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Father and Daughter
“We have made such progress over the last few months with your help.  When we first met, I felt I was loosing my daughter, she had lost her sparkle.  We are all in a much better place now, thank you so much.” 

Family Therapy

There are many issues that impact on families and the relationships within them.  Dr Langman is particularly skilled in supporting families experiencing:

 

  • Changes in family life or relationships

  • Parenting issues

  • Emotional issues resulting from bereavement

  • Eating disorders

  • Couples and relationship issues

  • Separation or divorce

  • Adolescent and child behaviours or mental health

  • Adult mental health

  • Adoption and fostering

  • Social policy such as child protection

  • Domestic violence

  • Post-trauma issues

  • Self-harming

  • Drugs and alcohol abuse

 

To find out more about family therapy or to book an initial consultation please contact us.

“As you will see from the enclosed emails - I have recommended you to a dear friend of mine – she is having similar family issues and I am sure you can help her like you have helped us!”

Therapy for children & Young People in Plymouth

Children and young people may benefit from therapy to provide support while they work through issues that are troubling them. Children may feel anxious, down, lack confidence or struggle with feelings of anger. They may also have difficulties with friendships or studying. We can provide the support your child or young person needs to help them flourish.

 

How can you help my child?

 

Flourish is experienced in working with young people when things are not going well – helping them get back on the right track. We also offer family therapy at Flourish, which may be more suitable in certain situations.

 

We have helped many children and young people with a broad range of issues, including:

 

  • Changes in family life and relationships

  • Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)

  • Emotional issues following bereavement

  • Eating disorders and body image issues

  • Adolescent or child behaviours, e.g. attention and over-activity difficulties

  • Adolescent or child mental health

  • Post-trauma issues

  • Self-harming

  • Substance and alcohol abuse

 

For more about our children & young persons’ service or to book an initial consultation please contact us.

“We had a wonderful family session with Julie today, she made the experience very welcoming and enjoyable for Callum.” 
 
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive-behaviour therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based approach that explores how the way we think and interpret situations links to how we feel and behave. It proposes that we often have unhelpful negative or unrealistic ideas about ourselves and the world around us that can make us feel low, anxious or upset.

 

Cognitive-behaviour therapy (CBT) is a ‘talking therapy’, like counselling but it is more structured and places greater emphasis on techniques to understand why we feel the way we do and then to make changes accordingly. This often means clients undertake specific tasks or activities between sessions, such as keeping a note of situations that invoke feelings of distress (such as anxiety) or trying out new ways of doing things to see if what we believe/fear actually comes true. These are called ‘experiments’.

 

Mark’s experience of cognitive-behaviour therapy (CBT) at Flourish

 

“Work was piling up on top of me, my manager was difficult and the workload was increasing. I was feeling more and more stressed and it began to eat away at my marriage and my ability to enjoy the things I used to.  I decided to get some help after talking with my GP, I knew I needed to do something.

 

I arranged an initial session with Louise and we worked using CBT.  This involved me looking at some of the specific worries I was having, and in doing so I realised how much pressure I put myself under to ‘succeed’ in everything I did. As I got older, the expectations just seemed to mount up and in situations I felt I couldn’t control, I experienced very high levels of anxiety (fearing I was ‘failing’).

 

Louise helped me understand the thinking patterns underlying my problems and taught me a range of ways to change things, from challenging some negative thoughts I had about myself to doing more things to relax and wind down. Although it took a while, I gradually found myself feeling more able to cope. I saw that what I expected of myself was unreasonable and I just cut myself a bit more slack.

 

The CBT really helped me. Although I was nervous to start with, I found Louise to be thoughtful and understanding. After a few meetings, I began looking forward to my sessions, as a chance to talk about things – something I didn’t seem to have elsewhere. It was a very positive experience for me."

 

If, like Mark, you wish to speak to somebody about stress and anxiety, please get in touch.

I just wanted to say how wonderful it was to kick things off today. As we left Ben said 'that was amazing'. We both felt such a relief to have your support. He actually went to bed tonight feeling positive about tomorrow. A great start.

A definition of mindfulness

 

Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way:

On purpose,

In the present moment

And non-judgmentally

Jon Kabat-Zinn

 

Mindfulness therapy is based on the ancient practice of mindfulness. It is a very popular approach that can be extremely beneficial for people who are stressed, anxious or suffering from mood related issues. In mindfulness therapy Dr Langman will work with clients using mindfulness techniques. She also offers mindfulness courses for people who wish to learn more about the theory and techniques involved in becoming more mindful.

 

Does mindfulness work?

 

Mindfulness can be extremely helpful in helping focus your mind on the immediate present. This process, with practice, allows you to recognise the wanderings of the mind as just thoughts, not reality. For example, your mind may have started wondering: “perhaps I can’t cope”, “that person doesn’t like me”, “I’m no good at that”, etc and these thoughts will lead to negative feelings such as anger, sadness, guilt, anxiety, or regret.

 

By letting these feelings pass through your mind freely and learning to accept them as just thoughts and nothing more, you can free yourself of the negative feelings that accompany them and learn to feel more peaceful and calm on a day to day basis. Indeed, research suggests that patterns of the mind actually change with the practice of mindfulness.

 

How will mindfulness be used in therapy?

 

How mindfulness approaches are brought into your therapy session will depend on your practitioner, their background and the issues you are working with.   For example Dr Langman may work with you using Dialectic Behaviour Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy or an approach called mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), which is a combination of mindfulness techniques and cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT).

 

What can mindfulness do for me?

 

As you master mindfulness techniques you will begin to explore how your mood is affected by your thoughts. Once you begin to accept your thoughts as simply thoughts, you will be able to achieve a sense of increased wellbeing and calm.

 

If you have any questions about mindfulness therapy or wish to book an initial consultation, please contact us.

Mindfulness based therapy
“This course came at a desperate time in my life, the death of my mother, the continuing court involvement in my life by my ex and his bitter tirades and bullying of the children meant I felt extremely vulnerable.  The course offered a way to try and cope with all of that. I gained a little bit of calm and peace and realised that I cannot change what is happening to me but I can try and give myself the opportunity to gain strength from within and to stay calm. I now try to make sure I spend a few minutes each day on myself, rather than trying to meet everyone else’s needs.   It has been really important."
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