Dr Claire Wilson who is an Accredited CAT Practitioner (training 2014 to 2017) and registered with the Association of Cognitive Analytic Therapists (ACAT). If you find yourself stuck in repeated and unhelpful patterns of relationships or behaviours and want to understand more about why this is happening and how to change this, CAT may be able to help. CAT is a collaborative structured therapy for looking at the way a person thinks, feels and acts, and the influence of significant life events and relationship ‘templates’ or ‘blueprints’ developed (often from childhood or later relationships/life events). It explores relationship patterns and aims to encourage recognition and revision of unhelpful patterns. We use past understanding and knowledge to effect current and future change with the aim of helping you to find ‘exits’ and new ways of relating to others and managing your emotional world.

Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT) is typically 16-24 sessions in length dependent on complexity of the issues to be addressed but briefer 8 session CAT for focused issues can be agreed where appropriate. We also have a follow up period to establish maintenance of improvement without regular sessions – often the challenge after any therapy is completed.

In a nutshell CAT is about:

Forming a trusting relationship with your therapist which allows you to work together to explore the difficulties you are facing

Identifying your current problems and how they affect your life and wellbeing

Looking at the underlying causes of these problems in terms of your earlier life and relationships

Understanding how you learned to survive sometimes intense and unmanageable feelings by relating to others and yourself in particular ways

Identifying how these patterns may now be holding you back

Discovering the choices and ways of doing things differently (‘exits’) that are available to you to make your life better for yourself and those close to you

Finding out how you can continue to move forward after the therapy has ended