Frequently Asked Questions
Getting Started with Therapy
How do I know if I need therapy?
You don’t need a specific diagnosis or to be in crisis to benefit from therapy. Many people consider therapy when something feels difficult, overwhelming, or stuck, even if they can’t fully put it into words. Therapy can be helpful if your thoughts, emotions, or behaviours are affecting your quality of life, relationships, or ability to do the things that matter to you, whether that’s anxiety, panic, difficulties around food or body image, low mood, or feeling worn down by coping on your own. It’s also okay to come to therapy out of curiosity or a wish to understand yourself better, and many people worry they’re “not bad enough” to need help. If something is causing you distress or feels important to you, that alone is a valid reason to seek support, and an introductory call can be a gentle way to explore whether therapy feels like the right next step.
Do I need a diagnosis, or to know what is 'wrong', to start therapy?
There is no need for you to have a diagnosis, or to know exactly what is ‘wrong’, to start therapy. Over the first session or two, we’ll discuss what’s brought you to therapy, what you would like to be different, work out what might be keeping things stuck, and make a plan of what we’ll work on to get you to where you would like to be. An important part of therapy is developing an understanding your difficulties, and there is no requirement for you to have this worked out before starting sessions.
Do you offer a free introductory call?
Yes! I know how important it is to find a therapist who you feel comfortable with, and believe understands you and can offer you the kind of support you’re looking for. I offer a free 15-20 minute, no obligation, introductory call so we can work out whether we’ll work well together.
In the introductory call I’ll ask you a little bit about why you’re looking for therapy, what you’d like to be different or the goals you would like to work towards, and any previous experiences you’ve had with therapy. I’ll also tell you a little bit about how I work, and the kinds of therapy I offer. There is also time for you to ask any questions you might have.
To schedule an introductory call, simply email me to set this up (torin@torinforestpsychotherapy.co.uk). It can be helpful to let me know what kind of days and times would work well for you. I generally offer sessions Tuesday – Friday.
I'm not based in the UK. Can we still work together?
I work with people from all over the world, apart from those based in the USA or Canada (due to my insurance).
Booking and Sessions
How do I book a session?
Simply email me and let me know you would like to book a session (torin@torinforestpsychotherapy.co.uk). I aim to respond to emails within two to three working days, and I will let you know what times and days I have available. I offer sessions on Tuesday – Fridays. I understand it can be nerve-wracking to reach out to someone for the first time, and I appreciate the courage it can take to do this!
How long are sessions and how often do we meet?
Sessions are 50 minutes long and tend to occur weekly. We would usually meet on the same day and time each week. I find weekly sessions are usually the most helpful to build momentum and maintain change and progress in therapy. However, towards the end of therapy we might agree to have sessions less often to phase out our contact, or we might schedule ‘top up’ sessions as and when required once our therapy has ended. I am always open to discussing what frequency of sessions you feel would work best for you.
How are sessions delivered?
I offer therapy sessions online, over video call.
What can I expect in the first session?
Once we have agreed to start therapy and booked in a first session, I will send you an intake form to complete before our first appointment. This asks you for some basic information, and general questions about why you’re coming to therapy. I will also send you a therapy agreement, which provides information how I work, the policies I use in my practice (such as confidentiality and cancellation policy), and gives you useful information (such as how to end therapy, and crisis support information). Doing these forms ahead of time means we don’t need to spend our first session doing paperwork – a necessary but sometimes less interesting process!
In the first session or two we will:
- Discuss and fill in any gaps in the intake form
- Discuss the therapy agreement and any questions you might have
- Discuss confidentiality
- Talk about what has brought you to therapy: The specific problems you’re experiencing and how these show up in your everyday life.
- Discuss any relevant information about your background and growing up
- Start making a plan of what we’ll work on in therapy, that is individually tailored to you
- We might complete questionnaire(s) that will give us a baseline measure of your difficulties, so we can track progress and change over time
Fees and Payment
What are your fees and how do I pay?
A 50 minute session is £70. I accept payment by bank transfer, made before or on the day of our appointment. I can also provide invoices and receipts.
Do you accept insurance?
I do not currently accept insurance. However, I am happy to provide invoices for our sessions, which might be used to claim back from your insurance. It is always best to discuss your insurer’s policies for therapy with your insurance provider.
What is your cancellation policy?
I know that life can be complicated, and sometimes illness, childcare responsibilities, or work, can mean you will need to reschedule or cancel our session.
If you need to cancel or rearrange our appointment, I ask for 2 days (48 hours notice) to allow us to find a suitable alternative. If we can reschedule our appointment within 2 working days of the original appointment, there is no charge for having cancelled and rearranged. In the unlikely event that we’re not able to find a suitable alternative within the same week, I charge £30.00 as a cancellation fee. I always do the best I can to make sure we can find another suitable appointment, and not have you miss out on therapy that week. Please note that cancellations made with less than 2 days (48 hours) notice may be charged at the full session rate. This ensures fairness, and allows others the opportunity access therapy sessions.
What this might look like in practice:
- We usually meet on Thursdays at 10am.
- You get have to attend a work meeting that would also be 10am on Thursday.
- You email me (2 days in advance) and ask to reschedule.
- I’m able to offer you Friday at 11am instead, and this works for you.
- We have our rescheduled appointment on Friday, and there is no fee for cancelling the previous Thursday appointment. We resume our usual Thursday 10am session next week.
Training, Experience and Professional Standards
What are your qualifications and experience?
I have four relevant qualifications and a number of years experience within the mental health and psychotherapy field. I am also committed to continually developing my skills and knowledge, and have completed various other additional trainings to help me provide the best therapy to those I work with.
Qualifications:
- MSc Psychological Therapy in Primary Care – University of Dundee and University of Stirling
- MSc Psychology of Mental Health (Conversion) – University of Edinburgh
- Certificate in Counselling Skills – Iron Mill College, Exeter
- BA Philosophy with Psychology – University of Exeter
- 5 years experience working for the NHS within a Psychological Therapies Team for adults with a variety of mental health difficulties.
- 2 and a half years experience working in a specialist service supporting people who self harm. Working one-to-one with people who self harm, and providing training to other professionals on how to best support people who self harm.
- 2 and a half years experience volunteering for a nightline, including training and supervising volunteers.
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for Eating Disorders (including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, and avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder [ARFID])
- CBT for Body Image Disturbance
- Understanding and Treating Health Anxiety
- Cognitive Therapy for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- 10 Misconceptions about Trauma-Focused CBT for PTSD
- Reflections on CBT and Autistic Thinking
- Adapting CBT for Autism
- A Contemporary Cognitive Behavioural Approach to Understanding and Treating OCD: Moving Beyond Exposure and Response Prevention
Are you a member of any professional bodies?
I am a full member (FMBPsS) of the British Psychological Society (BPS) and adhere to their code of ethics and conduct. I also follow the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies’ (BABCP) standards of performance, conduct and ethics, and am working towards accreditation.
In addition, I attend regular supervision and am fully insured.
How therapy works
What types of therapy do you offer?
I use cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), compassion focused therapy (CFT), and mindfulness techniques in my practice. You can find out more about the kinds of therapy I offer and what this includes, in the ‘Therapies’ section of my website.
How many sessions will I need?
This will depend on your particular situation, difficulties, and what you’re looking for from therapy. I never want to keep someone in therapy longer than they need or want. I do my best to make sure we use our time effectively and get to where you would like to be, without rushing a sometimes complex or challenging process. We can estimate how many sessions someone might need to work on a particular problem, based on evidence from research trials, which we can discuss in an intro call or our first few sessions. Nevertheless, every person is different and the amount of time someone might need or want to spend in therapy is affected by a wide range of factors.
We will regularly review our work together (usually every 6-12 sessions) to make sure that what we’re doing feels helpful for you, is leading to the changes you would like to see, and adapt our approach when needed.
I am happy to work with people in a range ways, from short-term focused therapy to more open ended, long-term sessions.
What if we start therapy and I decide I don't want to continue?
It is always okay to end therapy, for any reason. You might not feel we are the right fit, you might feel the kind of therapy I offer is not working for you, you might not feel you have time or finances to attend at this point in your life, or you might have made good progress and no longer feel the need to attend sessions. All of these are valid reasons.
I want to assure you that I will not take ending therapy personally, as I want to support you in doing what is best for you! However, I’m also very open to discussing anything that would make continuing to attend therapy easier for you, if this is something you would like.
You can discuss ending with me in session or send me an email letting me know you would like to end our appointments. I recommend having at least one final session for a proper ending, to summarise the work we have done together, and make plans for maintaining progress into the future; but this is always optional. Please bare in mind my cancellation policy (under fees and payment above), when giving me notice about your wish to end our sessions.
What if I don't want to talk about something?
I will always respect your boundaries and wishes when discussing difficult or emotional topics. You might need time to get to know me before you feel able to discuss these things, and this is very normal. I would never expect you to trust me from the moment we meet, but hope to demonstrate I am trustworthy and earn trust over time.
You might also have some things you would never want to discuss in detail, such as traumatic events. This is okay, and I will always take your lead on this. It can be helpful for me to know if ‘something bad happened’, but that doesn’t require going into any detail about the events. In some cases, discussing traumatic events in lots of detail without proper care, support, trust, and emotional regulation and grounding skills, can be more harmful than helpful.
What if I've tried therapy before, and it didn't work?
It can be really disheartening when we try therapy and don’t feel we’ve found any benefit. This might leave us wondering whether anything will help, or whether therapy just isn’t for us.
There are many reasons why therapy might not have worked for you at one time or another. Such as working with a therapist who wasn’t the right fit for you, doing a type of therapy that didn’t work for you or your particular problem, or having too much going on in other areas of your life. Luckily, all of these factors can change or be different at different times in your life.
One thing we can discuss in our intro call or first session, is your previous experiences of therapy and what you found helpful or unhelpful. This helps us work out whether we’ll be a good therapeutic fit, and how we might avoid any previous unhelpful therapy experiences. Even therapists who deliver the same kind of therapy (eg CBT) can do so in different ways and to different levels, so it may be that a previous therapist’s approach didn’t work for you, rather than the type of therapy itself.
Confidentiality and Safety
Is therapy confidential?
Therapy is confidential, which means that I do not share anything you tell me with anyone else, without your explicit consent.
There are some limits to confidentiality, where I might need to pass on information you have told me, without your consent, to relevant and specific authorities. This would only be in the following circumstances:
- Where I believe there is an imminent threat to your safety, from yourself or someone else.
- When you have told me information about children or vulnerable adults being harmed, or being at risk of harm.
In these situations I have a moral and ethical duty to keep yourself, children, and vulnerable adults safe.
I attend regular supervision and will sometimes discuss some of the people I am working with, to make sure I am providing the best possible therapy and care. In supervision we tend to avoid using real names or identifiable information. What is discussed in supervision is also confidential.
What if I'm in crisis?
I do not provide crisis services. If you are currently in crisis I would recommend:
- Contacting a helpline
- Samaritans (24/7, 7 days a week) – 116 123
- Breathing Space (for people living in Scotland) (Monday – Thursday 6pm – 2am, Friday 6pm – Monday 6am) – 0800 83 85 87
- Contacting your GP
- Calling 999
- Visiting A&E
What if I'm still not sure about therapy?
If you have any other questions I've not answered here, or would simply like to meet me to see if you think we'd work well together, please do get in touch. I offer a free 15 - 20 minute, no obligation intro call, so you can make sure you're making the right choice for you!
