Justin Bailey

I have 15 years experience working in the NHS as a therapist and am a qualified and registered Cognitive Analytic Therapist and an Accredited Supervisor and my approach to therapy draws upon several different counselling techniques including: cognitive, analytic, psychodynamic, narrative and solution focused and sensorimotor approaches.

Our starting point will be to clearly identify the problem that needs to be addressed in therapy. You will have a sense of what this is and it may be a feeling (as in the case of low mood with depression, or fear as with anxiety). Alternatively it may be better described as something that you can't stop doing, or an issue with another person (as with interpersonal problems), or perhaps something more contextual and circumstantial (such as issues at work, home etc).

Identifying the problem clearly will allow us to set clear solution focused goals for our work and will give us something concrete to work towards and measure our success against. The assessment session/s are crucial for this and we will have a minimum of one and a maximum of four of these sessions. Moving on without clearly defining the problem and understanding how it came to arise is where most therapies go wrong.

After assessment you will have a clear target problem (perhaps more than one). You will decide how much time you want to spend addressing this problem in therapy and we will agree upon what is realistically achievable in therapy in the time frame that you have decided upon.

The middle sessions will focus upon recognising when the problem arises in real life situations, reflecting upon your typical responses to the problem and most importantly supporting you to make changes and find solutions. The techniques we will use to do this will depend upon the problem you bring and which techniques are most comfortable for you. (They may be cognitive, behavioural, psychodynamic, narrative or solution focused techniques and you will learn more about these options as your therapy progresses). For me it is important that you understand what it is that I am doing and that you are learning new techniques that you can take away with you. There should be no mysteries in therapy and the client should feel at ease to ask any questions about method and progress.

In the ending session/s we will work together to make a plan for the future. You may feel worried that the problem may return at a later date or that there is still some work to be done on the main target problem or other issues. We will use this time to plan for the future and I may recommend further reading or simply continuing the techniques that we have drawn upon in the therapy in a planned manner. Some people like a follow up session, six weeks after the ending session to see if they are still on track and are drawing upon successful techniques.

Simply put, my approach is clear and aims to leave you in a position at the end of therapy where you will have learnt the skills to become your own therapist, if and when life presents future difficulties.

I always aim to do this in respectful and empathic way that empowers the client.

My fees are £65 per session. Sessions are 50 to 60 minutes long.

Your first assessment session will be only £50 if you tell me at that session that you found me through this website.

Attending assessment session/s alone may be all that you require from me. If it would be possible for you to address your problem through your GP or through self help or other means, I will tell you at this point.

For some people clearly understanding certain problems can be enough.

For all people I believe strongly that less is more and that the therapist should help the client become the source of their own future well being in as short a time as possible. Ethically I believe in this approach as more empowering.

I am registered with ACAT - the Association of Cognitive Analytic Therapy

You can find my professional registration at: www.acat.me.org

I am also available for supervision for individuals or groups (please contact me for fees as this varies according to the make up of the group and your needs)