I am a integrative counsellor which means I use a combined approach to psychotherapy that brings together different elements of specific therapies. The three main approaches to my counselling is Cognitive Behavioural therapy, Compassion Focused therapy and Solution Focused therapy.

 

 

 

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

 

CBT focuses on challenging and changing unhelpful cognitive distortions, and behaviours and improving emotional regulation. CBT can help you manage your problems by changing the way you think and behave. CBT is based on a concept that your thoughts, feelings, physical sensations and actions are interconnected, and that your negative thoughts can trap you in a vicious cycle. CBT is about challenging those thoughts and reconstructing your thought patterns. CBT has shown to effective treating anxiety, depression and many other mental health disorders.

CBT is a psychotherapy effective in over 2,000 research studies. It was most commonly used to treat depression, and has developed further, treating more mental health disorders such as generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder. The main aspect to the theory is “what you think and do, affects the way you feel”. CBT is present focused; working with your thoughts and feelings in the here and now.  

The therapist’s role is to help you notice any distorted patterns of thinking or behaviours which might be keeping your problems going. The therapist’s role is to aid the client in finding effective strategies to manage and decrease the symptoms of the disorder and will use interventions to aid the client in the process.

 

 

Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT)

 

Like CBT, it works on a cognitive level working with our negative thoughts or inner critic as it is called within CFT. CFT has a similar approach but encourages cognitive reconstructing from a compassionate perspective. The main approach of CFT is to train the mind to help people develop inner warmth and learn to self-sooth via self-compassion. CFT aims to promote mental and emotional healing by encouraging people to be compassionate towards themselves.

CFT helps to develop compassionate motivation, sensitivity, and distress tolerance using training and guided exercises designed to help individuals build a more compassionate relationship with themselves. CFT is a psychotherapy designed to help those who suffer from high levels of self-criticism and shame. It helps you to learn to be kinder towards yourself and to feel safe in a world that can feel overwhelming sometimes.

The therapist's role is to use specific techniques and exercises, as well as mindfulness techniques that will help you develop the skills you need to feel compassionate towards yourself. CFT aims to give you a more positive perspective on life, changing the way you see yourself and the world around you.

 

 

Solution Focused Therapy (SFT)

 

SFT is a different approach to psychotherapy, unlike others, SFT is based on solution building rather than problem solving. SFT is present focused and works on finding solutions for your problems in the here and now. The main concepts to SFT is, change is both constant and certain and clients must want to change. SFT is goal orientated and the therapist will work with the client focusing on goals for the future. The therapist will focus on the clients strengths to help them move forward. SFT works by helping individuals overcome problems using solution building concepts. SFT has been found to help adults, young people and children. It works well with people who want to embrace change and move forward in life.