Years of clinical experience have taught us that each person is different and has unique requirements and needs and we tailor our psychological therapy accordingly.
Although we are well grounded in clinical theory and can apply diagnostic categories when necessary, we tend to take a more holistic perspective. Our extensive training and experience enable us to draw on elements of a wide range of research-based approaches to create the best therapy programme for each individual rather than being limited to any one particular method of therapy, which sets us apart from many other psychology consultancies.
A Personal Approach To Therapy
We take time to get to know each client, to explore their individual circumstances and the difficulties they may be experiencing, taking into account their personal background, circumstances, experiences, skills, resources, lifestyle, their particular belief systems, personality, constitution and areas of challenge and potential for growth.
We achieve this by meeting with all clients for an initial assessment process which usually takes between 1 ½ to 2 hours and can, in some circumstances, extend over several sessions. The assessment process will enable us to tailor a treatment programme specific to your particular needs. We can decide the methods and elements of therapy that might best work for you taking into account your unique profile, your problems and your aims. We are trained in a wide range of therapies and can select and embed elements from a variety of different approaches into your treatment, often incorporating body-oriented approaches if we feel this could be helpful. We will also be able to give you some sense as to whether your particular therapy is likely to be short term (up to 20 sessions), medium term (between 20 to 50 sessions) or long term (50+ sessions). This would be an estimate based on a number of factors such as your particular problems, their current severity and how long you have been experiencing them.
We tailor the lengths of our sessions to your needs. Experience has taught us that, for many people, especially when they are suffering from dissociative symptoms and find it very difficult to ground and settle into the work, the traditional 50-60 minute session is too short. Clients frequently report that, when working in that way in the past, they were just starting to feel comfortable and opened up as the session came to an end.
There is no clinical evidence to justify that therapy should take 50 or 60 minutes apart from this being the session time initially allowed by Dr Sigmund Freud when he developed psychoanalysis. We therefore tailor our session length to each person’s needs and for many people this tends to be longer than one hour.
Collaborative Therapeutic Process
We also regard the therapeutic relationship as a very important factor in the healing process and it is important to us that our clients feel comfortable and safe with their therapist. We work in a very collaborative and enabling manner and will seek to explain the rationale behind particular ways we may work together with you. Our aim is to strengthen your inner resources and empower you so that recovery and healing can take place from a basis of inner strength and connection with your authentic Self.