Imperial College

Health Centre

Contact us

Imperial College

Health Centre

Contact us

Therapy

We offer a range of in-house therapy services at Imperial College Health Centre. Including;

 You can learn more about each discipline further below.

How to Access Therapy Services

We offer short term, 6-8 sessions, depending on the type of therapy recommended. We offer a mixture of face to face and online sessions.

You will need a referral from a GP or Mental Health Practitioner to see one of the therapists. Non-urgent medical requests can be submitted via Accurx.

When requested by the referring clinician, you will need to submit a form to access the psychology service. This needs completing at the start and end of treatment.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is the most researched and a highly validated form of psychotherapy. It is evidence-based, which means that it has been proven to work quickly and with lasting effects.

The aim of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is:

1. to help you identify and modify negative thought patterns.
2. to help you break destructive and avoidant behaviours.
3. to help you acquire new skills and equip you with tools and problem-solving strategies to manage future challenges independently.

It is suitable for a wide variety of conditions, including:

  • Depression, Sleep Difficulties
  • Anxiety, OCD, Panic, Phobias
  • Eating Disorders, Low self-esteem
  • Relationship difficulties
  • Work and Career Issues

CBT is a collaborative process. Together we work towards resolving your issues in a safe and confidential environment. You’ll usually be asked to practise what you’ve learned between sessions completing worksheets and keeping a diary. This is an important element of CBT that will help us track your progress. As you practice new coping tools, you will feel more in control and more self-aware. These new skills will help you handle your symptoms, challenges and future situations more effectively.

Cognitive analytic therapy also known as CAT, is a talking therapy that mainly focuses on the way we relate to ourselves and to other people.

It can help with a wide range of difficulties, for example:-

  • experiencing depression
  • anxiety
  • low self-esteem
  • struggling to manage relationships with friends because we repeatedly feel let down, hurt or rejected,

It is based on the idea that as children and through subsequent difficult life experiences; we develop strategies to cope and help us. These strategies, or patterns of how we think, feel and act, can be necessary for our emotional survival earlier in our life. However, if we continue to use them even when they are no longer needed, these patterns may lead to difficulties. We may become stuck in these patterns and come to feel they are now problems themselves. For example: keeping people at an emotional distance, can help us to feel more in control to minimise being let down by others, but we may feel increasingly lonely and isolated, which affects our mental health.

CAT would help us explore how this pattern evolved and support us through a journey of discovering new ways of breaking the patterns and living a more connected, fulfilling life.

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) is an evidence-based psychological therapy originally developed for people experiencing significant difficulties with managing emotions, coping with distress as well as those that have difficulties in relationships, or rely on coping strategies that are no longer helpful, or are destructive.

DBT is based on the principle of balancing acceptance and change: understanding and validating your emotions and experiences while also developing new ways of responding to difficulties.

Comprehensive DBT, is a highly structured, intensive programme that typically includes four components: individual therapy, group-based skills training, between-session coaching, and support and consultation for the therapists delivering the treatment. It teaches practical skills across four key areas:

  • Mindfulness – learning to notice and pay attention to the present moment, non-judgmentally, with curiosity, acceptance and without immediately reacting to this.
  • Emotion regulation – developing ways to understand, manage and respond to strong emotions more effectively.
  • Distress tolerance – learning skills to cope with difficult situations and intense emotions without reacting impulsively or making the situation worse.
  • Interpersonal effectiveness – developing skills to communicate effectively, maintain relationships and set appropriate boundaries.

DBT-informed therapy draws on these principles, strategies and skills within individual psychological therapy, rather than providing the full comprehensive DBT programme.

At the practice, DBT-informed therapy is offered over 8 individual sessions, with a focus on understanding patterns of difficulty, developing practical skills and supporting you to respond to emotions and challenging situations in more effective ways.

Psychodynamic Psychotherapy is an explorative talking therapy derived from psychoanalysis. It aims to explore how past experiences, relationships and unconscious patterns can influence our thoughts, feelings, behaviours and relationships in the present. Therefore, it is suitable for individuals who have the capacity to be self-reflective and are looking to obtain insight into themselves and their behaviour.

It is primarily used to treat depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, relationship difficulties and stress.

Through a supportive and collaborative therapeutic relationship, it helps people develop greater insight into recurring patterns and find healthier ways of relating to themselves and others in their present life.