You don't need a mental health diagnosis or be in crisis to benefit from therapy. Therapy can be helpful when difficulties are affecting your relationships, work, school, sleep, confidence or day-to-day life, or when you feel that you're struggling to manage things on your own.

You might also seek therapy because you want to understand yourself better, make a change or develop new ways of coping. If you're unsure whether therapy is right for you, an initial conversation with a psychologist in our team can help you decide what kind of support, if any, would be helpful.

Children can go through periods of worry, sadness, anger or behaviours others find challenging without needing professional support. It may be worth considering therapy when difficulties are persistent, getting worse or beginning to interfere with your child's everyday life, friendships, family relationships or school.

You might notice changes in mood, sleep or eating, increased avoidance, frequent physical complaints, significant worries, emotional outbursts, withdrawal or difficulties attending school. You don't need to wait until things become severe before seeking advice. Early intervention is key. Sometimes a small amount of support at the right time can prevent difficulties from becoming more entrenched.

A Clinical or Counselling Psychologist can be helpful when emotional or psychological difficulties are having a significant impact on your life, or when you want a more specialist understanding of what is happening.

People see psychologists for many reasons, including anxiety, depression, trauma, OCD, eating difficulties, low self-esteem, relationship difficulties and difficulties associated with ADHD or autism.

You don't need to have a diagnosis before seeking support. A psychologist can help you understand your difficulties, develop a formulation and work collaboratively with you to decide what might help.

Both psychologists and counsellors can provide valuable psychological support, but their training and areas of expertise are different.

Clinical Psychologists are doctors and undertake extensive postgraduate training to doctoral level in psychological assessment, formulation and evidence-based psychological therapies. Counsellors are trained to provide therapeutic support, often focusing on helping people explore their thoughts, feelings and experiences.

At Collective Psychology, we have Clinical and Counselling Psychologists alongside other specialist therapists. This means we can consider your individual needs and help you find the right professional for you.

No. If you are accessing private psychological therapy through Collective Psychology, you can contact us directly and do not need a GP referral.

Some private medical insurance policies do require a GP referral or prior authorisation, so it is important to check your individual policy before starting treatment.

If you are unsure what type of support you need, you can contact us directly and we can help you work out what would be most appropriate. NHS pathways are different and may have their own referral requirements.

The first session is an opportunity for you and your psychologist to get to know one another and begin understanding what has brought you to therapy.

Your psychologist will usually ask about your current difficulties, what you would like to change and relevant aspects of your history and circumstances. Together, you will begin to develop an understanding of what may be contributing to your difficulties and what might help.

You will also have an opportunity to ask questions and decide whether the psychologist feels like the right person to work with you. Therapy should be a collaborative process, rather than something that is simply "done to you". Your psychologist will make recommendations following your first appointment about how they feel they can support you with your goals for therapy and which gold-standard, evidence-based therapies they feel would be the most helpful.

There is no standard number of therapy sessions. The amount of support someone needs depends on their difficulties, goals, circumstances and how they respond to treatment.

Some people benefit from a relatively brief course of therapy, while others need longer-term support. At Collective Psychology, we review progress throughout therapy and work with you to make sure the treatment remains focused on what you want to achieve.

Our aim is to provide the right amount of support, rather than keeping you in therapy for longer than necessary. Ultimately, we aim to understand your goals for therapy and get you there as quickly as possible.

The cost of therapy depends on the clinician, type of appointment and whether you are accessing therapy, assessment or another specialist service.

Our current fees are shown on our website (view here) and we will confirm the relevant fee before you start. Some people are also able to use private medical insurance to fund or contribute towards their treatment, depending on their policy and insurer.

If cost is an important consideration, please talk to us when you enquire and we can explain the options available.

Yes. Psychological therapy can be very effective in helping people understand and manage anxiety.

Therapy can help you understand the relationship between your thoughts, feelings, physical sensations and behaviours, and can give you practical strategies for responding differently to anxiety. Depending on the individual, approaches such as CBT, ACT or other evidence-based psychological therapies may be helpful.

For children and young people, therapy is adapted to their age, developmental stage and individual needs.

EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing. It is a psychological therapy that was originally developed to help people process distressing or traumatic experiences.

During EMDR, the therapist helps you focus on aspects of a difficult memory while using bilateral stimulation, such as guided eye movements. The aim is to help the brain process memories that may continue to feel distressing or threatening.

EMDR is particularly well established as a treatment for PTSD and trauma-related difficulties, although its suitability depends on the individual and their circumstances.

EMDR is an evidence-based psychological therapy, particularly for PTSD and trauma-related difficulties, but also for other mental health needs. It is recommended in NICE guidance alongside trauma-focused CBT as a treatment option for PTSD.

Research suggests that EMDR can help reduce the distress associated with traumatic memories and help people develop a different relationship with what has happened to them.

However, no therapy works in exactly the same way for everyone. A psychologist or therapist will consider your individual circumstances, current stability and treatment goals when deciding whether EMDR is appropriate.

Yes. Experiencing trauma can affect how someone thinks, feels and behaves long after the event itself has passed.

People may experience intrusive memories or nightmares, avoidance, heightened anxiety, changes in mood, difficulties trusting others or feeling safe, or a sense that the event is still happening in some way.

Trauma-focused therapies, including EMDR and trauma-focused CBT, can help people process traumatic experiences and reduce the impact they continue to have. The approach and pace of therapy will depend on the individual.

Anxiety can look different at different ages. Some children will talk openly about their worries, while others may communicate their anxiety through behaviour or physical symptoms.

Signs can include excessive worrying, difficulty sleeping, nightmares, irritability, becoming increasingly clingy, avoiding situations, difficulty concentrating, frequent tummy aches or feeling unwell, changes in eating and becoming distressed about school or social situations.

Some anxiety is a normal part of childhood. It becomes more concerning when it is persistent, getting worse or beginning to interfere with family life, friendships or school.

Yes. Psychological support can be helpful when a child or young person is struggling to attend school.

School refusal is usually not simply about a child "not wanting to go to school". There can be a range of factors involved, including anxiety, separation difficulties, social worries, perfectionism, bullying, neurodevelopmental differences, low mood or difficulties coping with particular aspects of school.

Therapy can help understand what is driving the difficulty and support the young person, family and school to develop a plan for increasing attendance and reducing anxiety. Where appropriate, we work collaboratively with parents and schools to support a consistent approach.

This is very common, and forcing a teenager into therapy rarely creates the best starting point.

It can be more helpful to understand what is behind their reluctance. They may worry about being judged, feel that therapy means something is "wrong" with them, not want to talk to a stranger or simply not believe that therapy will help.

Our psychologists work hard to build a genuine relationship with young people and give them an appropriate sense of choice and control. Sometimes the first goal isn't to address the presenting problem at all…it is simply to create enough trust for the young person to feel comfortable talking. There are other ways we can help demystify therapy through sharing video messages in advance of therapy to help overcome any worries about what to expect.

Parents can also seek advice and support themselves, even when their teenager isn't ready to engage.

ADHD can involve difficulties with attention, impulsivity and/or hyperactivity, but these difficulties can also occur for many other reasons.

What matters is the pattern of difficulties, how long they have been present, whether they occur across different settings and how significantly they affect the child's everyday life. Other factors such as anxiety, autism, sleep difficulties, learning differences and emotional difficulties can also affect attention and behaviour.

If you are concerned that your child may have ADHD, a conversation with us, your GP or school SENCO can be a useful starting point. A specialist assessment can then consider the wider picture rather than simply looking at individual symptoms.

Autism can present in many different ways, and there is no single checklist that can tell you whether a child is autistic.

Possible signs can include differences in social communication and interaction, a strong preference for routines or predictability, highly focused interests, repetitive behaviours, sensory sensitivities or becoming overwhelmed by particular environments.

Some children, particularly girls and children who have learned to mask their difficulties, may present in less obvious ways. A specialist assessment considers the child's developmental history, behaviour across different settings and the overall pattern of strengths and difficulties.

If you have concerns, you can discuss them with us, your GP, school SENCO or an appropriately qualified specialist.

Yes. Collective Psychology offers online psychological therapy alongside face-to-face appointments at our clinics.

Online therapy can be a convenient option if you live further away, have difficulty travelling or prefer the flexibility of having appointments from home. It can also provide access to a specialist psychologist who may not be based at your nearest Collective Psychology clinic.

Whether online therapy is appropriate depends on the individual, their age, difficulties and clinical needs. We can discuss this with you when you enquire.

Appointment availability varies depending on the psychologist, their specialist area, location and whether you are looking for face-to-face or online therapy.

Because Collective Psychology has a large team of clinicians, we can often look across our wider team to identify suitable availability rather than relying on one psychologist.

If you are looking for an appointment within a particular timeframe, let us know when you contact us and we will do our best to identify appropriate options.

Finding the right psychologist is about more than simply finding someone who has an available appointment.

We consider factors such as your age, the difficulties you are experiencing, your goals, the psychologist's specialist experience, therapeutic approach, location and whether you would prefer face-to-face or online support.

At Collective Psychology, our team includes clinicians with a wide range of specialist expertise. If you're not sure who would be the best fit, you don't need to work that out yourself. Tell us a little about what you're looking for and we'll help you identify an appropriate psychologist.