An update on my trainings and approach:
I attend trainings and CPDs every year to keep up to date and to be able to flexibly help people for whom “classic” CBT alone does not bring lasting relief.
The “about me” on this website was created in 2017. Nearly 10 years later, it’s time for an update on how my therapy offerings have developed.
Thus, here is a little information on how I work with other approaches that you may have heard of. They are complementary with CBT and come under the family of evidence-based therapies that the BABCP include under their umbrella.
Ultimately, research over all approaches seems to demonstrate that, better mental health will grow as our self-reflectiveness grows. There are many ways of processing what goes on inside and outside of ourselves as humans and these variations have been developed to help.
Does all this mean that the type of classic CBT that is my fundamental training doesn’t work? No. Well-practised CBT tools are effective for many people. I have worked with hundreds of people over the past 15 years who get on very well with bringing awareness to how situations break down into their components of thoughts, feelings and actions/behaviours and then work on different thought perspectives and different behaviours to create change.
ACT: here more about that here: https://babcp.com/podcast/acceptance-commitment-therapy/
Compassion focussed therapy: https://babcp.com/podcast/compassion-focussed-therapy/
https://balancedminds.com/what-is-compassion-focused-therapy-cft/#
Inference based CBT for OCD:
OCD can be a tricky beast. The approaches that we use most commonly here in the UK and are part of the NICE guidelines for OCD https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg31/chapter/Recommendations#steps-3-to-5-treatment-options-for-people-with-ocd-or-bdd – ERP and a responsibility/appraisal model are effective for many people. However, many OCD sufferers do find that the condition keeps reappearing at different times of life and with different themes. Inference based CBT for OCD can be used as a first line therapy but, in my private practice, I am beginning to offer it to those who have already worked through other approaches or find themselves unable to do ERP and behavioural experiments. Ultimately, getting better from OCD does mean changing behaviours but iCBT gives you a different framework for understanding the process and getting out of the brain lock/compulsive cycle.
https://icbt.online/what-is-icbt
I also ensure to keep update on research on the links between physical health and mental health. A page on nutrition and physical health coming soon….
Neurodiversity – I have attended many trainings in neurodiversity, I would describe myself as practicing ND informed therapy – it’s vital we take into account how information processing and emotional processing make up part of who we are, how we receive information, how we output it and how we navigate the world . I will write a separate page on this soon too.