Jeremy Cripps, a Chartered Psychologist and UK Clinical Lead at ieso, shares his lived experience of mental health. In an interview with Ian Florence, he delves deeper into how his self-disclosure impacts his work with his patients and how his career path has led to his role in developing NHS partnerships.

‍

“I did a journalism course before volunteering for MIND, then working as a mental health advocate in Brighton for Rethink. And that’s where I found self-disclosure can help: at the end of running mental health awareness sessions I would tell my story.”

‍

“These experiences led me to do an undergraduate psychology course and then I was interviewed for a post graduate course in Counselling Psychology at London Metropolitan University. I had the relevant work experience but as soon as I told them my story as a patient the response was astounding. They had a departmental meeting to decide whether I could join the training. My disclosure had risked my place on the course because there was still so much stigma attached to what I had been through.”

‍

“On the topic of self-disclosure, Jeremy comments “people with a psychodynamic background tended to see self-disclosure as a real no-no: by contrast CBT trained therapists often saw partial disclosure as helpful, provided it was at a right level.”

‍

Jeremy develops NHS partnerships for ieso, yet his approach to patient clinical work is honest and open: “I believe in telling some of my story to clients if it can help to strengthen relationship and a sense of safety. Used carefully it can create necessary trust.”

‍

As Jeremy explained, we have around 45 contracts with the NHS and 650 CBT therapists with a team of supervisors. We originally offered just a text-based service but have recently added video CBT. “The whole set up meets the goal I have: to deliver timely appropriate treatment. It’s flexible; we offer services at the weekend and in the evenings; it’s private and confidential since patients can undertake sessions wherever they want.” Find out more about the ieso approach here.

‍

Read the full article here: ‘I’m not the only one’ The Psychologist