Currently all of our courses and group treatments are being offered digitally. Most one to one treatments are also digital or via telephone unless a clinical need is identified in which case sessions can be face to face.

Telephone guided self-help

Telephone guided self-help is the first step to access one to one support.

It involves working through self-help material specific to your difficulties with support from your psychological wellbeing practitioner (PWP).

You will receive up to six 30-minute sessions of guided help. The sessions are normally held every two weeks.

We will introduce you to self-help material to help you to get the most from it.

Benefits

Other forms of one to one support

Most one to one treatments are digital unless a clinical need is identified in which case sessions can be face to face.

Behavioural Couples Therapy (BCT)

Behavioural Couples Therapy is an approach that can help people in a relationship when one or both is suffering with depression.

It is a form of behaviour therapy that aims to identify and change unhelpful relationship patterns that may feed into depression.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy has been proven to be effective for a wide range of emotional and physical health conditions.

This is a structured therapy that helps clients explore how their thoughts and actions can really affect how they feel.

Doing less can sometimes make you feel rested but at other times leave you feeling low like you have not achieved enough.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapists help people to understand and make changes to unhelpful thoughts and behaviours which negatively impact on a person’s mood.

These unhelpful thoughts and behaviours are often responsible for helping to maintain depression or anxiety.

Counselling for Depression (CfD)
  • CfD involves an exploration of a client’s  feelings and whether or not these match up to what is really going on.
  • New ways of understanding difficulties may develop which might offer more self-acceptance and provide opportunities to make positive changes.
  • Rather than focusing on symptoms or problems, CfD focuses on the client themselves and is less structured than CBT or IPT.
  • It is an evidence based treatment for depression within NHS Talking Therapies services, which typically lasts for  6 – 20 sessions.
Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (DIT)

Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy is a 16 session model of treatment for low mood. It is a psychodynamic approach that helps the individual understand the connection between their low mood and significant patterns in their relationships. To do this we identify a core (often unconscious), repetitive pattern of relating to people. This pattern is the focus for the therapy.

It is likely to be useful if patients hear from the outset that as with most therapies Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy considers that your experiences in the past affect how you think and feel in the here and now.

However, this therapy focuses on, and works via, exploring the choices people make now in their relationships (how they behave, what they say, the expectations they have etc.) and the understanding that this is central to their experience of low mood.

DIT helps the patient to challenge unhelpful ways of relating to people, find and test more productive/helpful ways of relating to people on the understanding that this could lead to a more positive mood.

Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing (EMDR)

Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing (EMDR) is a psychotherapy that has been recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

In traumatic situations the intensity of psychological distress can mean the brain is unable to process information normally. EMDR uses a method known as ‘bilateral stimulation’, usually through side to side eye movements, whilst focusing on distressing memories with the therapist. This helps the brain process frozen or blocked information and, as a result, traumatic memories lose their intensity and become less distressing.

Within NHS Oxfordshire Talking Therapies we offer EMDR for people experiencing PTSD from a single traumatic event. We do not offer treatment for people experiencing PTSD from many traumatic events over a long period of time as this type of treatment usually requires a more specialist level of support.

Interpersonal Therapy (IPT)

Interpersonal Therapy focuses on your relationships with others and problems you may be having in your relationships, such as difficulties with communication or coping with bereavement.

Your therapist will ask you questions to help you to take stock of the relationships that are important to you, looking at their strengths and any problems.

Once you and your therapist have gained a clearer picture of the relationship difficulties that are connected with your symptoms, you can then agree on the main relationship problem areas that therapy will focus on.

Expectations

What to expect from us:

  • Our team are supervised and trained in the therapies offered to ensure you receive the highest quality of care.
  • We work alongside you and are committed to keeping you and others safe. There may be occasions when we need to share some information with other services to do this.
  • To help you in the best way we can, we keep information about your care on a secure and confidential computer system.

What we expect from you:

  • To commit to time limited appointments and be willing to consider the idea of making changes to get the most from therapy.
  • Tell us as soon as possible if you are unable to attend your appointment.
  • If you do not come to a booked appointment we will call and then write to you to see if you would still like treatment. If we do not hear from you, we will assume that you no longer want therapy and will refer you back to the care of your GP.

Locations

Our support sessions, if face to face, take place at venues across Oxfordshire.

What if I am outside of the UK?

If you are outside of the UK (holidaying, studying or working) at any time, we are unable to offer you care.

Our clinicians will routinely ask about your whereabouts as part of checking you are in a confidential and safe place to be able to proceed with the appointment, if not you will be offered the opportunity to rebook for when you are back in Oxfordshire.

Page last reviewed: 27 March, 2024