About Me

Hello, I’m Andy Streatfield (BSc (hons), MSc, PGDip). I’m a therapist with over 10 years of experience in mental health across a variety of contexts, from acute hospital care to community drop in centres. I’ve received specialist level training in common mental health disorders and am accredited by the British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP).

Problems I can help with include: depression, worry, stress, sleep difficulties, low self esteem, generalised anxiety disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, social anxiety, panic attacks, agoraphobia, specific phobias, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex post traumatic stress (CPTSD),

Primarily I offer cognitive behavioural therapy or CBT. This is an evidence-based and problem focussed approach grounded in scientific theory. This form of therapy involves exploring how we interpret and respond to daily events and the impact these have on us. We may for example get stuck into thought traps like constant worrying or being hyper critical of ourselves. Alternatively, we may fall in to behavioural habits like avoidance, over checking, or losing all motivation. We will then help you to break down, challenge, and reframe these habits and build new ways to help you to heal and grow over time. You can find more about cognitive therapy, confirm my accreditation and find  other accredited therapists on the British Association for Behavioural Cognitive Psychotherapies website -  https://babcp.com/what-is-cbt/

Usually therapy would involve weekly sessions for around 50-60 minutes and then having a go at some home practice in between sessions. Ultimately, we’re looking to help you to develop long lasting healthier lifestyle changes so trying things out in your own time is really helpful to the process. By the end of therapy, you should feel like you have a great understanding of your difficulties, warning signs to look out for, and you will have a toolbox of techniques to use when things get tough.

I also have lived experience of trauma which I feel makes a great difference in my ability to understand and empathise with people going through difficult times. Before my current role as a therapist my background was in cognitive neuropsychology, specialising in brain injury rehabilitation. I often draw from this knowledge base to help people to understand the mechanisms in our brain that contribute to how we feel.

My therapeutic style emphasises identifying and understanding why we may be experiencing difficulties and using that understanding to develop proactive strategies to help you to get to where you want to be. In essence, the more we know about a problem the easier it is to deal with. I like to be very collaborative and patient led as everyone progresses at different speeds.