What Will My Treatment Be Like?

Your first appointment will be an assessment. During this appointment your therapist will ask you to give some information about the difficulties you would like help with and may ask you to complete some measures of mood. You can ask any questions you may have about therapy, and at the end of the assessment you and the therapist can discuss whether CBT will be helpful for you, and decide whether to proceed. Your therapist may ask you for your GP or Psychiatrist details.

You will then meet, usually weekly, for regular appointments. The number of CBT sessions varies depending on the nature and magnitude of your difficulties – the standard course consists of 12, however it can be as few as 4 or 5. Each session last for 50 minutes. Your therapist will teach you about CBT, and you and your therapist will use the CBT model to understand your difficulties. Your therapist will teach you tools for managing your problem. It will be expected that you will complete “homework” inbetween sessions, and then feed back at the beginning of your next session. Homework may be reading, monitoring and recording symptoms or thoughts, and putting tools into practise to see if they are helpful.

Inbetween sessions you will be able to contact your therapist to arrange and change appointments. It would also be appropriate to contact your therapist if you feel your symptoms have significantly worsened, as you may need to make an emergency appointment. Contact will be in working hours of 9-5 Mon-Fri. In case of emergency please contact your GP or attend casualty.