New to Therapy
Therapy provides a safe and confidential space for you to speak with a trained and qualified professional about your mental health issues or concerns. Therapy sessions involve having individual structured sessions with a Therapist with the goal of improving your Mental Health and wellbeing. Your therapist can help resolve, lifestyle issues, problematic behaviours, unhelpful beliefs or unwanted feelings which are taking a toll of your health and daily functioning.
Deciding to start therapy is a big step in the right direction, providing you find the right therapist suited to your specific needs. Many people seek therapy for completely different reasons, they have noticed a change in their mental health, loved ones have encouraged them to seek help, their Gp has recommended therapy, being recently diagnosed. Whichever your reason maybe for seeking therapy we are here to help you every step of the way, whether you are new to therapy, have previous experience in therapy we can support you with finding the right support and care for your mental health with the listed professionals on our platform.
Private Therapy
Private Counselling or Psychotherapy is therapy treatment with a qualified professional that you pay for, the cost of private therapy varies from each professional with sessions costing anywhere between £40 - £70 plus. Many private therapist offer sliding scales or discounted sessions for students or people on low income, some accept private or healthcare enquires, this is a conversation to have with your chosen therapist.
Our listing of private therapist includes, Psychotherapist, Psychologist and Counsellors all based in the United Kingdom. When considering a therapist each professional has a profile for you to get to know they and how they practice. Our listed professionals are registered with a professional organisation, which has been accredited by the Professional Standards Authority.
Depending on your needs and what you are looking for in a therapist, private therapy can be offered in different ways;
- In-person
- Online
- Telephone
- In a group
When should I see a Therapist?
Knowing when to see therapist is important, the sooner you seek help the better things will be for your health. Below are some helpful pointers on when you should consider seeing a therapist;
- You want to improve how you think, feel and behave but don’t know where to start
- You are struggling with your mood / emotions
- Your struggling with your physical health or suffering with physical health conditions
- You no longer enjoy hobbies/ interred you used to
- Your becoming increasingly withdrawn and isolating yourself from others
- Your grieving for a loved one
- Sleep issues / difficulties
- Your not performing well at work / day to day activities
- Your using a substance to cope
Personalised Matching service
Cultural Competence in Therapy
Cultural competence is the ability to understand, communicate and effectively interact with people across all cultures. A cultural competent Therapist can provide therapy to help you overcome cultural barriers the more the Therapist knows about their clients culture, the more likely the client will feel comfortable and understood. For some clients seeking therapy, cultural issues may also appear to play in a patients presenting problems. Cultural competence in a therapy setting is your Therapist being self-aware and understanding your cultural lens ,these lens allow your Therapist to develop a healthy attitude towards cultural differences, practices and world views, whilst being able to comprehend, communicate and effectively interact with people across all cultures.
Below are some benefits of having a Therapist who is culturally competent:
- Aware of cultural learned assumptions by themselves and their client
- Being able to understand relevant facts and information about a client’s culture.
- Aware of cultural complexity of their own cultural identities and able to hear the voices of their culturally different clients.
- Able to ask meaningful sensitive questions, in a sensitive and appropriate manor.
- Having an understanding of their clients world view an how this can affect their mental health and wellbeing.
The Process of Therapy
Everyones journey in therapy is different and depending on the severity of your issues or mental health condition it may take a while for you to feel better and see the results, during your sessions your mood and emotions may fluctuate. No therapist is the same and all therapist have their unique way of how they structure there sessions with each client. How your session will be structured can depend on different areas such as, the type of therapy treatment you are having, who theory is for, the issue you are struggling with and whether you want short term or long term therapy. Your first session with your therapist will not be different from future visits, below we have created a guideline to help you get a better understanding of this process and what your sessions may look like;
Introductory Session
Most therapist offer a introductory session also known as a consultation allowing clients to discuss their needs and expectations when starting therapy. After this session there is no obligation to start therapy and you are allowed to have a moment to think about your decision. The below tabs can help you get a understand the different topics which can be covered during your introductory session;
Your Therapist will introduce themselves and tell you bit about their practise, what they specialise in and how they help their clients with similar issues, these introductions will help build the therapeutic relationship between you and your therapist, helping you both in getting to know each other and break the ice. This is also a opportunity for you to introduce yourself and who you are, this will help with making you feel comfortable before discussing what brought you to therapy.
Your Therapist will also want to know what brought you to therapy, whether you’ve had therapy is this past and if so how this way, they will also want to establish what issue you are struggling with. The aim of identifying your needs is to help the therapist understand how they are going help you and what you also want from therapy. Its important to remember that therapy is collaborative and you and your therapist work together to best support your needs in therapy
For your Therapist to get a greater understanding of your presenting issues they will ask you a range of questions, which will be different for all clients, below are some examples of the questions your Therapist may ask you in the first session;
- What has brought you to Therapy?
- Have you ever had Therapy before?
- How long have you been experiencing your current mental health problems?
- How does your problem make you feel?
- How have you been coping with the problem which brought you to therapy?
- Tell me a time about when you were not experiencing these difficulties?
During this session your therapist will also give you the space to ask them questions this is also a space for you them questions, to help you identify if they are the person who can help you and whether you like their style of working.
No session is the same and each person requires different support from their therapist…Sessions with your therapist will last no longer than 60 mins, the frequency of your session can either be weekly or fortnightly this is something that you can discuss with your therapist in session.
In most cases a therapist is required to keep information discussed during therapy private. However there are ethical principles and code of conducts, whereby confidential information can be discussed with the permission of the individual or as permitted by the law. The only case when this will be required is if you are imminent risk to yourself or another person. In this case the information discussed must be divulged to a person capable of taking action to reduce the threat or harm of risk.
What will my ongoing sessions be like?
Therapy sessions are different for each individual and private therapist work with tailoring sessions to their client as opposed to a one size fits all approach, one to one session typically last up to 60 minutes per session but the is different for each client. Due to COVID-19 and the restrictions on face to face contact your sessions may only be online, although generally sessions can take place in, a private meeting room owned or rented by your Therapist. or a healthcare centre.
Therapy sessional collaborative, which means you and your therapist work together in helping you get better throughout your time in therapy. Each time you see your therapist you may explore your current issues which brought you to therapy and as sessions progress your therapist will work with you providing tools and techniques to help support you throughout your recovery.
What if I want to see another Therapist
Building relationships take time with everyone and this is a. process which we all go through, seeing a therapist and talking about your concerns may sometimes feel overwhelming and you may feel vulnerable, its important that your therapist makes you feel comfortable in sessions and you feel able to express yourself and heard. if you are finding the relationship difficult with your therapist, it is ok to tell them how you feel as they know that these things can be expected.