I can facilitate a bespoke all-day workshop called ‘An Introduction to CBT/ ACT in HE’. This workshop has been used as part of a new starter induction programmes.

My main aim is to help new therapists to the HE Sector adjust to working in a very short way with the university student population. I created this workshop because of the unique elements of working in HE today, the brevity of the work and to help therapists manage large and complicated caseloads. 

We explore the following themes in the workshop:

• The setting, comparing and contrasting the NHS and the university environment (we discuss culture, identity, learning and failure, and other topics)

• Working with the university student (we think about power, risk, clinical examples, transitions, brain development, social environment, student identity, running a group, and other topics)

• Integration into the team (we cover being heard in an MDT with varying modalities and ways of formulating presenting issues, how to do presentations and case discussions, and other topics)

Please contact me to discuss the workshop in greater detail, fees and your requirements.

“I found the mentoring session to be so useful – thank you again for your time. It was especially helpful to hear about your experience as a behavioural therapist in a (mixed modality) higher education service. Additionally, thinking about our remit, what is possible and about how to utilise our sessions was very useful. The very best information for me was thinking about formulating with the students in short term work. I have been using the Matrix since our meeting and find it such a great tool that is clear and easy to understand for the students – I have already been getting very good feedback from students. Generally what I hoped for from our all-day session was to think about working as a behavioural therapist and integrating in the larger team, how to structure/maximise sessions with students in particular/and to gain any tips from your experience –and I thought we did all that!”

— Lindy

“In regard to the all day session I found that the structure worked really well for us. In particular, I thought the power point structured our discussions and day very well. The pace of the day and the amount of time we gave to each point in our agenda was really helpful. I found the discussion surrounding formulating a patient very useful, particularly the fact that we used a client we were each seeing to do this. It really got me thinking about a new way of working! I particularly found your approach refreshing and normalising- I really liked the way you used your own personal examples from practice (things have worked and approaches that haven’t) to help us learn from this. Therefore I felt I got what I wanted (and more) from the day.”

— Roxy

“I thought all the content was relevant and useful and sparked lots of thought for me around the university structures, developing an identity for myself in the team, being aware of dynamics currently present. It was really useful to consider differences between work here and the NHS, what has been successful for me in the past and considering our role as psychologists within the university space and the expectations and limitations of that. Hearing first-hand experience from you of student presentations relating to culture and subject was really interesting and considering the broad range of work ahead was exciting. The discussion around helping students tolerate distress really stuck with me and I have been trying to hold onto that, whilst not getting too drawn into the urgency students bring with them of wanting you to fix their problems, I’m working on it! It also was a nice balance between being relaxed and structured and your humour and manner made it engaging.”

— Avril