DISCOVER YOUR
WELLBEING JOURNEY
Using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to help you develop the tools to reclaim your life - break free from the exhausting cycle of unwelcome thoughts and feelings that are keeping you stuck.
Start thriving. Not just surviving.
LOCATION
online appointments
It can be scary coming to therapy, especially if it is your first time. You may not know what to expect and you may be worrying about what might or might not be involved.
My aim is to create a safe space with you so that you can feel comfortable to address the issues that are important and meaningful for you to work on.
Sarah
BURN OUT? WORRIED SICK? JUST NOT COPING?
It seems like to an outsider your life looks pretty good, but…
You still don't feel happy and content. You feel that you can't move on and be truly happy until you get rid of the unwelcome thoughts and feelings that keep showing up and ruining everything for you.
Perhaps you don't quite know yourself any more, experiencing doubt, uncertainty and a lack of confidence. It’s as if somewhere along the way you have lost a bit of yourself.
You desperately want to have a rich and meaningful life, with a sense of purpose, being able to enjoy who and what you have. Yet instead you feel burnt out from the constant barrage of demands and expectations coming at you from every which way, and also hopeless because despite doing everything you're "supposed" to do, something is still off.
It feels like you're out of sync
with the world
Things I can support you with:
CBT for Anxiety
When anxiety hits it can feel overwhelming and we might feel like we have no control over what is happening to us.
It’s like we’re on a rollercoaster of uncontrollable fear and there’s no way to get off.
The powerful bodily sensations can be terrifying – a pounding heart, shaking and feeling sick are very common symptoms and can lead us to thoughts that something awful is going to happen to us, like passing out, having a heart attack of even dying.
You may have a clear idea of what sets off your anxiety, but it’s also not uncommon for it to appear out of nowhere with no apparent cause.
CBT can equip you with the skills to cope, even when the anxiety joins you by surprise.
CBT for Worry
We all worry at times, and it’s perfectly normal to have a few “what if?” type thoughts – lots of people will identify as having always been “a bit of a worrier”.
But if you’re finding that your worry is taking over, with an ever increasing snowball of worries getting in the way of you being effective and enjoying your life then you need some strategies to help you get it under control.
CBT has been repeatedly proven to be an effective treatment for managing worry.
Other things I can help you with
CBT is an incredibly flexible treatment and a big part of my role as therapist is to adapt and personalise it to meet your specific needs.
I can help with a broad range of different challenges in addition to those mentioned above.
CBT for Phobias
Lots of people fear spiders but still manage to live their day-to-day lives perfectly well. But if you are becoming highly anxious, or even panicking, about a specific thing that is vital to the day to day functioning of your life (e.g. driving) then CBT is the tool for you! Extensive research has shown that it is an extremely effective and powerful tool for helping you overcome the fear and regain control of your life.
CBT for Social Anxiety
Humans are social animals, because it gave us an evolutionary advantage for survival. So when we are experiencing social anxiety it can have a crippling impact upon our lives. Social Anxiety is not the same as being shy, it is an overwhelming fear of social interactions and situations, which often leads to avoidance behaviours and may even lead some people to completely withdraw from life. Despite the name, it’s not just our social lives that are affected; we may be finding that Social Anxiety is limiting our career and preventing us from realising our goals. CBT can help you shift perceptions of interactions between ourselves and others, in order to help us start to reengage in life once more, for a more enjoyable social life and more rewarding work life.
CBT for Health Anxiety
It’s good to take care of ourselves and be attentive to what’s going on in our bodies, but sometimes we can become preoccupied with thoughts about either being or becoming ill. If this gets to the point that we feel unable to function properly or enjoy life to the full, CBT can help equip us with the tools to manage our concerns effectively and get back control of our wellbeing.
CBT for Low Self Esteem
It’s not easy sometimes to love ourselves, especially if we have had difficult early life experiences that have shaped an unfavourable view of ourselves and have undermined our confidence. At the very heart of low self-esteem are negative judgements about ourselves that we simply accept as a matter of fact. CBT will help you to understand why we view ourselves as we do and the treatment starts with creating a map linking our past experiences to the stories our minds currently tell us about ourselves and the rules that it sets for us on how to live our lives. Once we can see that the way we view ourselves is an understandable reaction to the life experiences that we have had, and how these conclusions about our self-worth have influenced our thoughts and feelings over time, we can start to take steps towards change, using individually tailored tools and strategies to support us.
CBT for Burnout
If you’re experiencing emotional, mental and physical exhaustion then you may be in a state of burnout. Fatigue, irritability and lack of motivation are all symptoms of burnout and this happens when we are exposed to prolonged stress and overwhelm. It’s often associated with the workplace, but that isn’t always the case; burnout can happen in any area of our lives. You may well be in what feels like an impossible situation, unable to change anything about the stress and pressure that you are under, but CBT can help you to develop new coping skills and ways to prioritise self-care to help you better manage the stress you are experiencing to improve your overall functioning and quality of life.
CBT for OCD
If you are troubled by distressing intrusive thoughts and have to take certain actions to try and make them go away, CBT can help you learn to change your relationship with the thoughts; eliminating the behaviours along the way that are stealing hours out of your day, every day. The treatment typically involves tools to help you confront your fears in a safe and controlled manner and it has been proven by research to give lasting improvements in both symptoms and overall quality of life.
CBT for Anger and Irritability
Anger is a natural response and a perfectly normal emotion to experience; sometimes it is completely justified. But chronic irritability and uncontrolled anger can also cause serious problems in relationships and this significantly reduces our quality of life. If you’ve experienced the “red mist” you probably afterwards were able to look back and realise that for a moment all rational judgement flew out of the window; with that realisation comes an extremely scary sense of lack of control. CBT helps us to understand the personal rules that we hold about how we and others should operate in the world. We all have our own version of these rules, so they’re not the same for everyone and this is where the problem lies…when our rules are broken by other people they may not even realise the transgression, but our minds tell us they should do, which can start our blood boiling. CBT has proven tools to help us develop some flexibility in and different perspectives on our anger to help us manage difficult situations that would even test a saint.
CBT for Procrastination
Some studies have shown that up to 90% of us procrastinate at times and this can significantly impact both our work and home lives. Procrastination isn’t laziness, far from it! It is a complex and multifaceted problem that is not only detrimental to our productivity but also negatively impacts our mood and overall wellbeing. If you’re a perfectionist or struggle to tolerate uncertainty then a fear of not getting it right or not knowing how things will turn out could be leading to procrastination. However, it wouldn’t be uncommon for you to not relate to that and actually find that it is more an issue of time management, or perhaps concentration and impulsivity problems. Following a six step CBT based treatment plan we can develop skills and tools to better manage procrastination to improve day to day functioning and wellbeing.
Let me introduce myself
My name is Sarah...
I will walk alongside you on the path that takes you towards a version of yourself that feels empowered and in control; a version of yourself that you can feel proud of!
We will learn together how to gain a better understanding of you and how to develop a healthier relationship with those unwanted thoughts and distressing feelings that keep showing up.
I use Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT), to equip you with skills that have been proven to be effective and long lasting for life.
Sarah.
What it's like to work with me...
CBT is a very collaborative therapy. It isn’t something that I do to you, it’s something we do together, so I’m sorry if it’s disappointing to hear, but I’m afraid that I am not going to make you better – my aim is to empower you to help yourself…you will make yourself better with my support every step of the way!
The point of CBT is for us to form a supportive and trusting team, in which you bring your knowledge and expertise of you and the difficulties that you are experiencing, and I bring my knowledge and expertise in the skills and techniques that you can learn to apply.
Think of me as being like a ‘sat nav’ in the car…you tell me where you want to go and I assist you in getting there, but at the end of the day you are the one in the driving seat deciding on where you want to go and how you want to get there.
Our sessions together are yours and the time is for you to spend in the way that you feel will most benefit you.
Working together towards the
common goal of your wellbeing
the next phases
Phase One
In this part of the treatment we will spend time understanding the nuts and bolts of your difficulties. Experience has shown me that having a good understanding of how you are internally processing your distress provides an invaluable foundation for the future work. You might find this phase a little frustrating if you are keen to crack on with learning skills and strategies, but it is worth the investment as it allows us to really individualise and personally tailor the future tools that we will learn. I could metaphorically throw the kitchen sink at you but many of the tools wouldn’t be relevant, they certainly wouldn’t be individualised, and they likely wouldn’t stick. I would much rather you go away with just a couple of skills that you have learned deeply and that will stay with you for life, than taking away a massive box of tools that you don’t have a good understanding of, and will have mostly forgotten in a few months. At this stage it is good to meet weekly so that we can gain momentum and traction in the work we are doing together.
Phase Two
Once we have a clear understanding and have mapped out the processes involved in your difficulties, we will start to work on the specific tools and strategies to help you overcome them. This is a very proactive stage of the therapy and it’s important to be aware that a key part is to undertake homework tasks between the sessions. After all, it is in your day to day life that we want to make a difference, so it is important to practice things and experiment so that we can work out what is most effective for you – again, this is all part and parcel of personalising the process to your individual circumstances.
Phase Three
As we move into this phase we will start to consolidate all the learning from the previous two phases and build in some additional tools and strategies to help you not only maintain the gains that you have made but also continue to develop the skills you have, and to learn new ones. We are working on empowering you to become your own therapist. At this stage some people like to start tapering the sessions and meeting on a fortnightly to monthly basis to help them with the transition into flying solo.
Phase Four
Some people like to periodically come back for a check-in and perhaps a little course correction if they feel that they are in danger of going off track. I am of course more than happy to meet on an ad hoc basis to provide ongoing support.
The First Step...
We meet for a free 15 minute chat to give you the opportunity to ask me any questions that you may have about me and the way I work.
This is a great opportunity to see if I am your kind of person or not.
We can’t possibly all get along with everybody, and the therapeutic relationship is such a key part of the treatment that it is vital that you feel that I am a good fit for you before we start working together.
If you decide that I’m not your person, then I am more than happy to reach out to my network to find some alternative therapists for you to meet with.
NOT QUITE READY TO TAKE THE NEXT STEP IN STARTING THERAPY?
Some resources for you to keep going…
Blog
How about having a read of some of my recent blog posts?
I write about common themes that come up whilst I am working with clients and as well as giving you some ideas for self-help strategies, it will also hopefully give you a better sense of my style of working to help you decide if I will be a good fit for you as your therapist.
If you enjoy any of the articles you read and find them useful then please do share them with anyone else you know who may also benefit from reading them.
Podcasts
I am a huge fan of Dr Chatterjee’s podcast.
He is a Manchester based GP who has developed the concept of lifestyle medicine – this is based on the principles of using lifestyle interventions to prevent, treat and even reverse chronic disease.
He puts as much emphasis on managing mental health as he does physical health using this approach.
He has a lively and regular podcast which many of my clients have found to be really informative and an invaluable self-help tool.
Reading Well
This is a national scheme designed to help you understand and manage your mental health and wellbeing by using approved self-help books which are freely available via your local council library network.
All of the books appearing on the lists have been vetted and approved, so you can be confident that they are from reputable sources.
There are booklists aimed at adults, children and teens, along with specific booklists for those experiencing chronic physical health conditions and dementia.
Everyone has personal preferences so this is a great way of trying out different books for free, without feeling overwhelmed in your local bookstore wondering what to invest your money in.
Tired of feeling negative?
Practising daily gratitude is the fastest way to experience positivity, without having to spend hours meditating.
When we focus on what we are thankful for it helps to shift our attention away from negative feelings and thought patterns, which not only helps improve our mood but also can help us to feel more relaxed, letting go of stress and anxiety, along with cultivating kindness, compassion and forgiveness towards others, which ultimately strengthens our relationships.
By expressing gratitude, even in the most difficult of circumstances, we build resilience in the face of adversity.
My eBook, ‘Gratitude Practice: Getting Started’ is a great introduction to incorporating gratitude practice into your life and you can download it for free.
CONVENIENT
Online Appointments
QUALIFIED
Accredited and Insured
TRUSTED
A decade in mental health
I conduct all of my appointments online, which has several advantages over meeting in person, such as being able to attend appointments from anywhere that you can get an internet connection; so if you are staying away from home you don’t have to miss a session – I have even had clients do sessions in their cars at motorway service stations and it worked very well.
A therapy session is typically 50 minutes and if you had to add a commute either side of that, of say 30-40 minutes, to get to an in-person appointment then it’s a big chunk out of your day which you may not be able to accommodate.
Plus if you have limited mobility or live remotely then it makes available to you support that you may otherwise not be able to access.
It can be confusing when people have a long string of letters after their names, so to ensure you're seeking help from a qualified professional, look for accreditations from reputable organizations such as the BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy) for Counsellors, the BABCP (British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapists) for Cognitive Behavioural Therapists, and the HCPC (Health and Care Professions Council) for psychologists.
These organizations maintain registers of qualified professionals who meet their standards for training, experience, and ethical practice.
By choosing a therapist listed on these registers, you can feel confident that you're receiving quality care from a qualified practitioner.
I am a BABCP accredited Cognitive Behavioural Therapist, which means I have done extensive training in order to qualify; it also means that I continue to invest in my professional development (without which my accredited status cannot be maintained).
The fact that I am accredited means that you can be confident that I have demonstrated to the BABCP that I am meeting their requirements for the highest standards of training and experience in CBT that enable me to support you effectively.
My registration number is 160673 and you can check that I am registered on the BABCP register by clicking the button below.
I trained within NHS Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services, first qualifying as a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner (PWP), and then progressing to train and qualify as a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist.
In both roles, I was supporting people experiencing common mental health difficulties such as anxiety and depression, using CBT.
As a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist, in addition to working with my own clients, I also supervised trainee PWP’s and trainee Cognitive Behavioural Therapists to support them in the care of their clients and in working towards qualification.
I find that supervising other CBT practitioners helps me reflect on my own work and I learn as much from my supervisees as they learn from me – I value this so much that I continue to supervise several other therapists through my private practice, since leaving the NHS in 2021.
Got some questions?
Fire away - nothing is too small...
CBT and Anxiety
CBT helps you to cultivate effective tools to manage Anxiety when it shows up – whatever the flavour (Social Anxiety, Health Anxiety, OCD, Panic Attacks)
Stop fear getting the way of living
CBT and Worry
CBT equips you with proven strategies and skills for overcoming debilitating worry.
Worry is the thief of joy, but learning to embrace the present is the gateway to a brighter future.
eMail: coswaycbt@pm.me
Tel: 07713 954 847