Catherine James

I offer a bespoke counselling and therapy service.

During our sessions, we will work together, to find out how best I can help you and ensure that your needs are met. During the first few sessions, we aim to set some goals together to enable you to see your progress in therapy, we regularly monitor how you are doing, so that we can ensure that we are always on track to help you achieve your goals. As the sessions progress you will learn new ways of thinking, behaving and seeing the world in a different light. You can then use all the new skills you have learned to successfully manage your own problems.

I am a fully accredited Cognitive Behavioural Therapist, (CBT). I provide Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), as recommended by the NHS and The National Institute for Clincal Excellence. CBT is an extremely effective and evidence based treatment for all anxiety disorders, depression, low self-esteem and many more. Please below for a full list of what CBT can help with.

I also offer short, medium and long term Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, counselling, art based type therapy and play based therapy.
I also hold a core qualification as a Mental Health Nurse and I am registered with the NMC and currently practicing as a Psychological Therapist in the NHS.

I also offer a 2 hour career coaching service. (This is especially good if you feel stuck in your job, hate going to work, or just need to find purpose in your life). This can be a one off session, please just ask me about this when we speak.

Specialist areas

Adults
Adolescents
Children
Couples

My main area of expertise and passion is providing CBT. My expertise lays in treating adolescents, adults, children and couples, this includes self-esteem work, anxiety, depression, OCD, ADHD, Asperger's, PTSD, and neurodevelopmental conditions. Alongside my private practice, I work part time for the NHS within a CAMHS service and an adult "Improving Access to Psychological therapy team". This is for adults suffering from depression and anxiety. I keep up to date with all the latest treatment techniques, evidence based therapies and training.

How I Can Help
I really believe in positive psychology and compassion focused therapy and believe that every single one of us can find a way to be content, happy and fulfilled.There is also a formula for this, which is very simple and I am very happy to share this with you.

I offer CBT and counselling. This works effectively in treating a wide range of emotional and physical health conditions. It's an effective form of therapy for both adults and children.

Here red is some research about how effective CBT can be in young children, click on link below or copy and paste it into your web browser.
http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2014-07-16-cbt-lessons-primary-school-reduce-anxiety-children



Why Choose Me
I am here for you, focussing exclusively on what you bring to the therapy. I am there to be a mentor, guiding you and teaching you techniques and coping strategies to give you the skills to make the changes that you want for your life.

I will not have a judgemental view on how you should change. I will work with you so that together you can think about realistic new possibilities for more helpful ways of managing whatever difficulties you bring to therapy.

What To Expect
I am extremely friendly and easy to talk to, I really care about the people I see. Whether you come alone, or as a couple I will offer your reassurance and make sure you feel comfortable. If its your child I am seeing, again I will ensure they feel content and safe.

The first session is usually where we meet. This is where I want to get to know what the problem is, and how it came about, I will conduct a brief risk assessment to check that you can keep yourself safe and if I am worried I can provide you with crisis numbers and a crisis plan if need be. (This is confidential). We would also try and establish a goal for therapy.


Location
I have plenty of parking available outside my Private practice, please see the extra photos of my therapy room.

I can also offer home visits within a 5 mile radius at no extra charge, but if you live further afield then I charge a small amount extra for petrol and travel time.

I can also organise with your child's school to see them there, if the school is agreeable. This is especially important if they have poor attendance due to school refusal.

Appointment availability

I offer, Evening, weekday and weekend Appointments.

• Career Coaching
• Stress management
• Panic disorder
• Relationship issues
• child related issues
• Binge eating disorder
• asperges's syndrome (I have worked with young people with Aspergers for over 20 years)
• Family issues
• Life Coaching
• Consultancy to businesses on how to train staff more effectively
• Training to teachers on CBT and how to implement this in school, for inset days training as a consultant
• Teaching CBT to children within schools (I have full DBS enhanced disclosure) (Copies available on request)
• Couples CBT
• Family CBT and counselling
• Self-esteem
• School refusal
• Seperation Anxiety
• Creative techniques on reducing anxiety
• Mindfulness teaching
• Relaxation awareness
• Group therapy and training for adults and children
• Chill group for teenagers to reduce anxiety in schools
• Problem solving training
• CBT for increasing business potential and revenue
• Techniques for getting on with people
• CBT for communication skills
• Learning how to love what you do and not let the small stuff bother you
• Assertiveness training in groups for teams
• Team building days
• Teaching children to problem solve
• Seminars on the formula for happiness

• Initial telephone session/consultation is free
• Initial Assessment consultation - £100
• Therapy session (50 minutes) - £90
• 80 minute Therapy session - Ideal for couples, or people who wish for a longer in-depth session. - £130

• Supervision sessions for counselling students (please contact me directly)

• Concessions available, please contact me for further information

How Many Sessions Will You Need

CBT is usually a short-term solution focused Therapy, on average people need between 6-20 sessions. (This can be less or more depending on the severity of the problem). It's very difficult to say how many sessions, as everyone responds to therapy in different ways. However CBT is an evidence based treatment with a huge amount of research to prove its an extremely effective treatment for all manner of problems.

We will set clear goals at the beginning of therapy, this often results in fewer sessions being needed. We will always review how sessions are going.

Appointment availability

Evenings, weekdays and weekends. I offer flexible appointments.