Which Type of Therapy Is Right for You? A Guide to Your Options

What are the different therapies on offer and what is most appropriate for me? 

It can be really confusing when you start to think about accessing mental health support; there are so many different types of therapy it is hard to know what the best option for you might be. First and foremost, a good practitioner will help you to access the right therapy for you. They should be able to acknowledge when a client may present with issues that are outside of their competency and skill set, or when a client may require a lower intensity therapy to what they offer. When you first contact us, here at Talking Therapy North, we will make an assessment based on the issues you are experiencing, your history and what you are hoping to get out of therapy. At our practice we offer three main modes of therapy, but there are many more out there. Here I will outline the three that we offer to help guide you to what may be the most appropriate for you.

Clinical Psychology and Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy 

A clinical psychologist studies for a PHD which is three years of post-graduate training at a doctoral level; this training means that a clinical psychologist has studied a variety of therapeutic modalities and has extensive experience working with a wide range of client presentations. Clinical psychologists can draw on a range of therapeutic interventions but often develop a preferred therapeutic model to work from. Dr Steve Hoole is our clinical psychologist, and his preferred therapy model is Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy. This model emphasises the real-time tracking of anxiety, defences and emotional responses and focuses on the unconscious emotional processes that underly many psychological and somatic difficulties. A client’s early childhood experiences, history, relationships and previous psychological difficulties can be explored. Steve often works with clients who may have tried different types of therapy previously but have still found themselves struggling, or clients who have long-standing and recurring psychological problems such as anxiety and depression. As a clinical psychologist, Steve often works with more complex presentations.

Psychotherapy 

Psychotherapists usually have additional training in a specific modality of working, beyond the counselling qualification. Psychotherapy is often used to work with deep-rooted emotional patterns and past experiences, exploring how these impact the client in their present. Katy Hoole is our Integrative Psychotherapist, and she is trained in both a Person- Centred and Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy modality (EFIT). EFIT aims to help clients understand and improve their emotional connection with themselves and others. Working in this way, the focus is on emotion and how it is managed and used by the client.

EFIT is based in attachment theory and so a client’s childhood experiences and relationships can be explored to understand how they learned and developed strategies to manage and use emotion. Some of these strategies may no longer be working in the present, but by strengthening a client’s connection to their emotions, they can build a secure sense of who they are which in turn helps to create strong , supportive bonds with those around them. Psychotherapy such as EFIT can be particularly helpful for working with anxiety, depression, or the emotional aftermath of traumatic experiences or relationships.

Psychotherapy can be useful for clients who may not necessarily be struggling with a specific or current experience, but who are looking for a more exploratory approach which delves in greater depth into the history and patterns of their lives. Sometimes a current experience can highlight or intensify emotional patterns that are already present, and psychotherapy can be useful in these cases to look beyond the immediate issue to the underlying emotions and strategies that are at play.

Counselling 

Counsellors have trained to at least a Level 4 or equivalent qualification and offer a supportive, empathic, non-judgemental space for clients to explore difficult experiences that are causing them distress. Counselling is appropriate for clients who are experiencing immediate, situational problems such as grief, work stress, relationship conflicts or life transitions.

Our counsellors are person-centred which means the client is put at the heart of the work; the counsellor aims to offer an empathic, non-judgemental and congruent relationship to the client where they can explore whatever difficulties or emotions they are experiencing in order to feel less alone, gain new perspectives and feel better able to cope with their present circumstances. Counselling can be a good option for less complex psychological issues, clients who have never had any kind of therapy before, or those looking for support through a particularly difficult time in life. 

Whilst the information above is useful as a general guide, every client is assessed on an individual basis; for example, just because you have never had therapy before, it doesn’t mean that counselling is always the most appropriate option. Our clinicians will be able to suggest the best fit for you based on the information you tell us when we first speak to you.