Northern Irish Enterprise Awards 2025/ 8 Leading Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Company 2025 – Belfast & Award for Excellence in Tailored Psychological Support 2025 Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a talking therapy that offers a better understanding of the influences and life events behind conditions such as anxiety and depression. It works by empowering, helping to make life easier by driving key changes in behaviour and thought. CBT is one of the areas focused on by Antrim Psychological Services, and the with the company picking up two awards in this programme, we caught up with Kevin McFaul, its director, to find out more about its vital work. CBT is one of three primary focus areas of Antrim Psychological Services, which, from its home of Belfast, offers the private services of a multidisciplinary team qualified and experienced in psychological assessments and intervention. Aside from CBT, they specialise in Comprehensive Behavioural Intervention for Tics (CBIT) and detailed assessments for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The aim across these services is to deliver a more accessible, client-centred approach to psychological support. Tailoring these services to the individual to ensure the best possible outcomes are achieved, Antrim Psychological Services’ values of evidence-based care, collaboration with clients, compassion, respect, accessibility, and practicality all exist to help it reduce the barriers to effective mental health care and change lives for the better. “Our clinic is a place of non-judgement and continuing support”, Kevin told us. “We support our clients but we also support one another.” This reflects its distinction in this space. This is a commitment embodied across the team, whose multiskilled nature allows them to offer both supervision and training. The result is that client needs are met within one service and under one roof. Given the waiting lists for these services on the NHS are the longest they have ever been, a provision of this kind in the private sector appeases demand and ensures support can be accessed quickly. To meet the growing demand experienced as a result, the team have taken on new clinicians, opened a second office, and extended their hours. Driving service demand, aside from long wait times time on the NHS, is a greater curiosity towards therapy, the stigma around which has started to fade massively in recent years. Today, more people are seeking it out as a way to enhance wellbeing and quality of life, a change Antrim Psychological Services welcomes. Kevin and co. certainly do their bit towards this, helping to drive a lasting impact across their day-to-day work and well beyond. For example, as a specialist in therapy for tics and Tourette’s, Kevin guest lectures at the local University of Ulster, sharing his knowledge to provide useful insight and training to postgraduate psychology students. Outside of this, he has also worked closely with the NHS, being heavily involved with its Child and Adolescent Mental Health Specialist Tic Clinic, and has lent his time to various charities to talk about this topic. Alongside this work with CBIT, another area of the company’s service that is becoming increasingly sought after is the autism assessment. Awareness of autism in schools and workplaces has helped drive this shift, and means that children and adults alike are both in search of guidance concerning a potential ASD diagnosis. Again, it is crucial to manage this effectively so that there is a minimal delay in them accessing the support required, and this is why the assessment panel here look to balance speed and accuracy. As demand for everything from autism assessments to CBT continues to pick up in Belfast, Antrim Psychological Services aims to move out of the shared office space it currently occupies and into a building of its own, from which it can deliver a range of treatments and therapies to improve overall mental health. Finally, a shared interest in blending metal health with exercise is seeing the team explore the idea of an integrated care package, blending an allocated therapist with a personal trainer to further enhance the outcomes it delivers. Whilst this is currently just an idea, it nevertheless reflects a company at the forefront of psychology in Belfast, a distinction which has resulted in Antrim Psychological Services being recognised with a duo of welldeserved awards here in this programme. More on its CBT, CBIT, and ASD assessment services can be found at the web address below. Contact: Kevin McFaul Company: Antrim Psychological Services Web Address: https:// antrimpsychologicalservices.co.uk/ Antrim Psychological Services
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