Caroline Lacey

Hello, and thank you for taking the time to read my profile.  I am a BABCP accredited and fully qualified Psychotherapist operating in Telford, Shropshire, and provide private, face-to-face Cognitive Behavioural Therapy/ Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT).  I can provide treatment for a wide range of difficulties, including:-

• depression
• general anxiety (worries and nerves)
• health anxiety
• panic
• phobias
• body focused repetitive habits (for example skin picking, nail biting, hair pulling and lip chewing)
• social fears/anxieties
• agoraphobia
• obsessive compulsive disorders
• perfectionism
• low motivation (procrastination)
• low self esteem
• body image difficulties
• trauma (PTSD)
• anger management
• stress

You may be wondering what CBT, and myself as a psychotherapist, could offer you. You have probably heard the term 'CBT' on the television or radio, in magazines, or even through your GP. But what is CBT about? CBT is concerned with the uncomfortable, unwanted or distressing feelings (for example: sadness, upset, stress, anxiety, anger, frustration, guilt, panic or emptiness) that may have prompted you to come to the Counselling Directory in the first place.   And it is then concerned with reducing, or alleviating, this suffering or difficulty as quickly as possible. The 'cognitive' in CBT means the thoughts, beliefs, rules, meanings and assumptions that occur in our minds automatically, and which lead to negative emotions. All emotions come with urges - to do, or not do, something. This is where behaviour links in. As a psychotherapist therefore, I can help you feel better by helping you uncover these thought-feeling-behaviour links and support you in changing these so we may break their vicious cycle.

At an initial assessment appointment, I will listen carefully to your difficulty and your experience of it, and we will seek to understand it from a thoughts-feelings-behaviours point of view. We will agree goals for treatment and consider how you would like things to be different going forward. You can check I'm someone you would like to work with, and we will ensure that CBT would be the best fit. I will then draw up a tailored treatment plan for you and your individual circumstances, and which I will support you with over the coming weeks. We would review the plan regularly to ensure it was relevant and effective. The treatment plan is the proposed roadmap of our joint therapeutic work together.

CBT has a strong evidence base and is the most extensively tested therapeutic intervention. It is the treatment of choice for a range of emotional difficulties, as recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). It is just as effective as medication for mild to moderate depression, and better than medication for some anxieties. When combined with medication, it can provide excellent outcomes, and has been shown to reduce future relapse. CBT is very focused, structured and highly collaborative with joint work and input from us both. It deals with the here and now difficulty, but can explore past issues if doing so is having an impact on your ability to move forward.

I work integratively so that I may offer you the most tailored treatment plan possible for your difficulties and goals. In combination with CBT, therefore, I use motivational interviewing, counselling and behaviour change tools and techniques, and also provide treatment based on Mindfulness, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), Compassionate Mind and Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT).

Please feel free to call, text or email me with any questions, or to find out more.  If you send me an e-mail and you haven't received a reply within 24 hours, please check your spam box. I look forward to speaking with you.

• Overweight
• Obesity
• Morbid obesity
• Comfort / emotional eating
• Binge eating (without purging)

Clinics run out-of-hours, including Saturday day times and some evenings, subject to availability at the time you enquire. Please feel able to get in touch with questions or enquiries.