What Do You Do? podcast
Suzanne Allies | Psychotherapist | CORE Mental Health
With societal stigmas, long NHS waiting lists and a belief that physical health is more of a priority than mental health, it’s not surprising that the UK’s mental health has been steadily declining since 2016. Though even when a private alternative is available, as Suzanne says, it’s still seen as a luxury rather than a necessity.
Key Takeaways
- In contrast to counselling, sessions can continue for as long as 9 months, as psychotherapy looks deeper into past experiences.
- Whilst seeking therapy is becoming more accepted, there is still a significant stigma around it. One of Suzanne’s biggest challenges is people being referred for therapy who don’t believe that it works.
- There’s no one tool or technique that works in psychotherapy – instead a range of tools and techniques are available that could help a patient.
The Role of a Psychotherapist
A Judgement-Free Zone
As Suzanne explains in the episode, the role of a psychotherapist is to provide a safe space, where patients are encouraged to share their innermost thoughts without fear of judgement or gossip. Active listening, empathy, and compassion are key skills for a psychotherapist, and allow a patient to explore their feelings and experiences deeply, leading to healing and personal growth.
With this as a strong foundation, the next step is to find tools and techniques that work with a patient’s needs. For anxiety, for example, this could be breathing exercises, mindfulness and regular movement. Suzanne also offers art therapy and even gardening to help her patients. The role of the psychotherapist is to understand which tools and techniques to suggest for which diagnosis.
Psychotherapy sessions can last up to 9 months, allowing a deeper dive into past experiences. Clients can also return for what Suzanne calls “maintenance” sessions, helping clients to prevent relapses.
What Do We Do?
We founded the What Do You Do? podcast to hear from people like Suzanne, where people don’t quite understand what exactly it is they do.
Videos, like the one above, are a great way to increase understanding of a person, product, or cause – find out how we can do it here.
written by
Videographer and video producer with over 15 years experience in both B2B and B2C video marketing. He writes about everything he learned delivering over 1200 video projects across the engineering, education, charity and tech sectors.
