train others. Certification is a credential in a clinical method; at the licensed tiers it presumes and requires active, independent licensure.
Scholarships available at every tier. Continuing-education credit is planned as the Institute completes CE-provider approval.
So much of what we struggle with isn't a flaw — it's an agreement we entered into long ago, for reasons that made sense at the time, now running below awareness. TCAT helps you surface those agreements, test them against what's actually true, and live from something more solid.
What you agreed to in a moment of pain is not a verdict. It is a document — and documents can be redrawn.
A guided path through your governing agreements toward truth-congruent living.
For partners to surface and renegotiate the agreements between them.
A group program to rewrite an inherited story.
A focused, immersive intensive for couples.
Enrolling in certification or seeking care as a client? Send a note and we'll follow up. Enrollment follows four steps: application, licensure verification where required, tuition, and onboarding. Scholarships are available — just ask. You can also email us directly at info@illuminatingpsychologicalservices.com.