Have I scuppered my chances of the right therapy?!

[BerryCheesecake]

Have I messed my chance up? How can I fix this?!

My county offers a self referral scheme for MH issues such as depression, anxiety etc.

I rung today and have referred myself and after a phone assessment the girl wants me to have a face to face meeting and then phone consultations as a therapy option. She said she it will help me to manage my anxiety.

What I REALLY wanted to ask for was CBT as I know my health anxiety issues are a major problem. I don't want help managing my anxiety, I want to get to the bottom of why I had it and then get rid of it. Ive looked on her profile on the site and she's a 'practitioner'. There are others on the site who are actual CBT therapists.

She was also very young. ( I'm sure she was younger than me). I can't really say I don't want to see her as she is young! But it must just be me, but I find it difficult to talk about my problems with people of the same age and prefer someone older than myself. It was nothing against her, she seemed nice enough but was just so young and I know There's no way I'd be able to open up fully to her.

Is there any way I can ring and ask to either maybe meet with someone else or have a different course of treatment? The treatment was decided after a phone conversation where I didn't fully discuss everything that I would have wanted to, just nervous I guess.

I am not very good at saying what I want etc so wonder if there is a way to ask for someone else/different treatment or if I have scuppered my chances?

Thanks for any advice :)

Hi
it sounds like the same self referal in my area, There is usually a triage person you speak to (this sounds like this girl) who takes ur history and your current problems.
If they offer you something for anxiety it will either be an anxiety work shop which teaches you CBT or a one to one with a therapist which will also be CBT.

Thanks gruffalo, she said it be one to one but probably 'directed phone support from her.

I would use the face to face meeting for an opportunity to discuss this, the phone support may well be self directed CBT.

I had real reservations about seeing someone young and then I saw a therapist the same age as me (27 so not young young) and it was fine actually, I was surprised so I would give her the chance. I really do think that the value in therapy comes from finding the right person and not the right label for your therapy (if that makes sense?)

Thank you fluffy, and yes you're right, I'll give the girl a chance and see how things go :)

I have seen quite a few therapists in my time, young/old male/female. And my best one was a very young posh boy. At 1st i felt very reserved telling him all about my probs but he was fantastic.

In fact I remember that I had a real fear of vomiting, so he took me out to lunch then took me back to the office and made me be sick! it worked, being sick doesnt bother me anymore

Sounds the same as in my area too. Yes go along with the meeting/telephone consultations. I found that in order to get on to the face-to-face CBT/counselling you had to have jumped through the relevant hoops first. But definitely worth asking at the initial mtg for what you want.

Thank you :)