Common Questions about Psychiatry

Unlike other mental health professionals, such as psychologists and counsellors, psychiatrists must be medically qualified doctors who have chosen to specialise in psychiatry. This means they can prescribe medication as well as recommend other forms of treatment.
After assessing your condition, the psychiatrist may prescribe medication or recommend other treatments, such as counselling or cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).

The number of times you need to see a psychiatrist and the length of each appointment will depend on your circumstances.

Psychiatrists may also provide psychological support for people with long-term, painful or terminal physical health conditions.

Our sensitively trained client services team will discuss your needs and explain the options available. All information is dealt with confidentially with the aim of linking you with an appropriate clinician. Generally, when deciding whether to see a psychiatrist or psychologist one consideration is whether you are likely to need medication or not. If you will need medication, then it’s very important to be assessed and treated by a psychiatrist, though you may also need to see a psychologist for talking treatment as well.

You may wish to explain to your child about their appointment. Explain that you are taking them to a psychiatrist who meets with children and young people, to see if there is anything they can do to support them at home or in school. The psychiatrist will ask them some questions, a bit about the things they like doing, what they are doing well in and anything else that they may be finding difficult. Reassure them that there won’t be any kind of medical tests or physical examinations.

Please provide a copy of the referral from the GP or other professional in advance of the appointment.
If you have any professional reports from other specialists, or school reports, that you wish to be reviewed by the doctor, please bring them with you on the day or send them prior to the appointment to psychiatryinfo@onebright.com and the psychiatrist will review these reports during the assessment process.

The psychiatrist will tailor your treatment package to your individual needs. This may include psychiatric reviews, cognitive behavioural therapy, psychology, family therapy, prescribed medication or referral to other multidisciplinary professionals. Our psychiatrists are authorised to provide private prescriptions, including for ADHD medications. We work closely with a network of psychologists, and therapists and if a referral is required, we will arrange this.

CBT is a talking therapy that can help you manage your difficulties by changing the way you think and behave. CBT is indicated for a range of conditions including depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and OCD.

With children and young people, the therapist will initially meet with the young person together with their parent(s) or carers, although if preferred the therapist can meet with the young person or parent(s)/carer(s) separately. The format of the therapy going forwards will depend on the specific needs of the young person. Some therapy will involve individual sessions with the young person, some will involve parent(s) sessions and others will involve a combination of the above with some sessions for the child/adolescent and parent together for part/all the session. Together the psychologist, young person and parent(s)/carer(s) will decide on the best approach, likely treatment length and goals. The length and frequency of sessions will be tailored to the young person’s individual needs. Typically, sessions will occur on a weekly basis for a time limited period e.g. two to three months although length varies depending on the young person’s specific needs. Sessions will be 50 minutes face to face in clinic or via video consultation.

With adults, the therapist will meet with the patient either face to face or remotely. We also offer other therapies via the network. Please see the therapy pages for more details.

We are an outpatient service, and we provide care to clients who require treatment on an outpatient basis only. Our psychiatrists can treat clients who require weekly, monthly or annual appointments. If you require more intensive support, we recommend you see your GP for a referral to your local crisis team. We do not provide out of hours or emergency care, therefore if you are in an emergency, please attend your local A and E.

Yes, if you have a condition that you feel may impact your access to our service, please contact us on 0330 134 4659 and we will make reasonable adjustments to enable your appointment to proceed and for any treatment to be provided in an individualised accessible format.

Our psychiatrists work with individuals with:
• emotional conditions such as anxiety, depression, bereavement, losses or trauma
• behavioural conditions such as challenging behaviour or anger
• neurodevelopment conditions for example ADHD and autism
• and other conditions.
Please note that we do not treat patients who require urgent intensive crisis support. At the time of booking, you will be sent screening questions so that we can check we are the appropriate clinic to support you before confirming the booking.

We are always looking to maintain and improve high quality standards of care and value any feedback relating to your experience of the practice. If you would like to leave feedback, please send to psychiatryinfo@onebright.com. If for any reason you are dissatisfied with the care provided by your psychiatrist and wish to make a complaint, please contact us at 0330 134 4659.