CBT Dublin – How Can We Help?

Counselling and CBT involves sharing thoughts, feelings and problems in a confidential and supportive environment. If you have identified a difficulty and wish to make some changes, then congratulations – you have taken the first step towards resolving any obstacle. After this, all that is required of you is a willingness to explore and reflect on your life’s experiences, and to be open to the possibility of learning new skills, thought patterns or behaviours to help you cope with life’s ups and downs.

In order to learn more about you, and to explore what you want to achieve from Counselling, it’s a good idea to bring a Problem List along to your first session. The list can be as long or as short as you like. Your first CBT session is usually spent discussing your concerns, and the issue(s) you would like support with. We also talk about CBT itself, and how our thoughts, feelings and behaviours all interact in the situations we are in.

CBT says that it is not the situations that we find ourselves in, or the events we experience, that are really important – it is how we perceive and evaluate them. You will generally find that your past experiences, your beliefs and your predictions all play an important part in how you perceive certain situations, and therefore how you react to them.

It varies. Although Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is a relatively short-term, goal-directed form of therapy, the duration of Counselling still depends on factors such as how long you have experienced your difficult(ies), the level of distress you feel, the number of problems you have identified on your Problem List and, of course, your willingness to attend regularly and work with your CBT Therapist on achieving your Counselling goals.

What we generally advise is that within six sessions, you’ll have a good understanding of the principles of CBT and be able to explain what has been going on for you, in CBT terms. You’ll even be starting to put some of the principles into practice and noticing some benefits. After that, it’s up to you, your engagement and your own hard work. Most people attend for between 8 and 15 sessions.

Not necessarily. CBT is an effective way of challenging a lot of issues and difficulties, but it’s not a panacea or a “cure-all” for everything. For some issues, research shows us that it’s better to weave some CBT methods in with other psychological approaches. Or to offer somebody support from a multidisciplinary team of experts, rather than just one individual therapist. If we don’t think our service is the best one to meet your needs, we’ll explain why, and help you source another service if we can.
Issues listed on the Difficulties and Disorders page are simply the areas that we specialise in at CBT Dublin.

The session cost is €80. Sessions last one hour.

Sorry, no.  We are not presently in a position to reduce our fees, but keep an eye on our website as we may be in a position to do so in the future.

Initially, you will be asked to attend at the same time every week. This is to maximise the effectiveness of CBT and to get you up and running with the CBT skills. When you are putting these new skills into day to day use, and starting to see the changes, we are happy for you to attend less frequently if you wish.

When we collaboratively agree that it is time for Counselling to finish, you will be invited to return one month later for a “relapse prevention” session to see how you have been getting on and to explore your exciting future without the need for regular Counselling.

Sometimes due to unforeseen circumstances, a client needs to cancel or reschedule an appointment. However, cancellations of less than 24 hours’ notice will incur a €40 charge. This is because your session is booked and held for you alone. Furthermore, the possibility of being charged a fee discourages people from not turning up at the last minute, and let’s face it – Counselling requires some work and effort that sometimes, being human, we think we’re not in the mood for that day.

However, it is very important that you attend for all your scheduled CBT sessions and we make every effort to support you in attending regularly.

Sorry, no.  CBT Dublin does not specialise in Relationship Counselling or Family Therapy, but rather individual Counselling and CBT.  If you are a couple or a family group, we recommend you contact a professional specialising in that particular service.

Yes. At first, you will be asked to attend alone but as Counselling progresses, partners or family members are welcome to attend for a session if you feel that this would be supportive for you. However, before anybody else is invited, we thoroughly discuss issues such as confidentiality so that your privacy is respected at all times.

Certainly. Sometimes it’s appropriate to take medication; your G.P. is best positioned to advise you on medical matters. However, the side effects of medication cause some people concern. While medication may be very helpful in coping with symptoms, it may not address the root cause of your difficulty. And when you discontinue the medication, you haven’t learned any new skills or approaches to challenge the issue on your own.

If you’re considering CBT, why not talk to your G.P.? Most G.P.’s are very supportive of CBT, and can either prescribe you a short-term medication, or one whose dosage can be reduced as CBT progresses.

CBT Dublin is located in Blackrock Village, Co. Dublin close to the DART station. View Map