Therapy Approach FAQs: CBT, ACT, CFT & EMDR

CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) helps you understand the links between your thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. It’s especially useful for identifying unhelpful thinking patterns (like "I’m not good enough") and learning new, more balanced ways of thinking and responding. It’s practical, evidence-based, and focused on making meaningful changes.

ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) focuses less on changing your thoughts and more on changing your relationship with them. It helps you make space for difficult thoughts and feelings without getting stuck in them, so you can take action in line with your values. ACT is especially helpful when control and avoidance have become your go-to strategies.

CFT (Compassion Focused Therapy) helps you develop a more supportive, caring relationship with yourself — especially when your inner critic is loud. It’s grounded in understanding how your brain has evolved to detect threat, and how this can lead to shame and self-criticism. CFT helps shift you out of survival mode and into a mindset of self-compassion, courage and connection.

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) is a powerful therapy for processing past experiences that still affect you now. These could be clear traumas or more subtle events that left a lasting emotional imprint. EMDR helps your brain reprocess and integrate these memories so they lose their emotional charge and no longer get in the way of your present life.

Yes. EMDR isn’t just for major traumas. It’s also effective for things like low self-worth, chronic anxiety, perfectionism, and imposter feelings — especially when they’re linked to earlier experiences of not feeling good enough, safe, or accepted. We target the root of the emotional pattern, not just the surface symptom.

You don’t need to worry about choosing the right model — that’s my job. I integrate these approaches flexibly, depending on what you’re struggling with and what will help. Sometimes we’ll work more cognitively, other times more emotionally or experientially. I’ll always explain what we’re doing and why.

That’s completely valid — not all therapy is the same. You may not have found the right fit, or the approach might not have matched what you needed at the time. The way I work is collaborative, down-to-earth, and tailored to you. You’re not starting from scratch — you’re starting from experience.