My first visit

If you don't have a Camden GP, your local borough might need to agree for you to be seen here. You are welcome to contact us directly to make sure that we are the best service to approach, before you go ahead and ask your doctor for a referral here.

Before you come to us

You might be anxious about coming to see us, especially if you have not been to speak to a professional about your difficulties before. That's okay.

We want to help you and we will do our best to help you feel at ease.

If you are feeling nervous, or anxious, or angry, or confused about coming to see us, it helps if you tell your therapist how you are feeling, even if it is something negative.

I'm told I need an appointment with you. What happens next?

We will contact you, either by phone (text or call) or in writing, to arrange your first appointment.

If you are over 16 and haven’t self‐referred we will make contact before your appointment so that you are involved right from the start. If you have any worries about your appointment, we will be  happy to talk with you on the phone about them, although when you first come to see a therapist, this can be a good time to discuss these too.

You will usually be given a choice of times and dates for your appointments; if you can’t make the appointment for any reason please contact us so that we can re‐arrange it. We will have given you a number you can contact.

Will I be meeting just one therapist?

Usually, yes. But sometimes when we see young people we ask their family’s to come along are going to be seen as a family, you may see more than one therapist.

If you don’t want your family to be involved please talk about this with your therapist.

What will happen at the appointment?

We will ask you to come to the first appointment about 10‐15 minutes early so that you can fill in some forms that we will need for our information. If you find them at all difficult, we can help.

The therapist seeing you will usually arrange four-five appointments with you to allow them enough time to get to know you and your difficulties and to be able to discuss with you what help they think will be best. If you are offered therapy with us, this may be with the same therapist, or may be with someone else. This will be discussed with you early on. We find that people get the most out of their assessment (and therapy) if you say whatever is on your mind.

This is a confidential service and the therapist is here to help you.

Can I have an interpreter?

Yes. Our interpreters are specially trained to work with people in therapy and you can feel comfortable speaking freely in front of them. They will also respect your privacy and will not share anything you say in your meetings with anyone outside of the meeting.

Usually when you are referred to us, your referrer will let us know if you or any of your family needs an interpreter. However, if you are not sure if one has been organised, or you have any questions, please contact the administrator on the number you will be given as a contact.