Therapy
From brief mental health education, to long-term work on the deepest of levels. And everything in between.
Synthesis Therapies provides fully online expert psychological treatment for teens and adults seeking help with mental health difficulties, from mild, recent issues, to complex, longstanding disorders.
Built on the unwavering belief in people’s ability to overcome difficulty, core values of acceptance and non judgement, and a dedication to being effective, therapy here is safe, supportive and beneficial.
Specialisms
Schema Therapy
Schemas are deeply embedded constructs that can be thought of as making up our personality. Working on the schemas responsible for distress and unconscious ways of responding means relief from limiting life patterns. Having engaged in Schema Therapy herself, Dr O’Leary is passionate about this approach. She is supervised by an expert Schema Therapist and is working towards International Society of Schema Therapy certification.
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
DBT is used for a range of problems that have ineffective or harmful behaviour at their core. Addressing these behaviours and gaining skills in mindfulness, tolerating distress, regulating emotions, and reducing relational conflict helps people to move on from their unhelpful coping styles, freeing them to shape their life as they desire it to be. Dr O’Leary completed her DBT Intensive Training™ with the leading organisation, British Isles DBT Training.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
CBT looks at the relationships between cognitive processes such as thoughts, mental images and beliefs, as well as our emotional, physical and behavioural experiences. It aims to systematically address the elements that are maintaining a problem. It is also an umbrella label for a group of therapies that includes Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, Compassion-Focused Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and Transdiagnostic CBT.
Integrative Therapy
Years of training and experience in multiple forms of therapy with different presentations can lead to a way of working that draws on various approaches. It takes expertise to understand when and how to use different theory and techniques, while maintaining a cohesive experience for the client, and ensuring the effectiveness of any given model is not diluted. If helpful, Dr O’Leary can blend multiple specialisms to provide integrative therapy.
Cognitive Neuroscience
Cognitive neuroscience concerns the biological underpinnings of mental processes. It explores the human experience at the level of neuronal activity, connectivity and functionality in the brain. Synthesis Therapies brings a unique dimension to understanding mental health issues as Dr O’Leary has studied and researched in this area since 2007.
FAQs
What’s online therapy like?
Just as effective as traditional therapy. Evidence shows that working online does not hinder people’s experience or progress at all, and many people prefer it. Dr O’Leary has extensive training and experience in providing therapy online.
Would everything be confidential?
Absolutely. Every interaction is bound by strict ethical codes and laws of confidentiality and data privacy. Unmanageable risk to yourself or others is an exception to the confidentiality agreement but these circumstances are very rare.
You can opt-in to details being released with certain people, such as your GP, but only the information you consent to will be shared. A Welcome Pack includes the confidentiality agreement details and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) policy.
How do appointments work?
Before confirming your initial session, Dr O’Leary will speak with you on the phone to talk through what is bringing you to therapy, free of charge. If meeting is the right thing for you then Siobhan will send you a Welcome Pack, Zoom invite and set up payment for a first appointment. If you would like to progress with therapy, you can choose a regular slot and pay on a session by session basis.
There are so many mental health professionals. What are the differences?
Psychologists are skilled in assessing, diagnosing, formulating and treating the full range of psychological presentations. They’ve undertaken years of training in multiple therapeutic approaches, working with people across the lifespan in various settings. Having conducted their own research, they have a sophisticated understanding of the science of therapy.
Psychotherapist is a general term for professionals treating mental health issues through psychological therapy.
Counsellor can describe individuals with a really broad range of qualifications, from basic training in counselling techniques to extensive study and experience as a psychotherapist.
Psychoanalysts & Psychodynamic Psychotherapists provide psychoanalysis and psychodynamic therapies; specific approaches with origins in Freud’s work.
Psychiatrists have trained as medical doctors prior to specialising in psychiatry. They have expertise in diagnosis, prescribe medications for mental health problems and many practise psychotherapy also.
syn·the·sis
the combination of parts or elements so as to form a whole
Dissonant elements within us are struggles of the human condition. From late 19th century psychoanalysis to the most current interventions, the concept of synthesis exists throughout the therapeutic schools. Synthesis of resistant parts means they are not just resolved & unified, but something new that transcends can flourish.