Treatment and Talking Therapies

Talking is good for you!

Talking therapies can help you work out how to deal with negative thoughts and feelings and make positive changes. They can help people who are feeling distressed by difficult events in their lives as well as people with mental health problems. This information is for anyone who wants to know more about the different types of talking therapy that we offer. The information mainly uses the words 'talking therapy' and 'therapist', although the words that other people use may be different.

Talking about your thoughts and feelings can help you deal with times when you feel troubled about something. If you turn a worry over and over in your mind, the worry can grow.

But talking about it can help you work out what is really bothering you and explore what you could do about it.

Talking is an important part of our relationships. It can strengthen your ties with other people and help you stay in good mental health. Being listened to helps you feel that other people care about you and what you have to say.

What are talking therapies?

We often find it helpful to talk problems through with a friend or family member, but sometimes friends and family cannot help us and we need to talk to a professional therapist.

Talking therapies involve talking to someone who is trained to help you deal with your negative feelings.

Talking therapies give people the chance to explore their thoughts and feelings and the effect they have on their behaviour and mood. Describing what's going on in your head and how that makes you feel can help you notice any patterns which it may be helpful to change.

It can help you work out where your negative feelings and ideas come from and why they are there.

Understanding all this can help people make positive changes by thinking or acting differently. Talking therapies can help people to take greater control of their lives and improve their confidence.

Talking therapies may also be referred to as:

  • talking treatments
  • counselling
  • psychological therapies or treatments
  • psychotherapies

The various terms used to describe talking therapies often mean different things to different people.

For details of how NHS Talking Therapies services can help you, including the treatments that we offer please visit: NHS England ยป NHS Talking Therapies, for anxiety and depression

Here's Esmee's experience of counselling within our service

Our Treatments

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (for depression and all anxiety problems)

  • CBT looks at how we think, feel and behave in different situations. Thoughts include images and memories which can affect how we feel and react. By understanding these patterns, we can learn to make changes, for example challenging unhelpful thoughts or trying new activities.
  • Cognitive Behavioural Therapies are delivered by Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners (Low Intensity interventions, or guided self help) and Cognitive Behavioural Therapists, depending on the type of help that you need
  • Computerised CBT. No talking required! You work through a series of exercises in your own time on your computer, tablet or phone and receive online feedback from a practitioner. The platform we use is called Silvercloud, and you can access this from the moment you refer.

Counselling & Interpersonal Therapy (for depression only)

  • Counselling and IPT are another choice for depression treatments. They can be especially helpful when we need the space to process life changes or losses, giving us the opportunity to think about our next steps in a more explanatory way. These approaches can be helpful.
  • We also offer Relationship Counselling when a person's depression is being affected by relationship difficulties.  

Here's Ian's experience of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy within our service

Find out how our Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners can help