Our therapy and counselling services give you the relevant skills you need to move forward.  When you meet with a CBT Therapist, Counsellor or Psychologists, you’ll learn how to relax from anxiety, lift your mood and reduce depression or manage stress. We’ll also teach you how to increase your confidence, deal with trust-issues and repair your relationship.

We aim to get to the root of your problems quickly. You won’t spend longer than you need working through them, but we’ll make sure you get fully equipped with the best coping strategies so that you can move forward without our assistance.

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It’s not just talking…we teach you New Coping Strategies you can practice everyday

Just like every other living human being, you’ll suffer at some point in your life. You’ll want more from your work and your relationships. If you feel stuck, then it’s a sign it is serious.  Our therapy and counselling services focus on CBT and other evidence-based psychological approaches, which teach you what works. You’ll learn simple, practical and effective techniques to help you cope better and to keep moving forward. Our methods are based on a deep pool of scientific research into behavioural, cognitive, emotional, neuro-biological and evolutionary principles.  Our team of skilled therapists, counsellors and psychologists are here to provide you with the necessary support to make the changes you want.

We aim to help you quickly find stability and strengthen your emotional, psychological, social and professional well-being. We can’t promise a pain-free life. But, we can show how to be more resilient when life gets tough.

Our Therapy & Counselling Services

(Birmingham in-person or Online Video)

Our Therapy and Counselling services will give you the support, guidance and skills you’ll need to stop struggling and live life to the full. We’ll help you let go of anxiety, lift your mood out of depression, tackle work-related stress, build your confidence, overcome past traumas and mend conflicts in your relationships.

What are the benefits of Counselling?

Many people ask themselves this question: do I need counselling?  It’s one that is not always easy to answer. On the one hand, you feel stuck. You’ve been struggling and despite your best efforts, you can’t find a way past it. On the other hand, it might not be that serious and you think you need to be more patient and life will improve. Hope for the best and keep doing what you are doing. Right?

What do you have to lose?

Well, maybe. In truth, what do you have to lose? You may be anxious that counselling won’t help and then you’ll be worse off. However, many people do benefit from therapy. It can give you a better understanding of what you are struggling with and why. It can make you feel calmer.

Therapy can create powerful transformations

Therapy can reduce feelings of shame and embarrassment. Nearly all of us will or have struggled with our emotions. That is what it means to be human. When you can offer this kindness and self-compassion, your feelings of loneliness and isolation get transformed into feelings of connection and belonging.

Good therapy teaches you how to deal with these issues more effectively. It needs more than just talking. A good counsellor will teach you the relevant coping strategies and techniques to tackle your particular difficulty.

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What is the difference between CBT, Counselling & Psychotherapy?

It can be a bit tricky getting your head around the differences between counselling, CBT and psychotherapy.

Here is a quick and simple run down of the main points.

What is CBT?

CBT stands for Cognitive Behavioural Therapies. Cognition is just a fancy word for thought. And behavioural is in the term, because its all about how your thinking impacts your behaviours. This is important, because whilst your thoughts can be a source of laughter, creativity and connection, they can also take you to dark places. The way one thinks is instrumental to the process of suffering or its opposite; well-being.

What is Counselling?

Counselling does pay attention to what you are thinking and feeling as well. The big difference is that CBT teaches you specific strategies and techniques that are chosen depending on the nature of your difficulty. When a CBT therapists meets you for a consultation, they complete an assessment and start to develop something called a formulation. This formulation describes what you are struggling with, why it started and what is keeping it going. This is different to a diagnosis, more commonly used in physical health. The ‘big-benefit’ of CBT is that it you can learn techniques that are going to be more effective, because they come from a very individual account of your difficulties. They are chosen to suit you rather than you and your problem being made to fit a general and broad category that doesn’t recognise how you and Mr Banks down the road are different.

What is Psychotherapy?

Psychotherapy is a broad term used to cover a number of different approaches. Counselling is based on specific relationship and conversational skills, but doesn’t has what is called a ‘model’. A model is made up of a theory of human beings, their minds and their behaviour. This theory then contains various methods to help people make changes in their lives. All psychotherapy models use ‘formulations’ to help a person, which is one of their strengths. However, some therapies have been shown to be effective than others for certain types of problem.

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What happens in Counselling and Psychotherapy?

The first appointment

In the first appointment, you’ll sit down with a therapist, counsellor or psychologist for one hour.

It is a chance to talk about what you are struggling with, e.g. anxiety, depression, stress at work, trust or past traumatic events, relationships or confidence.

Your therapist will ask you some questions so that they can get a clear picture of what is happening. We can give you some feedback to help you understand why you are stuck, and we can answer your questions too. It may seem like your problems are strange and unusual, especially if you don’t know anyone who is suffering in similar ways. The truth is that your distress doesn’t make you different from other people; it’s what makes you human.

A lot of the time, people don’t talk about their thoughts and feelings, because they’re embarrassed or ashamed. It’s a way of trying to stay safe, but it can also make you feel more isolated and alone.

The relief of sharing your problem

When you talk to a therapist, counsellor or psychologist, it can feel like an enormous weight has lifted from your shoulders. If you’d like that relief, then get in touch to book a consultation.

Your therapist will also ask you what you want to change. Therapy isn’t just talking to someone who will listen; it’s about building something new and different in your life. A good question to ask yourself now; what do you want to change or how do you want your life to be different?

Outline a Plan for Therapy

Once you and your therapists have talked about what you are struggling with and what you want to change, they’ll outline a therapy plan with you. A therapy plan includes:

• Life Goals – what you want to accomplish

• Description of the Problem – a summary of the thoughts, feelings and coping strategies that you currently have

• Psychological Account of why you are stuck – your therapist will share some insights with you so that you can understand the skills that you’ve not yet learned

• Practicalities – an agreement of how often you’ll meet (usually weekly), fees, methods of payment and appointment times.

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How many sessions will I need?

It’s difficult to be certain, because every situation is different.  Once we’ve completed our Assessment in the Initial Consultation, we’ll have a better idea of the number of sessions you’ll benefit from.

There are several factors that influence the success or progress of therapy. For example, you therapist needs to teach you the relevant skills. It is equally important that you make the time to implement these new skills into your life. After all, this is how new patterns come about.

After some time, we’d expect to see you benefiting from the work we’re doing together.

As a ball-park figure, nearly everyone we see requires at least 6 sessions. Many people benefit from between 6 and 12 sessions. And, sometimes people come for longer or for more sessions that are spread out over time. For example, you might start off weekly or fortnightly and then when you’ve learned enough skills, you can switch to 3 weekly or monthly.

What factors might mean I need more sessions?

In our experience, the following factors might suggest a need for more sessions:

• Having multiple problems that you want to tackle. For example, you are struggling at work and in your personal relationships.

• You suffered with multiple adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and these have impacted you significantly.

• Appointments aren’t attended regularly and so we don’t get to the work often enough.

• Difficulties with ‘trust’. Whilst these are often born out of adverse childhood experiences, a lack of trust can make life very lonely. Learning to build trust and developing wisdom about trust can take time, courage and persistence.

• A lack of supportive friends and family. We are social beings and isolation or disconnection are major causes of poor psychological well-being. Part of our work may involve building up relationships and social circles to create a greater sense of belonging.

What makes Openforwards different to the other therapists and counsellors?

As specialists in well-being and evidence-based interventions, our team of therapists, counsellors and psychologists go beyond the conventional wisdom.  We recognise that there is a limit to just talking about your problems, which is why we do much more than sit back and listen.  We’ll teach you the practical steps to take through relevant and accessible ‘how-to’ guides.  Our experiences have taught us that people can make extraordinary transformations when they feel supported, encouraged and guided to step outside of their comfort zones.  By implementing our ‘brave and gentle’ approach to change, you can work at your pace, move forward with purpose and stay on-track as time goes by.