Psychotherapist: Job description

Psychotherapists work with individuals, couples, families and groups to help them overcome a range of psychological and emotional issues. Psychotherapists use personal treatment plans and a variety of non-medical-based treatments to:

• address the client's thought processes, feelings and behaviour;
• understand inner conflicts;
• find new ways to deal with, and alleviate, distress.

Psychotherapists take a variety of approaches according to the theoretical models they adopt and the therapy they practise. These 'talking therapies' include:

• cognitive behavioural therapies;
• psychoanalytic and psychodynamic therapies;
• humanistic and integrative psychotherapies;
• systemic therapies;
• hypno-psychotherapy;
• experiential constructivist therapies.

Typical work activities

Psychotherapists work with individuals on a one-to-one basis, with couples and families, and with groups of clients. The client is an active participant in the therapies.

Typical work activities include:

• conducting a series of individual sessions with a client - sessions normally last from 30 minutes to an hour, once or more a week - to assess need, explore issues and build trust (a therapist may work with a client(s) for just a few sessions or over a longer period of two or three years);
• encouraging the client to talk about and explore their feelings and behaviour;
• running group sessions with people undergoing therapy in a clinical setting;
• running group sessions in a training capacity for other professionals, such as social workers, nurses and teachers, who are interested in learning more about how groups work and how they function within them;
• keeping abreast of developments in theory and research;
• networking within the health professional community, and other potential business areas, to maintain continuity of work and client base;
• evaluating therapy outcomes and writing reports;
• in certain settings (such as The National Health Service (NHS) ), working to targets, such as seeing a number of clients over a particular period in order to meet service expectations and performance management targets;
• undergoing supervision (in order to raise personal issues and professional concerns arising from work) with another appropriately qualified person, as well as supervising other psychotherapists.

The role of psychotherapist can overlap with the role of counsellor. To find out more about the work of a psychotherapist, see the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) website.