You don’t need to be in crisis or have a diagnosed mental illness to have psychotherapy. It can help you with emotional or mental health problems, including:

• anxiety

• feeling like you can’t cope

• problems dealing with stress or recovering from stressful situations

• lack of confidence or extreme shyness

• coping with the effects of abuse

• feelings of depression, sadness, grief or emptiness

• extreme mood swings

• difficulty making or sustaining relationships, or repeatedly becoming involved in unsatisfying or destructive relationships

• sexual problems

• difficulties coming to terms with losses such as bereavement, divorce or unemployment

• eating disorders

• self-harm

• obsessive behaviour

• panic attacks and phobias.

 

How will psychotherapy help me?

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Psychotherapy can be a powerful, life-changing experience which can help you to improve your mental health, overcome social or emotional challenges, and fulfil your potential. A trained psychotherapist can support you to:

• express your feelings and process them in a safe and supportive relationship

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• gain deeper insight into the issues you face

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• talk about things in a confidential environment that you might not feel be able to discuss with anyone else

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• find better ways to cope with feelings and fears

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• change the way you think and behave to improve your mental and emotional wellbeing

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• improve relationships in your life, including with yourself

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• make sense of any clinical diagnoses you have had by understanding what has happened to you

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• heal from trauma

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• learn to communicate better and tolerate differences in yourself and others.

 

What happens in a psychotherapy session?

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The idea is for you to have the opportunity to explore the issue or concern you want to work on with your therapist. Different therapists will support you to do this in different ways. Some will support you to talk generally about your feelings, behaviours and thoughts and others will have specific exercises to do this. They won’t tell you what to do but will listen and may ask questions which can help you to see things in a new light.

This might feel difficult to begin with. But your therapist is there to support you to open up and guide the process. Together, you’ll look at the relationships with people in your life, as well as the one you have with each other and with yourself. You might find yourself crying, getting upset or angry. This can feel unsettling and intense but your therapist is trained to help you process and cope with the emotions that come up.

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 *Extract from the UKCP- What is psychotherapy? | UKCP

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Sessions are £55 per 60 minutes.