CBT is a highly effective therapy backed by strong evidence-based research. It is the NICE (National Institute of Clinical Excellence) recommended treatment therapy for Anxiety Disorders, Depression and PTSD amongst other conditions.

CBT combines cognitive therapy (examining the things you think) and behaviour therapy (examining the things you do). Working together with your therapist, you will find new ways to understand what is keeping the problems going and develop skills to create positive change. This process might involve experimenting and trying new things in between your sessions.

The skills you develop through CBT will enable you to become your own therapist in the future. CBT typically lasts between for 6 to 20 sessions of around 50 minutes each. Sessions occur either weekly or fortnightly.

For further information about cognitive behavioural therapy please see:

We would begin with a free fifteen-minute telephone consultation, to see whether CBT is the right therapy for you.

The first couple of sessions will involve me carrying out an assessment, where we will discuss your problems in detail. Together we will produce a shared formulation for you to be able to take away with you. This shared formulation is like a map that gives you an understanding of what you’re experiencing and how your problems might be persisting, by looking at how your past experiences relate to your current beliefs, thoughts, emotions and behaviours. This process in itself can be very powerful in enabling a person to see why and how their problems have developed and keep going.

Following the assessment sessions, we would use the shared formulation to agree treatment so that you are fully aware of what your therapy will involve before starting. After every 6 sessions we would also review your progress and agree if further sessions are required.

Coming to the end of therapy we would review your therapy goals to ensure you had achieved what you wanted from therapy and devise a relapse/recovery plan that you would take away with you. This personalised plan would be a written blueprint of everything you have learnt, and the skills gained so that you could implement them again in the future if you needed to.

As CBT is a collaborative therapy, at any point during your sessions you can raise any concerns or worries, and I will regularly be asking for feedback to ensure the therapy sessions are useful to you.