Salutions Publications | Health
Hampden House is 20 years’ old
By Fay Wertheimer
Set well back from the road, Hampden House Psychotherapy Centre has been helping adults and children handle the strains of modern life for 20 years, yet few passers-by on Palatine Road are in the know. That’s fine. Confidentiality is key to psychotherapy. Mind you, the practice’s first ever promotional flyers went somewhat overboard on that particular issue. The address was printed correctly, but, unfortunately, directions actually led patients to a pub down the road! That’s history, and M20-based Hampden House is now celebrating two decades of providing excellent and comprehensive psychotherapeutic services for the local community and clients throughout the North West. WHAT IS PSYCHoTHERAPY? Psychotherapy uses psychological techniques to support people in overcoming their problems and in helping them make changes by talking, rather than rely entirely upon medication. Psychotherapy can help overcome anxiety, low mood and depression by, in part, identifying the cause of the distress. It too can offer support around relationship issues, bereavement, workplace difficulties and eating disorders – in fact, anything causing deep unhappiness. In recent years, peer pressure, the quest for perfectionism and self-induced stress have contributed to a rise in psychological difficulties within every age range and social group – children, adolescents, adults, families and couples. There is now a greater need for short, medium and long-term therapies. NHS waiting lists are lengthy and treatments are limited time-wise, so Hampden House has proved a boon to those needing therapy on a short or long-term basis. Psychotherapist Deborah Drinkwater joined the Hampden House team six years ago and describes what makes the centre so special: “The relaxed, non-clinical atmosphere in what had been a Victorian family home, plus the fact our sessions always take place in the same room, benefit both the therapist and the client. When patients show signs of improvement, it’s so gratifying. We take GP, hospital, medical insurance and self-referrals. Once our official questionnaire has been completed, patients are
usually seen within two weeks. It’s vital for each client to receive an appropriate therapy and, at this centre, we have many practitioners offering many different specialisms.” HISToRY In 1996, six Cheadle Royal therapists, backed by the Priory Hospital, formed a practice in Hampden House in Withington. In 2004, two founders (one of whom is still working today) and four colleagues bought the premises. Each week, in the centre’s eight comfy consulting rooms, twenty part-time therapists, ten visiting therapists and three administrators, including the ‘original’ from 1996, see 250 patients from Monday through to Saturday. Hampden House also hosts training sessions helping to provide Continuing Professional Development for the profession. This, no doubt, suits the area’s many psychotherapists right down to the ground. Choosing a venue for the 20th birthday party, Practice Administrator Ann Watson is emphatic that it can only be hosted in one location - M20, of course.
Tel: 0161 445 2099. hampdenhouse.co.uk December/January 2016/17 | salutions.co.uk
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