We will explore together what factors in your past and present may be contributing to / maintaining your difficulties, This can be in terms of specific experiences / circumstances you have faced in your life, and also in terms of the thoughts, feelings and behaviours that can maintain distress.

In practice, this usually involves us asking questions relating to your current experiences, for example are there any particular thoughts / images that are bothering you? How are you feeling currently in terms of your emotional wellbeing? Sad, angry, anxious, ashamed, empty, confused or content? Are you engaging in any actions that are getting in the way of you reaching your goals, e.g. using substances in a way that feels unhelpful to you, not getting enough sleep, avoiding certain tasks, and/or have you moved away from any activities that previously gave you joy / contentment? These questions help us to build a picture of the links between your thoughts, feelings and behaviours that may be keeping your difficulties going, so that we can hopefully identify possible areas for change and improvement.

We will usually also ask questions about your earlier experiences, as our childhood / early adulthood experiences, both positive and negative, can act as a blueprint for how we understand ourselves, other people and the world in general. Often, links can be found between our early experiences and current functioning.

Formulation is a constantly evolving process as we unearth new information together, and will be carried out at your own pace. There is no pressure to tell your psychologist everything that is important to you in the first appointment; we understand that some things are difficult for many people to talk about, and whilst we are absolutely open to hear these things, we also want you to feel safe and supported in this process and that you have control of your own story and experience.

Once we have a good understanding of what might be causing and maintaining distress, we can then think together about possible strategies to alleviate this. Formulation also considers the strengths and values that you can draw on to help you to achieve your goals.