Iris Psychology can offer help from a range of different models or approaches. Caroline can work with individuals, couples or organisations.
All services offered are bound by our professional codes of conduct, and Caroline is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office, ensuring that services provided are confidential and adhere to the Data Protection Act.
What to expect…
People often don’t know what to expect when they go to a first therapy or assessment appointment. A lot of people can feel anxious and unsure as it can be difficult to discuss personal issues or difficulties. Therefore, it is important that a safe, confidential and supportive space is created for you.
Your first appointment would be an assessment (see below for further information). You will be asked to complete some basic administration forms, and a general (and brief) questionnaire about anxiety symptoms, and one about depression symptoms. You are asked this as these symptoms are often present even if they are not the main reason you have come for help.
We will talk about the reasons you have come to the appointment and what it is you would like help with.
Following the assessment, we will talk together about the help that can be offered, and if you think that this is something you would like to do. You do not need to know about or have chosen any particular type of therapy or intervention before you get in touch. If you are unsure, or do not know, then you can be given advice or recommendations based on your situation and your needs.
If you decide that you would like to receive help, we then arrange a series of appointments, usually weekly or fortnightly, and usually lasting between 50 minutes and an hour. We will endeavour to start the intervention as soon as possible.
The nature of these sessions will then vary depending on the type of intervention that we have agreed is best suited to your needs.
Psychological Assessment
Clinical psychologists have extensive training in assessing a range of psychological difficulties and determining the most appropriate form of help. Your initial appointment will typically last 60 minutes and is an opportunity for you to talk about what you feel are your current difficulties and how you would like help for you to move forward.
The information you give will be considered from a wide perspective and draw on a range of psychological theories and knowledge. This allows the development of an understanding of the nature of the difficulty or situation, how it has developed, how it is being maintained and continuing to cause concerns, and the implications of what this might mean in terms of finding the right type of help for you to change, manage or move on from the situation.
Following assessment…
Following assessment, we agree an intervention package that is appropriate for your needs. You are not under any obligation to receive any intervention offered. If Caroline does not feel that she can offer you a service that is appropriate for your needs, she will let you know and signpost you to different organisations. She will never work outside of the remit of her professional competencies or training.
Assessment Only Service
An assessment only service is offered for those looking for a ‘one-off’ psychological assessment and report. These sessions may last up to 2 hours, or could be carried out over more than one session if this suits your situation better. Any assessment will include recommendations of things that could help the situation and promote psychological well-being, although you would not be under any obligation to follow these.
If a detailed (non-legal) psychological report is required, this can be provided and is charged at an additional rate to the assessment fee.
Therapies / Interventions
Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT)
Iris Psychology offers specialist expertise in Cognitive Analytic Therapy. Please follow one of the links (above or below) to the page on this therapy for detailed information.
CAT is a talking therapy that looks to develop an understanding of how a person thinks, feels and acts, and how this links to the events and relationships that form the basis for these experiences. These are often, but not always, considered from earlier in the person’s life, or from childhood. The therapist and individual then work together to further develop the understanding of the difficulties, how difficulties sometimes associated with past can still become apparent in normal everyday life, and in finding ways to make changes in feelings, thoughts or actions.
Once the understanding of the problem has begun, and difficulties recognised and named, then any of the different techniques outlined below can be used to help the person make the changes that they want to make. The individual and therapist consider the different options together and find the ones best suited to that person, or that situation.
CAT has been demonstrated as effective in a wide range of clinical settings, for a wide range of emotional and physical health difficulties.
Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing (EMDR)
EMDR is a therapy that typically focuses on past difficult or traumatic events from a person’s life that are having a negative impact in their present situation. It helps the brain to reprocess the events, or the memories of them, or the beliefs that have developed from them. In reprocessing this changes the way that the brain holds onto and uses the old information, allowing it to be updated or to change. It can allow old difficulties or traumas to remain in the past and stop them triggering problems or distress in the here and now.
EMDR therapy is often associated with treating PTSD but can also help with a range of other mental health conditions or problems in people of all ages.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
CBT is a talking therapy that focuses on how a person thinks about a situation and how this impacts on the way they act. In turn, our actions impact on how we think and feel. The therapist and client work together in changing the client’s behaviours, or their thinking patterns, or both of these. CBT is mainly concerned with how you think and act now, instead of looking at and getting help with difficulties in your past.
CBT has been proved to help treat a wide range of emotional and physical health conditions.
There are many features that overlap between different therapies. The differences between CAT and CBT are discussed further here:
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is an approach that helps people change the way they think and feel about their experiences, especially stressful experiences.
Mindfulness exercises or mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) are ways of paying attention to the present moment, using techniques like meditation, breathing and yoga. Mindfulness training helps us become more aware of our thoughts and feelings so that instead of being overwhelmed by them, we’re better able to manage them.
Mindfulness has been shown to be effective with a range of emotional and physical health conditions, including depression and anxiety.
Health Coaching
Health coaching involves an individual and their coach working together to find a way to make a sustainable behavioural change in a shared and meaningful goal, related to the physical or mental health of the individual concerned.
Health coaching draws on the principles of positive psychology, solution-focused therapy and motivational interviewing, with a focus on the rapport and trust held within the therapeutic relationship.
There are again, many overlapping features, but a difference between therapy and coaching is that the focus of therapy is usually on understanding and changing a problem whilst coaching focuses on the solution.
Supervision
Iris Psychology offers a clinical supervision service, individual or group, for professionals working within the area of mental health, at a frequency best suited to your needs.
You will be asked for evidence that you are appropriately qualified to practise within the field for which you require supervision. This would include professional membership where applicable, and professional indemnity insurance.
This service cannot be offered to individuals without the appropriate qualifications.