Around 1 in 5 people suffer from anxiety or depression every year.
Talking therapies provide people with support and treatment to overcome these difficulties.
If you think you might be anxious or depressed, then you can refer yourself by giving Westminster talking therapies service a call, sending them an email, or using the online self-referral form.
Or if you prefer, you can ask us about the service and we can refer you to them. If English is not your first language they will provide interpreters, including British Sign Language interpreters for all your appointments.
Phone: 030 3333 0000
Email: westminster.iapt@nhs.net
https://talkingtherapies.cnwl.nhs.uk/westminster
There are lots of different types of talking therapies, but they all involve working with a trained therapist. This may be one-to-one, in a group, online, or over the phone.
For some problems a certain type of talking therapy may be better than another, and different talking therapies also suit different people in different ways.
You may also want to look at their resources page helpful-resources
Example: High Intensity Treatment
"I was referred to the service by my GP, for anxiety/depression brought on by large and rather sudden changes in my personal circumstances. I was feeling a high level of panic and anxiety, with pretty severe effects on my work, home life, relationships and sleep.
I was able to see a High Intensity Therapist within a week of being referred, which was absolutely brilliant - I was expecting a bit of a wait, but he assured me that if I urgently needed to speak to someone in that week, I could. This in itself gave me some much-needed reassurance that help was out there.
My first session with him was, obviously, an exploratory one, finding out a bit of background and working out exactly what the problems were and how they were affecting me. I left the first session feeling that I had done something immediate towards getting better - he was reassuring, calm, and focussed on what "plan" we could make for getting me better.
I saw him approximately every week for 6 sessions. He gave me "homework" to do in between each session, to consolidate what we had discussed, and to help me to help myself. I found cognitive behavioural therapy really, really works for me - it's something that makes a lot of sense in my mind - we are the only ones who can control our minds, and if we can firstly recognise and secondly thus change the way we THINK about things, then this can help change our (often-negative) perceptions of ourselves and the world.
I now feel equipped with tools to help myself if, in the future, I start to feel unsure or anxious again - I have been taught to recognise the signs, the triggers and the results of these feelings, which is the first and vital step in being able to change behavioural and thinking patterns. CBT is something that I feel I have learned, and can adapt this learning for future needs if they arise.
I would wholeheartedly recommend this service to anyone - it is a way of treating people which focuses on them individually, yet gives a very simple and effective way of helping them find their own way out of their difficult circumstances (which also gives a very strong sense of having "helped yourself" to some extent, as well as acknowledging the invaluable help of the trained professional - this is pretty positive stuff when you are feeling down, afraid and powerless!). It was very helpful to know that I was going to be seen within a week of referral - when you are feeling as desperate and frightened as I was, it is indescribably reassuring to know that you are not going to have to wait an indeterminate period of time to see someone. My positive experience of the service was consolidated by realising very early on that this was a method of treatment that goes straight to the crux of the situation, and provides a very swift means of addressing the problems and finding the best solution, which, happily, turns out to be inside the individual all along - it's just a matter of accessing new thought patterns and changing the way you look at something!"