Your journey through the NHS Talking Therapies Service
Finding time for you
Starting psychological therapy involves making a big commitment. This means attending your regular sessions at the time and date you have agreed.
The Cognitive Behavioural Therapy approach also involves setting further time aside between sessions, to focus on your own needs and to work towards the changes you want to make.
What will treatment involve?
Individual sessions are typically 30 to 50 minutes and can be done over the telephone, video, or face to face, dependent on the type of treatment you require and clinical need. The number of sessions will be discussed and agreed with your therapist.
Group sessions will usually last for 2 hours over a 6 - 8 week period.
Attending sessions on a regular basis means that you will get the maximum benefit from your therapy. It also helps our service to continue to run efficiently so we can see more people, in a more timely way.
In therapy, we will work alongside you to develop a shared understanding of your difficulties and to help you identify the changes you want to make. We will then work hard alongside you to help you achieve these changes.
If you choose CBT and this is suitable to meet your needs there will be tasks throughout the therapy which will be tailored to you and your treatment.
What you can expect from us?
No overnight changes: Knowledge alone is not enough. It will take time and commitment to benefit from the techniques. The more you practice, the better your results will be.
Our team are trained and supervised in evidence based therapies as recommended in the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance to ensure you receive the highest quality of care
We will work with you to help you achieve your goals around your mental health and review your commitment to making changes if you do not seem ready.
We are obliged to keep you and others safe. Therefore, there may be occasions when we need to share information with other services or agencies.
If your difficulty requires treatment we do not offer we will suggest alternative organisations or refer you on to the appropriate service.
NHS Talking Therapies offers help and support to persons of all faiths and none. We help everyone with equality and diversity; regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, disability or gender.
What is expected of you?
Self Help: Read any information we may have sent you after your assessment and put the ideas into practice.
Motivation and willingness to work hard: You will learn new skills and will need to be motivated enough to practice them in your own time.
Set small achievable goals: It is improtant to be ralistic and set yourself small, achievable goals. This way monitoring your progress will be easier.
Attendance: it is important to make a commitment and attend all sessions, whether these are over the telephone, face to face, online or group sessions.
Progress monitoring: You will be asked to complete questionnaires at each session to help track your progress.
A shared commitment
Only refer yourself to NHS Talking Therapies if you are able to wait for treatment and do not have a mental health emergency. There are other services for people with more urgent needs, and you can find out more about how to access them on our Urgent Help page
If you attend your session via video call, or over the telephone, please ensure you are in a confidential space on your own, that is noise, distraction, and interruption free
If things should get worse for you while waiting for treatment from the service please refer to the guidance on our Urgent Help page
We ask you to commit to your therapy and to avoid cancelling sessions whenever possible. If something arises that means you cannot attend, we would ask you to give us at least 48 hours' notice if possible.
It is very unusual for people to miss appointments without cancelling or letting us know. If you were to miss more than two appointments then the practitioner you are seeing will contact you to discuss whether this is the right time for you to continue with your therapy, and talk about the options available to you.
If you have any concerns about how your therapy is progressing then please speak to the practitioner and they will do their best to resolve things for you.
In NHS Talking Therapies, we have found that by making a shared commitment, everyone benefits. With your help we can continue to improve.