The psychologist will ask you about your current difficulties and any significant life events, relationships or past experiences that may be relevant to the present.

Through this discussion, the psychologist will work with you to develop an understanding of why you feel the way you do and what may be contributing to your difficulties. This also allows you to express any hopes that you have for therapy and inform a treatment plan that best suits your needs. This may involve signposting you to alternative sources of support if deemed appropriate.

CBT focuses on helping individuals understand how their emotions, physical sensations, thoughts and feelings interact in ways that may be maintaining their difficulties. In this therapeutic approach, clients work together with their therapist to consider ways in which behavioural changes or alternative ways of thinking may alleviate your difficulties. 
CBT offers an effective intervention for individuals suffering from anxiety disorders, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder and eating disorders. CBT can also help treat sleep difficulties as well as pain management.

ACT is a third-wave cognitive behavioural therapy that supports clients to accept what is out of their control and commit to action that enriches their lives. ACT incorporates mindfulness in order to build skills in observing and noticing your physical experiences and thought processes. Through building these skills, ACT supports individuals to make choices and decisions that are in keeping with their values. It supports individuals to commit to living a meaningful life whilst feeling better able to manage the pain and distress that is part of life. ACT has a good evidence base and is effective in the treatment for a number of difficulties including depression, anxiety and chronic pain.

CFT is a third wave cognitive behavioural therapy that aims to support emotional wellbeing by encouraging individuals to harbour compassion towards themselves and to others. CFT supports clients struggling with shame and self-criticism, which are feelings often associated with a number of mental and physical health conditions. In this therapeutic approach, a therapist will support you to build awareness of what is contributing to your difficulties and build skills in compassion and self-compassion. There is a good evidence base that engaging in skills that cultivate compassion can help regulate mood and promote feelings of safety and self-acceptance.

We all have stories and narratives that we carry with us based on where we have come from, the people and communities around us, and the societies we are part of. Narrative therapy aims to bring these stories to light, create distance between the person and 'the problem', and consider other stories that may be present and overlooked. An important part of narrative therapy is drawing on what is most valued or most important to the person.

Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an evidence based, structured therapy that helps people process and recover from distressing experiences, such as trauma, PTSD, anxiety, or phobias. It uses guided eye movements, or other forms of what we call bilateral stimulation, to help the brain reprocess difficult memories, reducing their emotional impact and allowing you to move forward with greater ease.

As noted above, CBT is a structured, evidenced based therapy approach. Trauma-focused CBT (TF-CBT) is adapted specifically to support individuals recovering from traumatic experiences. It helps you understand how trauma can affect your thoughts, feelings, and behaviours, and teaches practical strategies to reduce distress, manage triggers, and regain a sense of safety and control in your life.