PSYCHOLOGICAL THERAPIES
Talking therapy, matched to what you're dealing with
Five evidence-based therapies, delivered by an HCPC-registered Clinical Psychologist and chosen with your Consultant Psychiatrist rather than picked off a list. Therapy here follows a psychiatric assessment, so the therapy you start is the one indicated for you.
THE THERAPIES WE OFFER
Some are short and focused on the present; one is a long-term commitment. This is the comparison worth making before you start.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Best suited to anxiety, panic, depression, phobias including agoraphobia and social phobia; also insight and relapse prevention in bipolar and psychotic disorders. Typically 6-12 sessions.
Cognitive Analytic Therapy
Best suited for difficulties rooted in how you relate to yourself and others - interpersonal sensitivity, or trouble sustaining trusting relationships. Typically 6-12 sessions.
Exposure and Response Prevention
Best suited for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - a targeted form of CBT working directly with compulsions. Typically 12-20 sessions.
Trauma-focused CBT
Best suited for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, including Complex PTSD. Typically 8-20 sessions.
Psychodynamic / psychoanalytic psychotherapy
Best suited for depression, anxiety and some personality disorders where past experience is shaping present relationships and coping
Sessions run 30 to 60 minutes depending on the therapy, usually weekly. Course lengths are typical, not fixed - your psychologist reviews progress with you as you go, and extending or ending early is a normal part of that conversation.
YOUR ASSESSMENT, STEP BY STEP
1​
A psychiatric assessment first
Therapy is offered once a Consultant Psychiatrist has assessed you and confirmed it's indicated. That's deliberate: it avoids months of the wrong therapy, and catches anything that needs medical treatment alongside it.
2
Matching you to a therapy
Your Consultant and the Clinical Psychologist agree the approach with you, based on your diagnosis, what you've already tried, and how much time you can commit. The differences between the five therapies are explained before you choose.
3
Your first therapy session
A formulation session: your psychologist maps the problem with you, sets goals you both agree on, and explains how the therapy works and what will be asked of you between sessions.
4
The course, and reviewing it
A written report with your diagnosis or formulation and a care plan, shared with you and, with your consent, your GP. Follow-up reviews continue with the same Consultant until things are stable - you are not handed to a different clinician between appointments.
THERAPY ALONGSIDE ADHD OR AUTISM
Our Clinical Psychologist is neurodiversity-trained, which matters: standard CBT often needs adapting for an autistic or ADHD client - pacing, written summaries, sensory adjustments, and less reliance on reading between the lines. If you have a diagnosis alongside anxiety, low mood or trauma, we treat those together rather than in isolation.
WHERE WE SEE YOU
Face to face at our Epping clinic for patients across London, Hertfordshire and Essex, or by secure video anywhere in the UK. For trauma-focused work we usually recommend starting in person where that's practical. If you're further away and need more intensive support, we liaise with your local services to arrange it.
PRACTICAL THINGS TO KNOW
In person or online
Face to face in Epping for patients across London, Hertfordshire and Essex, or by secure video anywhere in the UK.
No GP referral needed
You can book a private assessment directly. A referral letter is helpful if you have one, but it isn't required.
What to bring
A list of current medication and doses, any previous reports or discharge letters, and a note of what you most want addressed.
Bringing someone with you
Welcome, and often useful - a partner, parent or friend can fill in detail that's hard to recall about yourself.
How it's paid for
Private self-pay or private medical insurance. General psychiatric assessment is not covered by Right to Choose - only adult ADHD and autism are.
Confidentiality
Your notes stay with us. Nothing goes to your GP or insurer without your consent, except in the rare situations where there is a serious risk to safety.