CBT is a Collaborative treatment, which involves you learning skills in sessions to better manage your wellbeing. There is an expectation that you will find some time between our sessions to put these skills into practice. With this in mind I would encourage you to think about whether this is the ‘right time’ for you to engage. I am happy to discuss this with you if you are unsure if CBT is the right treatment for you at this moment in time. Please contact me to discuss.
CBT is an evidence-based, NICE guidelines recommended treatment for most common mental health problems, where other therapies may not have such a strong evidence base.
In therapies, such as counselling for example, they may take a more ‘person- centred approach’ allowing session to be more fluid and the focus can adapt and change frequently, depending on what the person brings to each session. CBT certainly puts you at the front and centre of the work we will do together, but we use a more goal-focused approach to help keep session focused on a few really clear goals.
Unlike many other talking therapies which can often be more open-ended, CBT is a time-limited approach, generally offering 6-12 sessions (maximum of 20) to focus on specific goals. CBT is not for everyone but it can make significant changes for people in a relatively short space of time.
Typically, CBT last for around 6-12 sessions, but can be up to 20 sessions if needed. However, I would also say that the therapy practice would be ongoing, in that we would recommend that you continue to use the skills learnt to manager your wellbeing, independently, in the future.
Collaboratively, we will set clear SMART goals at the start of treatment, which we review together routinely throughout treatment to consider your progress. We may also use a range of standardised questionnaire which can help to monitor the severity of your symptoms. Sometimes change is not obvious, as it can be subtle and gradual, so regular reviews allow an opportunity to reflect on the progress you have made and how you will continue to build on that going forward.
I offer treatment for common mental health problems, these include, but are not limited to: Low mood, low self-esteem, worry, stress, health anxiety, social anxiety, phobias, OCD, hair pulling (trichotillomania) and skin picking, sleep issues, perfectionism, self-doubt, procrastination, worry, PTSD (single incident), vomit phobia, self-critical thinking, specific phobias (spiders, driving etc).