Shari Woolley

Accredited Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist (CBT)                            

My name is Shari and I'm a BABCP accredited Cognitive Behavioural Therapist (CBT) with over 20 years of experience working in the NHS within both primary and secondary care services.

I have a lot of experience assessing, and treating a wide range of mental health difficulties using a cognitive, behavioural point of view. In particular Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), social anxiety, generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), Post Traumatic Disorder (PTSD), panic and depression and substance use.

I am an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) practitioner and use a range of ACT tools to enhance and complement traditional CBT. I have found this dual approach to be extremely effective in overcoming problems, helping people to recognise and break unhelpful patterns and cycles and preventing relapse.

My aim is to get to know you and your personal values so we can understand your main issues and make sense of what’s maintaining them. I hope we can work together using new CBT and ACT tools to manage your difficult thoughts and feelings so that you will be empowered to make any desired changes and move forward towards a more full, rich and meaningful life.

Making a decision about therapy and which therapist to choose can be very difficult, if you think you would like help to manage difficult thoughts and feelings to improve your life then please contact me by email or telephone. I'm happy to offer a free telephone consultation prior to any bookings to answer any questions that you may have, explore your expectations and help you make the right decision.

Shari’s areas of expertise include;

  • Addiction

  • Anxiety - Agoraphobia

  • Depression

  • Depression - Low Mood

  • Depression - Major

  • Perinatal Anxiety

  • Perinatal Depression

  • Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

  • Health anxiety

  • Health conditions - Acute / Long Term

    Health conditions - Parkinson’s

    Health conditions - Cancer

  • Hoarding

  • Infertility

  • Miscarriage

  • Low Self-Esteem

  • Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

  • Panic / Panic Attacks

  • Perfectionism

  • Performance Anxiety

  • Phobias

  • Social anxiety

  • Sleep problems

  • Sleep - Insomnia

  • Stress

  • Trauma - Childhood Trauma

  • Trauma - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

  • Trauma - Complex PTSD

  • Trauma - Road Traffic Accidents

  • Tinnitus


    Shari is experienced in all evidence-based practices for all the listed disorders, including exposure response prevention (ERP) for the treatment of OCD.

Psychological Models & Approaches Shari is trained in include:

  • Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)

  • Exposure Response Prevention (ERP)

  • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

  • Mindfulness

  • Person-centred therapy

Shari’s Professional Qualifications

  • BABCP fully accredited

  • BSc Hons Psychology

  • PG Dip CBT

  • PG Dip Mental health

  • CBT supervisor qualified.

Feedback from Shari’s clients

“This was an eye-opening experience and I am extremely happy with how the sessions progressed. Each session essentially provided immediate insight and and "a-ha" moments, together with excellent advise and practices to keep on track towards an improved feeling of life. I felt understood and very well taken care-of. Thank you!” Jan

“At the age of 57 and after a fair bit of life experience I discover (through Shari) that despite my life experiences I really was pretty rubbish at dealing with my thoughts and feelings. I was prone to obsessing, and ruminating to the point of making my life extremely uncomfortable by creating a monster of my anxiety. I didn't know how to stop myself. And then with Shari's help I discovered that I didn't have to.

I simply had to deal with my thoughts and feelings in an entirely different way, and it all started to make complete sense. I wish I had done this in my 20s it would've prepared me better for life. The process is so easy to understand, a child could understand it and apply it. Truly a life-changing experience. Thank you Shari” Anonymous

“I had never had any experience of any sort of therapy before so I was apprehensive but Shari put me at ease very quickly. I was in a very anxious state and although we had arranged a date for my first appointment things got so bad that I asked if she could speak to me earlier and she did. At the first session Shari taught me some techniques to help me cope better.

The most important thing to me was that she gave me a belief that I would get better.

Throughout all the sessions Shari was understanding, encouraging and empathetic. Shari’s aim was to give me the tools so I could become my own therapist. To get the most out of the therapy I had to work on the tasks that I was given to do every week.

When we were nearing the end of our sessions we worked on a relapse prevention plan which I found very helpful. Without Shari help I would not be where I am today with my anxiety under control and enjoying my life once again I would wholeheartedly recommend Shari to anyone who needed the help of a therapist.” Rhiannon

“Shari instantly made me feel safe and calm. She explained things clearly and helped me see things in a different way and was always incredibly encouraging, which definitely helped me feel better. I felt I could trust her from the very first session and felt fully supported throughout. She is so kind and patient, I would highly recommend talking to Shari if you feel you need to speak to a therapist, I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders and feel fully prepared to experience things on my own now.” Molly

“Shari was excellent. She was very understanding and listened really well as I explained and tried to make sense of my problem. She gave me clear tools to work with, was consistent in her approach and was effective in allowing me to reach my own answers and conclusions. I felt I made excellent progress as a result of this and I would highly recommend her.” Sophie

“Fantastic experience - learnt some really valuable techniques, but most importantly got me to start thinking correctly in my subconscious in such a short space of time. Really helped me out at a low point, and feel much better as a result of speaking to Shari! would really recommend her!” Jack

“I’m so much stronger and better equipped to deal with my demons after these sessions, Im grateful for Shari’s skills and sensitivity” Annonymous

“It has been priceless. Im now fully able to understand my anxiety and I feel so much more in control” Annonymous

“I’m so appreciative of Shari’s help, support and unfailing positiveness” Annonymous

“My sessions were enormously helpful” Annonymous

“Im grateful for the support and guidance, it has given me the tools and courage to help in my future” Annonymous

What does CBT involve?

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a psychological approach based on scientific principles which research has shown to be effective for a wide range of problems. 

CBT involves the client and therapist working together to identify and understand problems in terms of the relationship between thoughts, feelings and behaviour. The cognitive component in CBT refers to how people think about and create meaning about situations, symptoms and events in their lives and develop beliefs about themselves, others and the world. It uses techniques to help people become more aware of how they reason, and the kinds of automatic thought that spring to mind and give meaning to things. 

The behavioural component in CBT refers to the way in which people respond when distressed. Responses such as avoidance, reduced activity and unhelpful behaviours can act to keep the problems going or worsen how the person feels. The aim of CBT to help a person feel safe enough to gradually test out their assumptions and fears and change their behaviours. For example, this might include helping people to gradually face feared or avoided situations as a means to reducing anxiety and learning new behavioural skills to tackle problems. 

Importantly the aim of CBT is to directly target distressing symptoms, reduce distress, re-evaluate thinking and promote helpful behavioural responses by offering problem-focused skills-based treatment interventions. The focus of CBT is usually on problems in the here and now, although it recognizes the importance of causes of distress or symptoms in the past. It relies on a shared model of understanding, using a psycho-educational approach, working towards a client’s own therapy goals.

The focus in CBT is in specific psychological and practical skills aimed at enabling the client to generate solutions to their problems that are more helpful than their present ways of coping.

CBT involves the client using the time between therapy sessions to try things out, record information and bring this feedback to the next session. The outcome of interventions are continually monitored, evaluated and modified where required to gain the maximum effect. The approaches can be used to help anyone irrespective of ability, culture, race, gender or sexual preference.



Useful web links




 

Follow us:

 
Cart (0)