Therapy

Psychological Therapy for Your well-being

At North Ayrshire Psychology, we offer a range of evidence-based psychological therapy services to help you to improve your mental well-being. Therapy sessions are tailored to your own unique needs, based on your assessment and psychological formulation. This can evolve over time as your needs and goals change, or remain focussed on whatever issue is most important to you.

In practice, therapy will aim to help you to understand the links between your thoughts, emotions and actions, and to reflect on the things that we have identified as potential maintaining factors for your distress, and to think of ways to alleviate this. For example, if your distress is caused by loneliness because anxiety has led you to avoid your hobbies / interests / friendships, therapy can help you consider what meaningful steps could you take towards the things that matter to you / interaction with other people, to in turn alleviate the feelings of loneliness. Therapy may also aim to help you to develop your skills in self compassion, to treat yourself more kindly (as you might treat a close friend), and to understand the barriers you might face regarding this. It will likely also involve helping you to identify your own personal values (what really matters to you), and help you to plan how to live more closely in accordance with these values - for example if being fully present in your life is important to you but you are facing difficulties in this regard, what steps could you take to bring a greater sense of presence to your life (e.g. phone free evenings, mindfulness practice e.t.c.).

Therapy can also provide a safe space for you to speak about traumatic life events such as abuse / neglect, grief / loss, loss of role / role transition, a sense of loss regarding not having experienced certain life stages / events, relationship / friendship difficulties, experiences of discrimination or any other life events which have caused you distress. Therapy can also offer space to feel heard about current life stressors, such as carer stress, relationship difficulties, work stress or any other current source of distress in your life.

Therapies offered by North Ayrshire Psychology include Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Compassion Focussed Therapy (CFT). In practice, we tend to utilise a mixture of these disciplines to best suit our individual clients' needs, or chose one main modality as informed by the formulation / discussion with clients re their favoured type of approach and own goals for therapy.

We offer 1-1 psychological therapy. We do not offer specific couples or family therapy, however if having somebody with you for some of your appointments would be helpful to you then this can usually be accommodated. We can also offer one off appointments to people within your support circle if this would have a therapeutic benefit to you.

Fees

Sessions are 55 minutes in duration. Fees are £110 per session for telephone or zoom therapy, and £120 per session for face-to face therapy. Occasionally we offer sessions to a client and a person in their support network, for example a partner, friend, or parent, and in these circumstances a 90 minute session may be indicated; this would be charged at £150. Fees must be paid by bank transfer prior to the start of an appointment.

Dr Harriet Hockaday is also registered with AXA, Bupa and Vitality Health and can usually bill these insurers directly for appointments.

The three stages of the therapeutic process:

1. Psychological Assessment: Understanding your needs

Our comprehensive psychological assessments help us gain a deep understanding of your unique needs, strengths, and challenges, allowing us to develop personalised treatment plans.

2. Psychological Formulation: Uncovering causes and maintaining factors of distress

Through psychological formulation, we work collaboratively with you to uncover the underlying factors contributing to your difficulties, helping us tailor our therapeutic approach.

3. Psychological Therapy: Empowering you to thrive

Our evidence-based psychological therapies such as cognitive behavioural therapy provide you with the tools, support, and guidance you need to overcome challenges, build resilience, and achieve personal growth.

Comprehensive Psychological Therapy Tailored to Your Needs

Dr Harriet Hockaday, Clinical Psychologist and Lead Clinician at North Ayrshire Psychology

At North Ayrshire Psychology, we offer a range of evidence-based psychological therapies to help you to gain insight into your difficulties, overcome challenges in your life, make progress towards your own personal goals, and improve your overall well-being. We offer face to face appointments in comfortable surroundings in Beith, North Ayrshire, and remote appointments using Zoom or telephone.

Testimonials

As someone who suffers with severe OCD, perfectionism, depression and possible ADHD my journey with Mental Health has been far from straightforward. When I initially attended North Ayrshire Psychology I was at my wits end, I didn’t see any possible way out as my OCD was so bad. Harriet has been very empathetic, she has helped me to learn to be more compassionate towards myself and to act more like a co-therapist towards myself meaning in my difficult days I can manage them more easily. I’m excited to continue on my journey with her. For anyone out there’s who’s struggling with Mental Health I definitely recommend Harriet at North Ayrshire Psychology, she’s fantastic Thanks again.

Mr S

Remembering how I felt when I first met Harriet. I was physically and mentally exhausted. I was sceptical in how I thought our sessions would go, but knew I needed the support. Very quickly, Harriet put me at ease. It soon became clear that she had the compassion and understanding I needed to work through an extremely difficult time in my life. All my old feelings of vulnerability and poor self-worth had resurfaced. We met weekly in the beginning over Zoom and, as time went on and I became stronger, our meetings were in person every 4 to 6 weeks. All this happened at my pace when I felt ready. Harriet was able to help me see that I was worthwhile and worthy of kindness from myself and others and for that, I will always be grateful.

Mrs M

Popular Questions

What types of therapy do you offer?

I offer evidence-based therapies including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT).

Do you provide online sessions?

Yes, I offer online and telephone-based therapy for adults across the UK, as well as face-to-face appointments in Beith, North Ayrshire.

What issues can you help with?

I can help with a wide range of issues including anxiety, depression, trauma, OCD, grief, panic, relationship difficulties, low self-esteem, PTSD, and complex trauma.

How long are the therapy sessions?

Therapy sessions are typically 55 minutes long. I also offer a free 15-minute initial telephone consultation to discuss your needs and goals.

Do you accept insurance?

Yes, I'm registered with AXA, Bupa, and Vitality Health as well as working with self-funding clients.

What are your qualifications?

I'm a HCPC registered Clinical Psychologist with extensive experience in NHS mental health services. I engage in regular clinical supervision and continuing professional development to ensure the quality and safety of services provided.

My qualifications are as follows:

Doctor of Clinical Psychology (DClinPsy), University of Edinburgh

Master of Science (MSc) in Health Psychology, University of Stirling

Master of Arts (MA Hons) in Psychology & History, University of Glasgow

Calendar

Location: 24 The Cross, Beith, KA15 1BS

Phone: 07547 910 781

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