"Cognitive Behavioural Therapy"

I attended Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) through Inclusion Matters. Before the sessions began I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect, I had guessed from the name it is thinking about what we do, our behaviour. I had previously seen a counsellor but these CBT sessions were very different. The CBT sessions were more constructive and designed for me to look at the problems in my life and decide what I can do to make things better, making plans and sticking to them. With the counsellor I had sat and poured out my feelings, but in CBT we looked at how my behaviour affects my feelings, I had to be proactive to make the most of the sessions and sometimes it was hard work sticking to my goals and plans. You have to be prepared to help yourself. A lot of the therapy is common sense but its helps to have someone examine your behaviour and each week monitor your progress. It’s good to have someone on board.

One of the tasks she set me was to keep a diary of what I do each day & how it made me feel. Obviously I know what I like and what makes me happy and vice versa, or so I thought. My therapist spotted problems that I hadn’t even realised, or pointed out that certain activities which I try to avoid (like seeing friends and family) actually make me happy & lift my mood.

My therapist was great, even though I wasn’t there to pour out emotions she was really friendly and I felt that she was interested in what I had to say and was supportive. She even did some research on my problems outside the session and gave me some websites to read up further.

After the therapy I really felt great. For the first time in a long time I felt like I was starting to function properly. I wasn’t yet living the perfect life I envisioned for myself but I could see it was possible. I had come so far and overcome what I had felt were big hurdles, and I felt better and life got better. It had a knock on effect and I felt more positive and more confident that I was able to deal with problems on my own.

We spent the last session preparing a plan to make sure my behaviour did not slip back again. I made notes on what I need to do to maintain progress. What could trigger a setback, what may be signs to look out for if I was having a set back and the steps I would take to stop it. I keep these notes to hand and hopefully I wont need them but Ive learnt to be sensible. I still have to give myself a push in the right direction but its becoming more like second nature rather than something that felt impossible before. Thank you Inclusion Matters.