Health promotion & community engagement

We offer a range of group therapy courses and workshops. Our groups are based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) principles and aim to equip individuals with effective techniques and strategies to manage their symptoms and improve well-being.

Our group therapy courses may include:

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Skills Offers a comprehensive introduction to the CBT techniques, covering important psychoeducation about the psychological symptoms as well as key strategies for managing depression and anxiety.
Trauma Stabilisation Covers psychoeducation about the impact of traumatic experiences. Rather than sharing about difficult experiences, this group focusses on teaching coping strategies for dealing with symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Managing Long-Term Conditions Covers psychoeducation about the impact of having a long-term condition, as well as strategies for accepting and learning to live with it. Also, offers key skills for challenging negative thoughts, managing relationships, improving sleep and dealing with health setbacks.

What can I expect from a group session?

Our groups are typically one-two hours long and run on a weekly or fortnightly basis. The groups vary in size but usually do not exceed 10 people to make participation comfortable for everyone. The sessions are facilitated by the two members of staff. At present, the groups are only held remotely via a confidential online platform.

Do I need to talk about myself?

We keep our groups small to ensure that they offer a safe space for everyone to share their difficulties if they want to and be able to learn from other people’s personal experiences. However, participation is not necessary and you can choose how much you want to disclose and talk about yourself in group discussion. The main focus of most of our groups is about understanding and learning techniques that will help you manage your difficulties to lead a meaningful and fulfilling life.

Are groups effective?

Research in CBT suggests that group therapy can be as effective as individual sessions. Different studies consistently find that individuals can improve their anxiety, low mood and other symptoms by attending group CBT. Group therapy has a number of advantages:

We run our group therapy courses regularly, meaning that the waiting time for them is usually shorter than for individual therapy, so you can get help sooner.

Most of our groups’ sessions are much longer in duration compared to one-to-one sessions, meaning that you can get more contact clinical time with a therapist.

Many individuals find it comforting to hear other people experiencing similar difficulties, feeling less isolated in their struggles. Also, discussing difficulties with others can not only be great for learning from each other, but also for getting a new perspective and finding new solutions to life’s problems.

How do I sign up?

Your first assessment with the service will be to understand your current difficulties and what you want to change. If there is a suitable group course that we think would benefit you and that matches your therapy goals – you will be offered to join.

Community Outreach Workshops

We are currently offering free workshops to local organisations on different aspects of wellbeing. This would involve two of our therapists coming to you to facilitate a workshop to your staff or the people you support. These workshops can be delivered in-person or virtually and can be booked at a time that is most suited to you.

We run a wide range of outreach workshops, tailoring each workshop to suit the needs of our audience. Past outreach workshops have included:

Introduction to Barnet NHS Talking Therapies
Mental health awareness
Achieving good life balance to improve mood
Sleep hygiene
When your worries get in the way
Stress and relaxation
Coping with Long Term Health Conditions

All of our workshops are designed to teach people how to notice signs and symptoms of difficulty in these areas, and what they can do to manage these symptoms more effectively. They are primarily based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, the approach recommended by NICE guidelines and proven to be highly effective. They are typically 1 hour long.

How can these workshops benefit your service?

One of our aims as a service is to help people help themselves before the first signs and symptoms of mental health deteriorate. These workshops are aimed at educating everyone in ways to look after their mental wellbeing in the same way we are educated to know how to look after our physical health. We hope the workshops will help reduce stigma, encourage people to talk about their mental health openly and advise them of next steps should they require further mental health support.

If you would like to know more, please email beh-tr.barnettalkingtherapies@nhs.net for further information.