Our Therapies

CBT is based on the concept that your thoughts, feelings, physical sensations and actions are interconnected, and that negative thoughts and feelings can trap you in a vicious cycle. CBT aims to help you deal with overwhelming problems in a more positive way by breaking them down into smaller parts. You’re shown how to change these negative patterns to improve the way you feel. Unlike some other talking treatments, CBT deals with your current problems, rather than focusing on issues from your past. It looks for practical ways to improve your state of mind on a daily basis 

Later developments in CBT focus more on the relationship to thought and emotion than on the content of the thoughts. These strands of CBT emphasise mindfulness, emotions, acceptance, values, goals, and meta‐cognition. 

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) particularly recommends CBT for depression and anxiety. There are also formal adaptations of CBT to treat mental health problems, such as phobias, PTSD and OCD.

"Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) gets its name from one of its core messages: accept what is out of your personal control and commit to action that improves and enriches your life.

The aim of ACT is to maximise human potential for a rich, full and meaningful life.

ACT (which is pronounced as the word ‘act’, not as the initials ‘A.C.T.’) does this by helping you to:

a) develop psychological skills to deal more effectively with difficult thoughts and feelings, to reduce their impact and influence over you;

b) clarify your values (your heart’s deepest desires for how you want to behave as a human being; how you want to treat yourself, others and the world around you). You then use these values to guide, inspire and motivate yourself to take action: to do what matters, face your fears, live meaningfully, and change your life for the better;

c) focus your attention on what is important and engage fully in whatever you are doing."

(Russ Harris)

Mindfulness is an approach that helps people to manage their thoughts and feelings and mental health. When we learn and practice mindfulness, our thoughts tune into what we're sensing in the present moment rather than rehashing the past or imagining the future. It is a skill that takes time to learn and practice but can lead to:

· Greater self-awareness

· feeling calmer and less stressed

· Having more choice how to respond to difficult thoughts and feelings

· Increased self-compassion

It is becoming widely used in a range of contexts. It is recommended by NICE as a preventative practice for people with experience of recurrent depression.