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Assessment is a very important part of therapy and designed to ensure safety for both client and therapist.

As a counselling psychologist I would probably use a technique called formulation, which involves an all round look at what seems to be happening in order for us to decide how to move forward. One of the decisions that has to be made is whether I am the right person to work with you at this time as it is important I work within my training and experience. If not, I belong to a local network of private practitioners and would look to refer you to someone more appropriate.

Often, the assessment process itself can be therapeutic but it can also feel a little impersonal answering questions. My advice would be to bear with it and don’t be worried about asking questions along the way. We will hopefully be building a trusting, therapeutic relationship, working out what you would like from therapy and how to get there.

How long therapy might last will be an individual consideration which might change along the way. What would usually happen is we would agree a number of sessions then review this as we are going along. I have worked with short-term therapies and longer term treatments, so am happy to work with both.

Compassion focused therapy (CFT) was developed by Clinical Psychologist Professor Paul Gilbert who observed that it was often difficult to reach those struggling with issue of shame and self-criticism using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) techniques. He noticed that these people could engage with the CBT model but not feel any better and being something I’d encountered I started investigating what might be helpful as a therapist, ultimately training to an advanced level in CFT. You can read more about Compassion Focused Therapy here.

There are several different types of psychologist trainings – Neurological, Sport & Exercise, Forensic, Health, Counselling, Educational, Clinical and Occupational. There is probably most overlap between Counselling and Clinical psychology trainings – the biggest difference being that Counselling psychology trainings include the requirement to provide a minimum of 450 hours of therapy with clients. Counselling psychologists are encouraged to understand and work with the context of what is being presented. You can read more about what the British Psychological Society say about Counselling Psychologists here.

Good supervision is crucial for client safety and supports therapists performing their often difficult work. Supervision is a safety net for therapy as it supports therapists performing their work. A supervisor should understand the type of therapy utilised in order to lend guidance,  and improve the ability of the therapist to provide value to their client. Therapists are human beings and it is important to have this safe feedback system to make sure they are practicing appropriately. Even supervisors have supervisors so in effect it’s like a mirror in a mirror, in the hope that you as the client are looked after.

Supervisors are usually experienced in the type of therapy being offered and are also bound by ethical and practice guidelines, according to the professional body they affiliate with.

I have two supervisors; one for my online work and one for my face-to-face practice.

Read more about the way I provide supervision for therapists.

NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) provides guidance for the NHS on how to treat certain health conditions and often advocates talking therapies for common mental health issues (e.g. depression and anxiety disorders).

Talking therapies are a range of psychological therapies that each have their own evidence base. Some therapists have one approach,  but quite often you will be treated with a mixture of approaches to meet your needs.

The charitable organisation Mental Health UK have a well written article about different types of therapies and what you can expect from trying them.

How talking therapies often work is in helping people work through the problems that are causing them distress and move forwards in their lives, but people come for all sorts of reasons so there is no one size fits all solution. In my experience the beauty of a talking therapy is that it gives you the freedom to talk through whatever is troubling you in a safe place, with a safe person. Lots of people who come to a talking therapy do have people in their lives that care about about them; but it can feel very difficult to talk to a loved one about a deep emotional issue for fear of upsetting them. Sometimes the idea of talking through a problem is compounded by feelings of deep shame or highly self-critical thinking, and a therapist skilled in working with these issues can often help.