CBT + Compassion Focused Therapy
CBT therapist in Holt, North Norfolk and online
Evidence-based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy with a BABCP fully accredited therapist, integrated with Compassion Focused Therapy. Sessions online across the UK and in person at my therapy room in Holt, North Norfolk.
Why choose a BABCP accredited CBT therapist?
BABCP fully accredited means my training, supervision and ongoing practice are checked against the national standard for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy in the UK. When you search for a CBT therapist you will find many kinds of counselling; accreditation is the simplest way to know you are getting CBT delivered the way the research says it works.
I see clients in person at my therapy room in Holt, North Norfolk, and online for anyone across the UK. Online sessions suit people working shifts, or living out towards the coast where travel takes a chunk out of the day.
My BABCP register number is 080360 — you can verify it on the BABCP register.
What is CBT and why can it help?
I help with common mental health issues using proven methods recommended by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE). Research shows that Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) works best for conditions like depression, body image issues, general anxiety, health anxiety, long-term health problems affecting mental health, OCD, panic disorder, PTSD, social anxiety, and specific phobias.
CBT helps you to understand your main problems by looking at beliefs and habits you have learned over time. For example, you might think, “People won’t like me unless I’m perfect,” or “There is something badly wrong with my health being missed.” These beliefs stay quiet until something triggers them, like failing goals, relationship issues, or health problems. Then, they cause negative thoughts and behaviours, making you feel anxious or depressed. CBT focuses on these current thoughts and actions that keep your problems going. Using compassion-focused techniques and imagery rescripting, we can update negative memories without focusing too much on the past. CBT is practical and goal-focused.
Depending on the primary problem, I integrate advanced CBT approaches as relevant including Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT), Functional Analytical Psychotherapy (FAP), Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT), EMDR, and Mindfulness. I am a member of the Association for Contextual & Behavioural Sciences.
Why Compassion Focused Therapy?
CFT works with any of the same problems that CBT works with, however it is especially good for updating beliefs of never being good enough, severe self-criticism, high shame, guilt, trauma, abuse and perfectionism.
What happens at assessment?
We gather a full history and create a clinical formulation together of your current problems and what is keeping them going from a CBT perspective. We will explore possible treatment options, make a plan for next steps and new strategies to get you started right away. This is a 1 hour online appointment. We will liaise directly for a time that suits you.
How therapy usually runs
We start with a one-hour online assessment, then agree a number of sessions together — often between six and twenty depending on the difficulty. Sessions are practical and goal-focused, with between-session experiments so the change happens in your life, not only in the room. We review progress regularly and finish with a relapse-prevention plan you keep.
What I work with
- Depression
- Generalised anxiety
- Health anxiety
- Social anxiety
- Panic disorder
- OCD
- PTSD & trauma
- Body image difficulties
- Specific phobias
- Long-term health conditions
The therapy room in Holt, North Norfolk
In person sessions in Holt, North Norfolk, and online across the UK.
“Therapy helped me to accept myself, my anxiety and understand it in a way that I no longer fight it which gives me a whole new way to move forward.”
“Therapy helped me overcome a number of difficulties at work and socially, and helped me see things in a different way. I even started meditating which is astonishing for a cynic like me!”
“Catherine is a highly qualified skilful + experienced therapist. She is also the warmest, most empathic mental health professional I have worked with. I cannot recommend her highly enough.”