Have you thought abut DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy)? Its creator, Dr. Marsha Linehan, felt that CBT could cause people to feel invalidated because of all the emphasis on faulty cognition. So she incorporated more "acceptance of how things are" in her model which is very gentle. Dialectical means holding two opposing thoughts. In DBT that would be accepting how things are at the moment but also realizing if one wants to meet one's goals than one must be open to change. There is a forum here on DBT with a lot of people who graduated from DBT training programs, and they could tell you more. Officially, DBT is considered a cognitive therapy, so it is basically CBT without as much of the invalidating stuff. Good luck.