Living with depression does not have to be so difficult, understanding and making sense of your difficulties can help.
Hi, I am Jane, and I have a genuine desire to help others who are experiencing difficulties with their low mood. If I were to ask you how your mood has been lately what would you say? Maybe day-to-day life seams more of a struggle than usual. Struggling in the sense that it has been harder to get up in the mornings and more of an effort to start your day. Have you had trouble getting off to sleep or possibly waking up earlier than planned? Perhaps you have noticed yourself feeling more irritable with those around you, less tolerant and fearful of what you may say if you do not remove yourself from the situation.
What about your appetite, any changes here? Are you eating a little more than usual as it brings you some temporary relief from the feelings of emptiness you are currently feeling? Or perhaps you have lost interest in food and just eating as a means of an existence as it all taste’s the same and nothing seems to interest you anymore?
While experiencing some if not all the above has this led to you to decline the offers of going out with others as you just want to hide away for a while? Maybe someone has suggested that you would benefit from seeking some support with your mood, however you are not sure what would help you as this is how you have been feeling for months now maybe even years. Then this is where I can come in, to help you make sense of what is maintaining this cycle of low mood.
What do I do?
I offer an evidenced based treatment model for depression called Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) that consists of 16-20 weekly sessions lasting up to an hour starting with your understanding of the difficulties you are experiencing and how long you have been feeling like this. We will then start to look at what events in your life that may have contributed to how you are feeling and the impact of these on you along with what support was available to you at that time. We then start to make sense of your difficulties by identifying what seams to be the main issue that is maintaining your low mood and it is usually one of the 4 areas.
- Life changing event (IPT Term Role Transition) such as a new job or unexpected loss of job, new relationship, or breakdown of old relationship, moved house or new location, change of role new parent or children left home, or becoming a carer for a loved one.
- Relationship dispute (IPT Term Role Dispute) where communication difficulties is the maintaining feature of your low mood this includes ongoing conflict with an existing relationship such as with your marriage/partner or ongoing/historical family difficulties that has resulted in a diversion that you are in the middle of, or maybe you experience patterns of difficulties with friends/co-workers that you struggle to understand.
- Loss of a significant other (IPT Term Complicated Grief) when you have gone through the loss of a loved one expected or sudden, the impact of their absence in your life continues to have a profound impact on yours as you experience an acute grief reaction, regardless of how long ago their passing was.
- Nonreciprocal meaningful contacts (IPT Term Interpersonal Sensitivities) this can include having trouble in making and sustaining meaningful relationships that enhance your self-worth. This can lead to you to compromising your own needs to meet the needs of others for fear of losing them, often to the detriment of your own wellbeing.
You may find that there is some overlap with the areas and that you can relate to parts of them all, so this is where I can help navigate a meaningful way forward.
Who am I and what is my background?
I have been working with people struggling with their mental health for over 20 years and I came across the IPT training in 2012 and I found that it really resonated with my style of working as the treatment model felt very natural to me. As an Occupational Therapist by background, we are trained to ask the question why and seek a resolve though meaningful and purposeful activity and for me the IPT model fits this effortlessly keeping my core values aligned, whilst maintaining my professional integrity.
For most of my professional career (13 years), I worked in a community outpatient service for those who were suffering from an eating disorder. IPT views an eating disorder to be an underlying issue to another primary problem that without the proper treatment could remain undetected for many years.
In seeing the life changing benefits that IPT has brought to those who I worked with, motivated me to set up my own therapy practice when I moved to Skye. I wanted to offer another treatment modality on the Island for those suffering from depression however motivated to make the necessary changes to benefit from the IPT model by learning how to manage their depressive symptoms in a more helpful way.
Please note a formal eating disorder requires a full multidisciplinary approach and therefore I am unable to work with anyone with an eating disorder as their primary issue in isolation. However, I can implement my clinical skills and knowledge with someone who has developed disordered eating as a direct result of their low mood.
Qualifications and Memberships
Over the last 20 plus years I have acquired the following.
- Accredited Interpersonal Psychotherapist and Member of IPTuk IPT UK – Home
- Accredited Interpersonal Psychotherapist Supervisor – I have the capacity to offer supervision to IPT Trainees and Accredited Practitioners– I also host an IPT group that I created 10 years ago- please contact me via the number/email below for an informal discussion.
- Interpersonal Psychotherapy Student Assessor currently working with University of Edinburgh.
- Bsc (Hons) Therapeutic Interventions Degree (Salford University)
- Bsc (Hons) Occupational Therapy Degree (Salford University) and member of Royal College of Occupational Therapist’s (RCOT) Royal College of Occupational Therapists – Home
- Allied Health Care Professional and therefor a member of the Health Care Professional Council (HCPC) The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) | The HCPC
What brought me to the Isle of Skye
In short, my mother who spent her early years here on the island. In learning about her acquiring a life limiting illness, we wanted to fulfil her dream of returning to the island which was difficult to navigate with the covid restrictions at the time and unfortunately, we lost her just before we were due to holiday here. Living in Yorkshire we deliberated about making the long journey with our 2 cats, however decided to go on the planned holiday in honour of my mother. Well within 24 hours of arriving here we fell in love with what Skye had to offer and booked to return in 6 months. Within 12 months we made a commitment to move here and within 2 years we gave up everything we owned and moved here to start our new chapter that I believe that my mother would have liked to have done as she would often tell me about her dreams of returning to the beautiful island of Skye and she was not wrong!
You can read more about me, my practice and IPT via my website Jane Taylor | Interpersonal Psychotherapist | Isle of Skye
Fees
I work with those who are 18+ years of age and have symptoms of depression as indicated above my fees are £80.00 per session with the initial 20-minute consultation being free while considering if IPT is the right treatment model for you.
IPT Practitioners/Trainees my fees for supervision are £100.00 per session (every 4 weeks) with the option of joining the fortnightly IPT peer group at no extra cost.
Enquiries
If you can resonate with the above and would like to discuss this further than please contact me on 01470 517214 or email jane@lifepaths.co.uk or via the contacts page on my website Jane Taylor | Interpersonal Psychotherapist | Isle of Skye