It was World Mental Health Day on Thursday and at Imperial College they were running a Tea & Talk 2013, link here, drop in where staff could come and talk about mental health whilst having a cup of tea or coffee and a cake. My partner who works for Imperial College decided that rather than take food they would bring me as a Mental Health professional. So I found myself invited to talk informally to a group of Imperial college staff ranging from administration personnel to lecturers and professors and even one of the Pro-Rector's about cognitive behavioural therapy.
I took the opportunity to introduce myself, explain that my core profession was a mental health nurse before I trained to become a cognitive behavioural therapist, and that I have worked within the NHS and private sector. After this I invited people to just ask me questions about anything they wanted.
The questions ranged from what is cognitive behavioural therapy and how to access services, and then moved onto other areas like treatment outcomes, number of sessions and anecdote about therapy some of the attendees had received. So my answers covered how we got to where we are today in terms of national provision, treatment guidelines and what I would ask of a therapist I met; namely what is required of me and how long is it going to take? Other topics discussed included computerized therapy, the therapeutic relationship and what makes people vulnerable to being overcome by life's stresses? All in all an awful lot of ground was covered.
I had only expected to talk for about ten to twenty minutes, but ended up answering questions for about an hour. I received a lot of positive verbal feedback and may be invited back on a more formal basis in the future. What I took from this event was the lack of knowledge and fear that still surrounds having mental health issues; something that up to one in four people are likely to have to face during their lifetime.
