While you are waiting to meet your therapist, there's lots you can do to prepare yourself for therapy. Find out how to access CBT-based guided self-help.
Guided Self-Help is a type of therapy that helps you to understand your problem and make positive changes in your life. You will learn useful CBT-based techniques to manage stress, worry or low mood.
This type of support will be delivered by one of our Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners who are trained to guide you through every step of the way, helping you to make the most of the different tools and techniques so that you can improve your wellbeing.
CBT-based guided self-help has been found to be effective when treating people who experience:
It can help to work towards goals such as:
The guided self-help we offer is based on a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) approach and therefore works in a very similar way to CBT. It works by helping the individual understand how their thoughts influence their emotions and behaviour.
CBT- based guided self-help aims to help people understand that their thoughts are not always accurate. Thoughts can sometimes be unhelpful and it is this pattern of thinking that can lead to difficulties with what we do (behaviour) and our emotions (how we feel).
CBT can help a person build skills such as:
Guided Self-Help is usually delivered over the telephone or by video conference. You will have 4-6 weekly or fortnightly 30 minute appointments with a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner who will work with you to understand your main issue and help you to identify the goals that are important to you for your sessions.
They will then support you to achieve these goals using a variety of CBT-based approaches. An important part of Guided Self-Help is putting into practise the tips and tools you learn in the sessions in your own day-to-day life, so that you can keep working towards your goals even after the sessions end.
We want to provide you with support as soon as we can - but there may be a wait for therapy depending on the type you need and therapist availability. After your initial appointment with us, and once we know which type of therapy is right for you, we'll advise you on availability and timescales. If you're asked to wait, we will stay in touch with you regularly during this time.