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An Interview with a Psychotherapist
Samantha Quantock has a Bachelors Degree with Honours in Russian and a Masters Degree with Merit in Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy (CBT). She is also a fully qualified practitioner in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR).
Samantha has worked in various settings in her therapeutic work; The Priory Clinic, Nottingham working with substance misuse, The Unit for Psychotherapeutic Practice, Derby covering all known mental health disorders and trauma associated with rape and child sexual abuse and within the NHS in Primary Care.
She currently is also Lecturer of CBT at the University of Surrey. She is accredited by the British
Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapists (BABCP) and is a member of the
Association of EMDR UK and Ireland.
Prior to becoming a CBT Therapist, Samantha was at the top of her field as a fund manager of European Equities in the City for 18 years and has a vast wealth of experience of working in high pressure environments. As such she has also experienced the type of work stressors many of her clients face on a day to day basis. Those clients with work related problems and those suffering from high stressors have found this particularly useful for them.
Q. What is Cognitive Behaviour Psychotherapy (CBT)?
A. CBT works on a person’s thoughts and behaviours and changes them for the better. We think the way we feel and we behave the way we think and feel. If you think ‘I’m happy’, you will feel happy. If you think ‘I’m upset’ then you will feel upset. The thought always occurs before the feeling, but at times it can be such a fleeting thought that many of us are not even conscious of having had a thought at all. CBT focuses on altering someone’s conscious thought and behaviour so that they move from being dysfunctional to functional. CBT retrains the brain to think differently.
Q. Do you always work with clients with a specific disorder?
A. No, not at all. I have worked with the Police Force in Derby and discovered that many officers were having difficulty at work with things such as an over-aggressive boss or bullying or a highly stressful work environment. I changed their approach to work and their behaviour to colleagues with some very positive results. As their behaviour to others changed so the behaviour of others changed towards them. It was a case of teaching social skills and assertiveness and to re-instil confidence in themselves which they had lost along the way. CBT can help all manner of problems and obstacles that may seem beyond change to those stuck in an environment which does not fit with them now, even if it did in the past.
Q. Do you consider yourself a counsellor?
A. No. I may use some counselling skills, but on the whole counselling is more a case of having an open ear. CBT is very pro-active. We get involved in changing behaviour and thoughts. I have been out and done in vivo exposure on a client with agoraphobia. In vivo is where I go with and introduce a client to the outside world if they are fearful of it. Or say a spider if they are frightened of spiders.
This all occurs in tiny progressive steps of difficulty so that the client is ready to undertake the challenge at that time and is not plunged in at the deep end. Some counsellors do a 7 day CBT course and now call themselves therapists, but I can honestly assure you it takes a number of years to become a good qualified Cognitive Behaviour (CBT) Psychotherapist.
Q. Does the NHS use CBP?
A. The NHS is desperate for trained qualified CBT and EMDR therapists. There simply are not enough of us around. In fact, the waiting list for a therapist can be up to 3 years. Only severe cases seem to receive NHS priority. The ideal scenario is if we catch a problem before it becomes acute. The therapy is then concluded in a minimal number of sessions and the client leaves with a toolkit so that they can become their own therapist in the future and thereby preventing relapse.
