Meet Lisa

Hello, my name is Lisa and I am a senior mental health practitioner and cognitive behavioural therapist. I support young people aged 11 to 16, who are struggling with mild to moderate mental health difficulties such as low mood and anxiety related problems. This can include OCD, panic, health anxiety, PTSD and phobias.

I am also a cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) supervisor so I support other members of my team; supervision involves offering a space for therapists to reflect on how sessions are going, to problem solve when young people may feel 'stuck', and to offer suggestions for new ideas to try out. More often than not the therapist already has solutions, but it can be helpful to talk these through with someone.

Can you tell us a bit about the service you work in?

The Mental Health Support Team (MHST) provides an easily accessible service for pupils from primary to year 13 who may be experiencing a range of mild to moderate difficulties with their mental health. MHST’s are based within education settings, and I am based in the Blackburn with Darwen Secondary Schools Team. There are other teams that cover other areas of East Lancashire.

The MHST offer assessments with young people and families to understand more about their difficulties. Following assessment, we can either support the young person and/or family or signpost to a more appropriate local service that can offer help.

As well as working with young people and parents/carers, we also work with education teams to develop a whole-school approach to mental health. This means that we offer training, webinars, complete assemblies and support with the PSHE curriculum.

What does an average day look like for you as a cognitive behavioural therapist?

An average day for me usually starts by confirming my appointments and making sure I have everything ready for my sessions or supervision. I like to use creative techniques during therapy sessions, so I make sure that my bag is packed with all my resources. We sometimes have team meetings online and then I set off to my various schools to meet with young people for therapy.

If I have any gaps in my diary, I head to the hospital library and complete any admin work, which may involve phoning parents/carers, sending emails and writing up therapy notes. 

My supervision sessions are either online or face-to-face, so I will spend some of my day doing these as well as supporting staff with any difficulties that may arise during the day.

In your experience, what impact can CBT have on delivering high-quality health care?

In my experience ,access to psychological therapies, including CBT, can have a profound impact on the lives of young people and their families. Early intervention therapy for worry, anxiety and low mood can equip young people with practical evidence-based skills and strategies to support them in feeling in control and feeling empowered to look after their emotional wellbeing. 

CBT can support young people by normalising talking about mental health and wellbeing, it encourages young people to focus on the ways we think, feel and act and target these areas to support improving overall mental health and wellbeing.

What part of your role do you enjoy the most?

I enjoy supporting young people to reach their goals and supporting them through their therapy journey. Discharge is always a difficult but positive time because it means that young people have progressed enough to continue on their journey without the support of a therapist.

Another part of my role that I enjoy is my involvement with participation. As a team, we are eager to hear the voices of young people involved in our service. We are very lucky to meet lots of passionate young people, and we meet every half term to review our service, looking at ways in which we can improve moving forward. Young people are not shy to offer us their honest opinion, which is fantastic as we take the feedback seriously and actively put suggestions into practice. Some examples of this include:

• Design of the MHST imagery which is included on promotional materials.
• Design of service leaflets, including the addition of small, discreet cards to offer to students
• Assembly design and delivery - last month, some members of our group delivered the assembly live online for World Mental Health Day!
• The addition of a column in our newsletter, completed by young peopl,e that goes out every half term.