As a person, I have always placed a high value on finding a profession that I find both meaningful and rewarding and I feel very fortunate to have found this in my role as a therapist. Having this passion for my work inspires me to do my best for my clients, to provide effective therapy and maintain high standards of care.
For me, one of the greatest benefits of CBT is that it helps people make sense of their difficulties. I find this process not only normalises and validates people’s experiences, but also restores hope. As difficulties become clearer so do solutions.
In CBT, people learn highly valuable skills for managing their wellbeing, skills that I wish we were all taught routinely because they cultivate inner resilience. Life can be tough, our modern world can be incredibly demanding and stressful, but if we can arm ourselves with the appropriate skills and knowledge, we can potentially adjust more easily to adversity.
One of the many misconceptions about CBT is that it is a cold, mechanical approach. I could not disagree more. In fact, I pride myself on providing therapy that is quite the opposite. I strongly believe that successful therapy depends on the quality of the relationship between a client and their therapist. Clients need to feel safe and at ease before exploring and addressing the very personal issues they bring to therapy. For this, they need to have confidence that their therapist will treat them with sensitivity, kindness, warmth and respect. Establishing this kind of relationship is always a priority for me.
As a CBT Therapist I have the privilege of being able to draw upon an extensive body of scientific research to guide my therapeutic approach, but this approach is always tailored to the individual and their unique difficulties and needs.