Therapy for a variety of issues
|
Psychological therapy is a goal-focussed and active process where you work with your therapist to make the changes you need to reach your goals. These changes are often about how you relate to others and to yourself. In the case of post trauma symptoms it can be about finding how to feel safe again or how to stop blaming yourself.
Therapy sessions are usually offered weekly, lasting either 50 or 90 minutes long (depending upon the type of therapy used), but can be intensive for 2-3 hour sessions when required. Therapy usually involves the following stages:
Initial telephone/Zoom contact – usually around 15 minutes to briefly outline the issue you would like to work on and to clarify any queries you may have. This will help you to decide if you would like to work with me, or to pursue therapy with a different therapist as therapist fit is really important when working on painful experiences. It will also give me an opportunity to determine whether I think I may be the best person to help you. If we decide to proceed, we can then arrange an appointment and you will be given some questionnaires to complete prior to the assessment
Assessment – discussion of what brought you to seek therapy, what you hope to change, current ways of managing the issue and how you are looking after yourself. We will also discuss your upbringing and any relevant recurrence of themes from your early experiences. We will discuss your responses to the questionnaires. If it appears that I am not best placed to help you I will be honest about this and signpost where possible.
Formulation – we will collaboratively develop an understanding of what is happening for you and how it came to be that way. Formulation offers a route map for intervention.
Evidence base – I will then consider the evidence base for the difficulties you are experiencing as well as my own specialised training.
Intervention – this is the active phase of therapy, with most models of therapy I offer this involves Monitoring, keeping a diary or log; thinking through with your therapist what changes you can try; reviewing how the change went and whether to continue or revise this.
Ending - planning and preparing to maintain the changes you have made and working through how to do this without regular meetings with a therapist.
Irrespective of what approach to therapy we are using, I will be open and honest throughout our work about the process of therapy, what I am doing and why.
Feedback - will be obtained regularly throughout therapy. Honest feedback is welcomed in order to ensure that we are working together in the best way possible. Adjustments will be made in line with the feedback where this is feasible.
Well being monitoring - to make sure that we are on the right track. It is important to note that people often feel worse before they feel better in therapy. As we turn to face some of the things that have been avoided because they are too painful to think about or to become aware of our own influence in some of the difficulties, this can feel very uncomfortable.
Outcome measures – towards the end of therapy, you will be asked to complete the questionnaires again that you completed prior to commencing. Your responses to the questionnaires will be compared to get a sense of the changes you have made. This is done to ensure that the interventions provided help you to make a lasting difference to you. I can provide a graph comparing scores before and after therapy as this helps some people to see how much their hard work has paid off.
I am trained in several models of therapy and now primarily use Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT) and Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR), I have recently been trained in Internal Family Systems (IFS) and am incorporating this into my work now.
Therapy sessions are usually offered weekly, lasting either 50 or 90 minutes long (depending upon the type of therapy used), but can be intensive for 2-3 hour sessions when required. Therapy usually involves the following stages:
Initial telephone/Zoom contact – usually around 15 minutes to briefly outline the issue you would like to work on and to clarify any queries you may have. This will help you to decide if you would like to work with me, or to pursue therapy with a different therapist as therapist fit is really important when working on painful experiences. It will also give me an opportunity to determine whether I think I may be the best person to help you. If we decide to proceed, we can then arrange an appointment and you will be given some questionnaires to complete prior to the assessment
Assessment – discussion of what brought you to seek therapy, what you hope to change, current ways of managing the issue and how you are looking after yourself. We will also discuss your upbringing and any relevant recurrence of themes from your early experiences. We will discuss your responses to the questionnaires. If it appears that I am not best placed to help you I will be honest about this and signpost where possible.
Formulation – we will collaboratively develop an understanding of what is happening for you and how it came to be that way. Formulation offers a route map for intervention.
Evidence base – I will then consider the evidence base for the difficulties you are experiencing as well as my own specialised training.
Intervention – this is the active phase of therapy, with most models of therapy I offer this involves Monitoring, keeping a diary or log; thinking through with your therapist what changes you can try; reviewing how the change went and whether to continue or revise this.
Ending - planning and preparing to maintain the changes you have made and working through how to do this without regular meetings with a therapist.
Irrespective of what approach to therapy we are using, I will be open and honest throughout our work about the process of therapy, what I am doing and why.
Feedback - will be obtained regularly throughout therapy. Honest feedback is welcomed in order to ensure that we are working together in the best way possible. Adjustments will be made in line with the feedback where this is feasible.
Well being monitoring - to make sure that we are on the right track. It is important to note that people often feel worse before they feel better in therapy. As we turn to face some of the things that have been avoided because they are too painful to think about or to become aware of our own influence in some of the difficulties, this can feel very uncomfortable.
Outcome measures – towards the end of therapy, you will be asked to complete the questionnaires again that you completed prior to commencing. Your responses to the questionnaires will be compared to get a sense of the changes you have made. This is done to ensure that the interventions provided help you to make a lasting difference to you. I can provide a graph comparing scores before and after therapy as this helps some people to see how much their hard work has paid off.
I am trained in several models of therapy and now primarily use Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT) and Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR), I have recently been trained in Internal Family Systems (IFS) and am incorporating this into my work now.
