Seeking counselling and talking therapies is a way of maintaining positive mental health and may be helpful in addressing a sense of uncertainty and developing positive plans if you feel stuck and your mental and emotional health is a barrier.
The NHS provides psychological and talking therapy support. The pathway and the kind of support available may be different across the four home nations.
The website patient.info has a detailed and well-written web page about how you can ‘Refer Yourself for NHS Talking Therapy’. This gives a little information about counselling and talking therapies and how to access these across England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Jersey and Guernsey.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a talking therapy which focuses on how your thoughts, beliefs and attitudes can affect your feelings and behaviours. CBT teaches coping skills for dealing with different problems. CBT is recommended by the NHS for treating depression and anxiety. Techniques learnt can often be applied to other problems in the future.
Referrals for CBT can be made by your GP, or you can look for a private counsellor who offers this type of therapy. The British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) is a charity with the aim to promote the practice and development of CBT. The BABCP has a register of accredited CBT practitioners that cover the UK and Ireland that you can use to search for a therapist.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a version of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). ACT recognises that emotional distress and negative thoughts are part of being human. ACT acknowledges that your emotions are a reasonable response in times of high stress, or in the face of living with a long-term condition, like multiple sclerosis (MS).
ACT places less emphasis on getting rid of difficult psychological experiences but instead teaches skills to relate differently to troubling thoughts and feelings, so people can live well whatever their situation. You may be able to find an ACT practitioner via the BABCP website or through other online directories.
Although ACT is well placed to support people with MS, other talking therapies like CBT and counselling, will still be useful. Any time spent on maintaining positive mental health and addressing and recognising uncertainty with or without ‘structure’ will also have benefit.
Finding an experienced and suitably qualified practitioner or organisation that can help with psychological therapies is not always easy. We have gathered links and information about organisations and associations that provide counselling and therapies. This list is not exhaustive.
The Brain Charity is a national charity supporting anyone affected by a neurological condition. They offer counselling to anyone affected by a neurological condition online or over the telephone.
Disability Plus is a UK based organisation that specialises in providing access to counsellors and psychotherapists for adults with disabilities and their families. They can provide access to counsellors with experience of MS.
UK Counselling Network (CIC) is a UK wide not-for-profit Community Interest Company (CIC) which has been set up to provide access to low-cost counselling.
There are online directories where you can search for a private counsellor, psychotherapist or psychotherapeutic practitioner. The databases are searchable using location and keywords to help you filter down the results appropriately.
The British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) is a charity that is a professional association for members of the counselling professions. The BACP promote and provide training and education for counsellors and psychotherapists with the aim of raising standards and improving outcomes for people seeking therapy. They have a therapist directory of around 16,000 therapists registered and accredited therapists.
The UK Council for Psychotherapy is an organisation for psychotherapists and psychotherapeutic counsellors in the UK. They hold the UK wide register of psychotherapists and psychotherapeutic counsellors and have a ‘find a therapist’ section of their website to help you find support. Their register only includes practitioners who meet their standards and abide by their code of practice.
MS-UK’s counselling directory can provide a list of qualified counsellors who have completed our MS awareness and Counselling people with MS training. The latter was developed by counsellors with years of experience of working with people with an MS diagnosis. Please contact the MS-UK Helpline to get your copy.
