Common questions

Email drdannycbt@proton.me or phone or WhatsApp 07455 827405, and say briefly what is going on and whether it is for you or for your child. I will offer you a free 30-minute call. If after that we both think it is worth going ahead, I will book a 90-minute assessment, usually within a couple of weeks.

No. You can contact me directly and most people do. A GP letter or a copy of a previous report is useful background if you have one, but nothing is required. If you are claiming on private medical insurance, your insurer may want a GP referral before they will authorise treatment, so it is worth checking their rules before the first appointment.

You describe what has been happening, I ask some focused questions, and then I tell you honestly whether this is work I do, roughly what it would involve and roughly how long it tends to take. It is a conversation, not an assessment, and there is no charge and no obligation. If I do not think I am the right person, I will say so and try to point you towards someone who is.

The assessment is 90 minutes and costs £180. We map the problem properly: what sets it off, what you do to cope, what keeps it going, what has already been tried and what it is costing you. I ask about mood, sleep, alcohol and risk as a matter of routine. For children, I usually see parents first, then the child, then everyone together. You leave with a formulation and a treatment plan in plain English, and an honest estimate of how many sessions it is likely to take.

It depends on the problem, but this is not open-ended therapy. Specific phobias often take a handful of sessions. Panic and health anxiety commonly take somewhere in the region of eight to fourteen. OCD usually takes longer, often twelve to twenty sessions after the assessment, and more where there is a long history or heavy family accommodation. I will give you an estimate after the assessment and revise it out loud if it turns out to be wrong.

Sessions are £120. The initial 90-minute assessment is £180. I am recognised by BUPA, AXA Health, Aviva, Vitality and WPA. If you are claiming, get your authorisation code from your insurer before the first appointment. I also hold a small number of reduced-fee places, so if cost is the obstacle, please say so on the call rather than not getting in touch.

No. I am a psychologist and do not prescribe. Where medication is being considered I will work alongside your GP or psychiatrist with your consent, and I will say plainly if I think it is worth a conversation with them. Decisions about medication rest with the prescriber and with you.

Yes. I work weekdays from 9am to 9pm, so sessions do not have to cost you a day at work or your child a day at school. Evening slots are the ones that go first, so if you need one, say so early.

Yes, with parental consent, and it is often one of the more useful things I do. Schools are frequently where compulsions and avoidance are most visible and most accommodated. I can speak to a SENCO or pastoral lead, help plan a graded return where a child has stopped attending, and provide a summary letter setting out what will help and what will unintentionally make things worse.

I would rather tell you that at the free call than three sessions in. I treat anxiety, OCD and closely related problems, and I do not treat everything. If what you need sits outside that, or if you would be better served by a local team who can see you in person, I will say so and try to point you towards someone who can help.

I ask for 48 hours notice to change or cancel an appointment. Inside 48 hours the session is charged in full, because the slot cannot usually be filled at short notice. If something genuinely unavoidable happens, tell me and I will use my judgement rather than a rule.

What you tell me is confidential and records are kept securely in line with UK data protection law. There are limits, and I set them out at the start rather than burying them. I would break confidentiality if I believed you or someone else was at serious risk of harm, if a child or vulnerable adult was at risk, or if I were required to by a court. Wherever it is safe to do so, I would tell you before doing it.

Young people need somewhere they can be honest, so what your teenager tells me is not routinely reported back to you word for word. What I do share is the formulation, the plan and how it is going, because parents are part of the treatment rather than observers of it. I explain this arrangement to both of you at the start, and the same limits around risk apply.

Yes. I treat adults, teenagers and children, and I work with parents directly through parent-based treatment where a child will not attend. My postdoctoral training and much of my career was in child and adolescent anxiety, and I have worked with adults throughout.

No. I do not offer diagnostic assessment for ADHD or autism. I treat anxiety and OCD in people who already have a diagnosis, or who are on a waiting list for assessment elsewhere, and co-occurring ADHD or autism does change how I deliver treatment. If a formal assessment is what you need, I will point you towards services that do it.

Yes. I supervise qualified clinicians and trainees on CBT and ERP for OCD and anxiety, individually or in small groups, online. I am a Clinical Instructor at the University of Washington, where I train and supervise clinical psychology students, and I was previously Director of Training and Education at the Evidence-Based Treatment Centers of Seattle. Enquiries from clinicians are welcome by email.

General counselling gives you a thoughtful person to talk to, and for many difficulties that is exactly what helps. ERP is a specific procedure: we identify the situations you avoid and the things you do to feel safer, and then you face the former while systematically dropping the latter, in a graded order you agree in advance. It is active, it is structured, it involves practice between sessions, and it is aimed at ending rather than continuing. Talking about a compulsion tends not to change it. Not performing it does.