I have always enjoyed being with people, being interested in relationships and interactions in groups. I saw mental illness impact people in my own family and felt a need to help but didn’t know how. This is where my interest in psychology was born.
Training as a psychotherapist has been an interesting journey for me. I have been in many roles over the years, always working in mental health, that enabled me to see the impact of mental illness not only on the person struggling but also on their friends and families. It also gave me an insight into the broad spectrum of emotional difficulties and what a barrier the stigma associated with being ‘ill’ in this way can be to seeking help.
There’s a wide range of therapeutic approaches that can help people to manage their struggles, each using different strategies to alleviate the symptoms they are finding difficult. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is just one of these approaches.
CBT for me is a great treatment option because it is about the here and now and works to empower people towards change at a time when often people feel powerless and stuck. CBT is about recognising the way your own thoughts and behaviour can impact your mood. We don’t often “think about what we are thinking”, such that negative internal dialogue can go on depleting our sense of happiness and comfort. Being curious about your thoughts and being taught to challenge them can make a significant difference. In addition to this, CBT helps explore how your own behaviour influences the way you feel and in what way you may be empowered to make much needed changes in your life, which perhaps you have felt unable to do until now.
Each and every person I see teaches me something new about this process. Although there are a range of skills and techniques specific to CBT that are supportive, the way in which a person applies them to help for their specific problem is always quite unique. I feel so very priveliged to be allowed to go on this journey with them.
I leave you with a story of impact very early on in my practice. A lady in her 40’s, a school teacher, a mother, a wife, a daughter – articulate, intelligent, caring, charismatic. A difficult life event that stole her confidence, crippled by panic attacks, unable to work and eventually confined to her own home feeling exiled from the life she had once known. She felt there was no way out. She came to me with the hope that she could find a way to live again. She gained her strength from the memory of the life she once had. She worked at it, she challenged her own thoughts, and through these changed beliefs she managed to push herself harder than she knew she could. All that was needed was a little support and a new understanding of what she was experiencing. What’s more, she had told me of her sadness at feeling like an outsider in her own family. At times, as she hadn’t been able to engage as a mother. Through the work we did together, on the last day of therapy she shared with me that she had taken her children to Birmingham City Centre, and from an elevated view she felt free of the chains that had held her down for the past few years. I often think about her when I see people for the first time and their difficulties seem insurmountable. It reminds me that with some knowledge and support their goals can become a reality. My opportunity to walk those rocky roads with them and help them find their destination is always a great pleasure.
I am running CBT sessions at the Solihull Wellbeing Clinic where there are an abundance of therapy and counselling modalities for you to consider. Do contact me(Aiesha Wright) for more information at my profile, as to what may be possible and beneficial for your particular needs..