How we help you to feel better

About us

Lambeth NHS Talking Therapies Service (formerly IAPT – Improving Access to Psychological Therapies) is available to anyone 18 years and older who is either a Lambeth resident or registered with a Lambeth GP.

We offer talking therapies for people experiencing anxiety and depression, health anxiety, panic attacks, social anxiety, traumatic memories and obsessive compulsive disorder. We also offer help with other problems including living with a long term health condition.

If our service isn’t right for you, we’ll suggest alternatives that are more likely to meet your needs and put you in contact with an appropriate service.

What we offer

We offer a range of treatments that are mostly based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). CBT is a process of working out the patterns of thinking and behaving that keep you feeling depressed and anxious, and making changes to those patterns. It is an active ‘doing’ therapy and would mean you doing some work towards your goals each day.

You will have an initial telephone assessment lasting around 20 – 30 minutes to establish what you are currently seeking help for and whether we are the right service to support you or if we can help you find support elsewhere.

We try to ensure that the type of help offered to you best matches your current needs, and our treatments include:

• Independent Online therapy – you will be able to access our CBT-based online programme SilverCloud and get started straight away independently.  The programme will include self-help modules and strategies best suited to your difficulties.
• Guided Online therapy (using CBT approach) – you will be able to log in to access self help modules and have weekly reviews with a therapist using our programme SilverCloud
• Low Intensity Guided Self Help (using CBT approach) – around 3 – 6 sessions working together with a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner (PWP) to overcome specific problems such as depression or anxiety using workbooks and materials. You set goals with your therapist and will carry out tasks between sessions
• High Intensity Cognitive Behavioural Therapy – around 6 – 12 sessions to explore and change how you think about your life, and free yourself from unhelpful patterns of behaviour. You set goals with your therapist and will carry out tasks between sessions
• Group therapy – a supportive environment working through problems alongside people with a shared understanding of difficulties and how to manage and overcome these problems. Between 4 – 11 sessions, 1.5 hours in length, and held virtually.
• Counselling – a space to talk with your counsellor who can help you make sense of your situation and find ways to deal with your difficulties. This will be for 6 sessions and is provided by The Awareness Centre (TAC).
• Employment support – it is common that the way we feel can impact on our ability to work or to find a job. We have members of the team who specialise in supporting people with employment based difficulties. These sessions are provided by our employment partner Status Employment
• Behavioural Couples Therapy (BCT) – an evidence-based treatment for depression. It is suitable for couples where low mood or depression is affecting one or both partners and leading to distress within the relationship. Please note that the availability of BCT therapists may mean waiting times vary. For more information about BCT please click here.

People with long-term physical health conditions (LTCs) can access all of the interventions we offer. Our LTC team can support with living with the condition better and an overall sense of wellbeing, which may help you feel happier and healthier. We also offer a range of tailored interventions specifically for people with long-term physical health conditions, including: Arthritis; Breathlessness (COPD, Chronic Bronchitis, Emphysema, Chronic Asthma); Cancer; Chronic Fatigue; Chronic Pain; Diabetes; Heart Disease; Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS); Long Covid; Tinnitus.

If your condition is not listed, don’t worry, we can still adapt our treatments.

Out support is evidence-based, wide ranging and comes in different styles such as online (Silvercloud), Guided Self Help (GSH), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and counselling. We offer workshops for Chronic Pain and tailored individual programmes (4 – 12 sessions between 30 and 60 minutes in duration).

Additionally, sessions are available virtually and on the telephone.