Michael Napier, Cognitive Analytic Therapist

Qualifications

• Cognitive Analytic Therapy
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
• Mentalisation Based Treatment 
• MA Sociology 
• BA (Hons) Social Work

Experience

My background is in Mental Health Social Work and until recently I worked solely within the NHS. I initially worked within community social care settings - as a homelessness worker and then working with people with sensory loss. After qualifying as a social worker I worked within community mental health and mental health crisis care, developing a broad understanding of the common types of mental health difficulties we can experience in adult life. I also began to develop an understanding of different psychological approaches used to support people experiencing depression, anxiety and low self-esteem before working within a complex cases service. This service supported people with a diagnosis of personality disorder. Within this post, I trained in Mentalisation Based Treatment (MBT), an approach that helps to make sense of our thoughts, beliefs, wishes and feelings and to link these to our actions and behaviours. I also undertook introductory training in Group Psychoanalysis and Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) before deciding to train as a Cognitive Analytic Therapist (CAT).

Throughout my CAT training, I continued to work in crisis mental health whilst also working in a psychological medicine service as a trainee therapist. Cognitive Analytic Therapy is described as a “radically social” form of psychotherapy and it is this approach that drew me to train in it. Its focus on the “world within us, the world between us and the world around us” (Steven Potter 2020) makes CAT a flexible and accessible therapy that can be used to develop understanding and insight from a variety of standpoints. In this way, I have found that CAT is often helpful in untangling what can feel like complex and overwhelming difficulties in a user-friendly way. I have worked as a Therapist within an eating disorder service, a crisis and home treatment service and an acute admissions ward. I also have experience working with people with what is sometimes referred to as medically unexplained symptoms (for example non-epileptic seizures)

I’ve used CAT in a variety of settings, including developing its use within a Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Service - as a direct intervention with individuals, as a case formulation approach for indirect work and supporting staffing groups as a model for reflective practice. I have developed a deep appreciation of how useful CAT’s relational approach can be in working with people and teams who feel stuck and unable to make changes by themselves.

In my work I am repeatedly inspired by the people I meet and the courage and strength they show in transforming their lives while facing what can seem like insurmountable hurdles or lifelong problems. This confirms for me that no matter how difficult things are or may seem, we can all have great resilience and a capacity for learning, change and growth throughout our lives. I believe that change and growth in this context happens through the collaborative, warm and trusting relationship that psychological therapy offers. This allows us to develop awareness and insight into the difficulties we experience and to discover more helpful ways of managing them.