Private Psychology & therapy in Tynemouth

CBT is a structured, practical therapy that looks at how thoughts, feelings and behaviour keep a problem going, and changes the parts that can be changed. NICE recommends it for depression and for most anxiety problems.

Twelve of our sixteen Tynemouth practitioners are trained in it, which makes it the approach we can usually start soonest here. Ten of them work with low self-esteem and eight with adjustment difficulties, so it is a strong fit if what brought you here is confidence, or a change you have not been able to settle into. Four also work with chronic pain.

The clinic is a Georgian townhouse a few minutes from the seafront, and we see people from North Shields, Cullercoats and Whitley Bay as well as Tynemouth itself. If a week gets difficult, the same practitioner can see you online.

EMDR is a trauma therapy that uses guided eye movements while you bring a painful memory to mind, so the memory loses its charge without you having to talk it through in detail. NICE recommends it for post-traumatic stress.

Nine practitioners at Tynemouth are EMDR-trained, the most of any of our clinics. Seven of them work with the effects of abuse, six with grief and loss, and five with bereavement, which is a fair reflection of what people most often bring here.

Trauma work depends a lot on feeling comfortable with the person opposite you. With nine to choose from, the Pathway Team can take that seriously rather than offering you whoever is free. Appointments are at the Tynemouth Road clinic or online.

Acceptance and commitment therapy uses mindfulness and values work to help you live well alongside pain, worry or loss, rather than waiting for them to go before life can carry on.

Nine of the Tynemouth team offer ACT, second only to CBT for availability at this clinic. Seven work with low self-esteem, seven with adjustment difficulties and four with chronic pain, and it is often chosen for long-term health conditions where the goal is a fuller life alongside something that is not going away.

Two of the nine also work with people coping with cancer. Appointments are in Tynemouth or online.

Compassion focused therapy was developed for people whose self-criticism and shame get in the way of feeling better. It builds the ability to respond to yourself with warmth rather than attack.

Six practitioners at Tynemouth offer CFT, and five of them work with low self-esteem, which is the clearest signal of what it tends to be used for here. Five also work with adjustment difficulties.

Several of them run CFT alongside CBT rather than on its own, so the Pathway Team will talk through which makes more sense once they know what is going on. Sessions are at the Tynemouth clinic or online.

Child psychologists help children and teenagers with emotional, behavioural and developmental difficulties, and work closely with parents rather than seeing the child in isolation.

Four of our Tynemouth practitioners work with children and young people, from early years through to eighteen. Three of the four work with ADHD and three with autism, so this is a reasonable place to start if a neurodevelopmental difference is part of the picture, diagnosed or not.

The first conversation is with you rather than your child, so you can explain what has been happening before anyone is asked to attend. Sessions are at the Tynemouth clinic, with online appointments where that suits a family better.

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy combines CBT with regular mindfulness practice. NICE recommends it for people who have had depression before and want to stop it coming back.

MBCT is more widely available at Tynemouth than at any of our other clinics. Dr Caroline Murphy, Dr Lauren Mawn, Dr Matilda Moffett and Neil Sabin all offer it, and three of the four work with bereavement, grief and anger, which is often where it is suggested here.

Two also work with people living with dementia, including families adjusting to a diagnosis.

Cognitive analytic therapy is a time-limited approach, developed within the NHS, that looks at the patterns in how you relate to other people and to yourself, and where those patterns started.

Dr Claire Martin, Dr Kerry McCubbin and Dr Lloyd Oates are CAT-trained and based at Tynemouth. All three work with post-traumatic stress, and two with the effects of abuse.

The number of sessions is agreed before you start, usually between sixteen and twenty-four, so you know the shape of it from the beginning rather than deciding as you go.

Family therapy works with the relationships in a household rather than with one person, helping everyone see the patterns that have built up and find better ways through them.

Dr Lauren Mawn and Madeleine Ascroft offer family therapy at our Tynemouth clinic. Dr Mawn also works with anger, bereavement and relationship difficulties individually, which is often how a family referral starts.

Sessions usually involve more than one family member, though not everyone has to come every time, and it is common for the make-up of the room to change as things move on.

Child psychotherapy is a longer-term therapy that helps children and teenagers make sense of feelings they cannot yet put into words, through play, drawing or talking depending on their age.

Dr Helena Widdrington and Dr Uschi Hiermeier offer child psychotherapy at Tynemouth. Between them they also work with eating difficulties, ADHD, autism and young people coping with a parent's cancer diagnosis.

Because it runs longer than most of our work with children, the Pathway Team will talk through whether this or a shorter piece of work is the better starting point before anything is booked.

Psychodynamic therapy explores how past experiences, and feelings you may not be fully aware of, shape the way you think and relate to people now.

Dr Claire Dickinson and Neil Sabin offer psychodynamic therapy at Tynemouth. Dr Dickinson also works with chronic pain and with people coping with cancer, and Neil Sabin with dementia, anger and personality difficulties.

It is open-ended rather than a fixed course, so there is no end date agreed at the start. That suits some people and not others, and it is worth saying which you are on the first call.

Relationship counselling helps couples understand what keeps going wrong between them and find a way of talking that changes it.

Madeleine Ascroft offers relationship counselling at our Tynemouth clinic, for couples and for people working on a relationship on their own. You do not both have to come for it to be worth starting, and plenty of people begin alone.

Psychosexual therapy is a talking therapy for sexual difficulties such as loss of desire, erection problems or pain during sex, which often have an emotional side as well as a physical one.

Madeleine Ascroft works with sexual difficulties at Tynemouth, with individuals and with couples. This is the only clinic outside Teesside and Yarm where we offer it, and availability is limited, so mention it when you call.

Dialectical behaviour therapy is a skills-based therapy for emotions that feel overwhelming. It teaches practical ways to get through distress, steady intense feelings and handle relationships under strain.

Dr Helena Widdrington offers DBT at Tynemouth, and also works with panic, eating difficulties and maternal mental health, so a DBT referral here often sits alongside one of those.

If those appointment times do not fit, the Pathway Team can talk you through CBT or ACT, both of which have far more cover at this clinic.