This week, we welcomed Professor Windy Dryden to our Leeds office to facilitate a two-day training session. Our therapists and practitioners from across our children, young people, and adult services came together to learn about Single Session Therapy (SST).
Windy is one of the UK’s leading practitioners and trainers in the Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) tradition of psychotherapy and SST therapy. An Emeritus Professor of Psychotherapeutic Studies at Goldsmiths University of London, Windy has been working in counselling and psychotherapy since 1975. Over his extensive career, he has written over 240 books and trained therapists around the world.
The right support, at the right time
The two-day training combined theory, insightful discussions, and practical skills sessions, including a live demonstration of Windy in action. He also addressed questions throughout the training, helping us to explore how to embed this mode of delivery into our service models.
As an organisation, minimising wait times and ensuring early intervention continue to be a key focus for us, allowing clients to access the right support at the right time. SST would address this by being offered as soon as support is identified, typically within a week. It helps clients to achieve their goals and resolve their problems in one session, with the understanding that additional support is available if needed. The focus is on maximising the value of that one session by drawing on the strengths and skills of both the therapist and the client.
Moving forward with SST
We’ll be working with our teams to embed and pilot SST across our services as an additional support option. This approach aims to meet more client needs, build further capacity, reduce wait times, and ultimately offer clients greater choice in their treatment options.
We’ve received excellent feedback from colleagues who attended the training, as well as comments from Windy:
“I was thrilled at the response of therapists to my two-day training on SST. They were fully engaged, curious, and not afraid to ask challenging questions. I hope to stay involved with the organisation as they implement SST services in the future.”
