At TALKWORKS, many of our therapists use cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to address unhelpful thoughts and behaviours that you may be experiencing.
CBT is a form of talking therapy, commonly used within NHS talking therapies, that can help you manage your problems by changing the way you think, feel and behave. CBT can help you to challenge negative thoughts and change unhelpful behaviours which may be causing or maintaining stress, anxiety or you to feel low in mood.
How can TALKWORKS help?
Sometimes people may need help to make changes, to help them to feel better. When you come to us for your initial appointment, our TALKWORKS therapists will ask you some questions to understand more about your difficulties and will provide you with some different treatment options.
The first type of therapy that will be considered includes using CBT techniques in a guided self-help approach. During these one-to-one sessions, your therapist will work closely with you, review your progress and agree the next steps. Each appointment will typically last 30-40 minutes, and can be carried out face-to-face, over the phone or by video call. In addition to one-to-one sessions, we also offer tailored online material, interactive group courses and wellbeing workshops to help you to challenge negative thoughts so that you can feel more like yourself again.
The next level of therapy includes the offer of CBT sessions with an NHS clinician of a longer duration, typically lasting around an hour. These sessions are here to help address your difficulties over a longer course of therapy. They will involve working with a therapist to explore your past experiences, and help you to understand that we develop beliefs based on these experiences, and create rules and behaviours for ourselves as a result of them. Your therapist can work with you to explore this further and support you to challenge unhelpful ways of thinking and behaving to reduce distresss that you can feel healthier and happier. The number of sessions that you have will depend on the difficulties that you are experiencing and the treatment options that we can offer you.
What are the next steps?
If you think you may benefit from cognitive behavioural therapy, you can self-refer to TALKWORKS without a referral from a GP. Our NHS talking therapies service is free to access and open to adults (age 18+) across Devon (excluding Plymouth which is covered by Plymouth Options). Simply complete our online self-referral form or call 0300 555 3344 to speak to a member of our friendly admin team.
Whatever treatment and therapy you need, we're here to help you live better and get more out of life.