Alison Lane - Clinical Psychologist , CPsychol, AFBPsS, MSc, BA (Hons)

About me

I help people with:

Mood difficulties (e.g. low mood, depression)
Anxiety disorders (e.g. generalised anxiety disorder), stress, worry
Sexual health and functioning (e.g. difficulties with arousal, sexual satisfaction, sexual pain, sexual assault)
Concerns about compulsive sexual behaviours
Pain management
Health anxiety and issues
Social anxiety, confidence building, low self-esteem
Phobias,
OCD, intrusive thinking
Relationship difficulties and issues
Trauma,
Panic disorder
Addictions
Bereavement

My approach
Using an evidence-based approach, I draw on a range of therapeutic models, which include Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), mindfulness-based therapy approaches, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) and an integrative approach for treating compulsive sexual behaviour.
I use a person-centred style, tailoring my approach to the needs of the individual. I will work collaboratively with you to help explore how and why you struggle and enable you to understand and manage these challenges more effectively. As you learn to step back from difficulties and the distress caused you will be better able to discover new choices that can help change your life. These new perspectives will enable you to break free of repeating and unrewarding automatic behaviours and responses.
CBT is recommended by the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence for difficulties such as anxiety, phobias, panic, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder or post-traumatic stress disorder. CBT helps us see the links between our thoughts, emotions, physical sensations and behaviours. These factors can combine to form vicious cycles leading to unhelpful thoughts and behaviours. CBT offers strategies in order to help challenge and modify these.
MINDFULNESS is a skill which helps us notice how our minds naturally do things that create problems - such as over-thinking. Practising and applying mindfulness can help develop awareness of unhelpful or ‘stuck’ automatic behaviours and thoughts, leading to options for change. Mindfulness can be beneficial when applied to a wide range of emotional and physical health difficulties, improving well-being.
ACT is a mindfulness-based behavioural therapy. Research shows it helps people to manage psychological difficulties more effectively and can improve mood and resilience in order to enjoy a more meaningful and fuller life. ACT helps you move towards living the life you want guided by your values without requiring you to change your thoughts.  Instead it helps you develop strategies to respond differently to unhelpful and distressing thoughts and beliefs.  Using mindfulness based approaches, helps to ‘unhook’ from these challenging thoughts that can otherwise pull and push you around.
CFT was developed to help transform problematic patterns of thought and emotion related to anxiety, anger, shame and self-criticism.