What will my sessions be like?
Assessment
The first appointment will be an assessment. During the assessment I will ask you questions to help me understand the main problems you are experiencing and to determine if CBT could help you.
I will ask you to describe your difficulties and how they are impacting on your life. I will also ask you about what triggered the problems and if there have been any events in your life which you think might have contributed to how you are feeling now.
It will help to know about any other treatments or therapies you have tried, and what you hope to achieve.
Therapy phases
CBT Therapy has a clear start, middle and end. Therapy begins with assessment. After the assessment we have the ‘treatment’ phase. This is when we will work together to address your problems and achieve your goals. The final phase is when we prepare for ending and make sure you have a plan for the future.
Structure of appointments
CBT appointments are quite structured. In all your appointments (after the assessment), we will start by agreeing what would be useful to do in the session. We typically begin by reviewing your wellbeing and any tasks you have been working on and end by planning for the following week. The main focus of the session will depend on the problems you want to address.
Therapy homework
In CBT we actively encourage people to do “homework” (which I know can make people shiver!). Examples of homework are reading, diaries and exercises to do between sessions. Doing these tasks can sometimes be hard, but they can really help to improve symptoms. With this in mind, I am happy to discuss any suggested tasks and adapt them when possible.
Remote Therapy
We usually recommend that your first appointment is face-to-face. However you may find it more convenient to have some of your appointments via Teams.
Remote Therapy
Remote CBT works well for most mental health problems. If you decide to try remote therapy appointments, please ensure that you have a safe, quiet and private space in which to have the appointment. We will treat this like any face-to-face appointment so it is important that we both ensure that there are no interruptions. Although it can be tempting when sitting at home, it is also important not to multi-task during the appointment. Remote video appointments can be arranged via Teams.
Teams
You don’t need to set up a Microsoft account to join a meeting as a participant, however you may find it useful. Here is a link to set up Teams: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/free
Teams meeting content is encrypted. It is also possible to enable end-to-end encryption for additional security. For more information about Team’s encryption, please see this link: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/teams-security-guide#media-encryption
Telephone Therapy
Telephone therapy is suitable for some but not all mental health problems. Please get in touch using the contact form if you would like to discuss this option.