Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, or CBT, is a type of talking therapy that helps you understand how your thoughts, feelings, and behaviours are all connected. It’s based on a powerful idea: it’s not just what happens to us that affects how we feel, but how we think about what happens.

For example, two people can go through the same situation but feel completely differently about it—because they interpret it in different ways. CBT helps you become more aware of those automatic thoughts and beliefs that might be making things harder, and helps you to to shift them in a more helpful direction.

CBT also looks at your behaviour – what you do (or don’t do) – and how that can keep problems going. Maybe you avoid situations that make you uncomfortable, or you’ve fallen into routines that don’t bring much joy or meaning. CBT helps you gently change those habits, breaking patterns that no longer serve you.

Rather than digging deeply into your past, CBT tends to focus on the here and now. It’s less about what caused a problem years ago, and more about what’s keeping it going today—and how you can start to move forward.

You and your therapist work together. You bring the knowledge of your life; your therapist brings tools and techniques to help. The goal is for you to understand what’s going on and why, and practice different ways of thinking or approaching things that you can practice in between sessions and continue to use long after therapy ends.

CBT is backed by years of research and has been shown to be helpful for a wide range of issues, particularly fear-based problems, but also difficulties with mood, sleep and stress. It’s practical, evidence-based, and designed to help you make meaningful changes.

Many people in Norwich, Norfolk, are trained to deliver CBT. Most will be trained on a one-year programme to deliver CBT treatment protocols. Clinical Psychologists are trained to deliver CBT more flexibly with a greater degree of tailoring to meet your needs. Dr Lawrence Howells is a clinical psychologist who taught on the CBT programme at UEA, so has an in-depth knowledge of CBT and its treatment protocols, but is also a clinical psychologist who has developed his own approaches to the delivery of CBT and can tailor the approach to fit around you. He is also trained in other models that he can use to augment the delivery of CBT, for example CAT and EMDR.

If you’re in Norfolk and feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or just ready to try something different, CBT with Dr Lawrence Howells offers a clear path forward—focused on understanding yourself better and building the skills to feel more in control of your life.