What might therapy be like?

You will meet the same practitioner every time, unless they feel that you would benefit from a different kind of therapy. In this case, they may pass you to another practitioner, but they will always discuss this with you first. Sometimes your practitioner may feel that NHS North Cumbria Talking Therapies is no longer the best service for you, and may refer you on to another team, but they will discuss this with you also.

Your practitioner will explain to you how many appointments are likely to be helpful for your problem.  We offer short term work and appointments will be either for 30 minutes or 50 minutes depending on the kind of therapy you will get.  You will usually meet your practitioner weekly or fortnightly.

You and your practitioner will have a discussion around what you would like to be different after therapy (to avoid making  assumptions) and agree specific goals with you.

Your practitioner will ask you to complete our standard questionnaires every session.  This will allow us to see how you are progressing.  Sometimes, they may ask you to also complete a more specific questionnaire.

You and your practitioner will agree a plan for each session, to ensure you both focus on what is most important to you overall and are able to get the maximum benefit.

You will work together with your practitioner to find the strategies that will work best for you. For more information on what your therapy may involve, see the section on ‘What does North Cumbria Talking Therapies offer?’

Your practitioner will usually give you some work to do in between sessions.  The reason for this is that we want to maximise the benefit you get from the sessions and this will mean practicing some techniques, or learning new skills or information.  It is important that you carry this work out, as we cannot make changes for you.  If you are unable to do this work, please discuss it with your practitioner.

When you reach the end of your sessions, you may complete some relapse prevention work with your practitioner in order to keep the good work going in the future.

Once you have been discharged from North Cumbria Talking Therapies, your practitioner will summarise your treatment and will send a copy to you and your GP.

More specific details on the various types of therapy that North Cumbria Talking Therapies offer are available in this section.