What Can We Offer?

What can we offer?

People referred to our service will have a detailed assessment, which can take several meetings. During these appointments, we want to work with our patients to better understand what’s led them to access our service and what they would like to change about their lives.

They will also be asked to complete questionnaires between sessions. It is hoped that the assessment will be helpful in itself, whether or not it leads to therapy within DeanCross.

If both clinicians agree that therapy would be of benefit, the patient will join a group of 7-8 others who have similar experiences, meeting weekly for 90-minute sessions. Alongside this, they would also see a therapist in individual meetings weekly for 45minutes. The treatment offered at DeanCross is 18months

Before entering into the treatment programme, we offer a nine-week group which focuses on psychological education to help understand more about being part of a therapeutic group and what our patients may want to get out of spending 18 months with us.

Treatment Programme
We offer two evidence-based treatment options for people who have been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (also called Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder): Mentalization–Based Treatment (MBT) and Transference Focused Psychotherapy (TFP). These treatments are both drawn from psychoanalysis, they are closely linked and complementary. The treatments are focused on the here and now as opposed to focusing on past trauma. These treatments are given in a group therapy program. Clinical trials have shown that both treatment options are effective treatments for people with personality disorders.

Mentalization-Based Treatment: Mentalizing is our ability to identify what is going on in our own minds and that of others. If we are mentalizing successfully, we are better able to understand what is going on for ourselves and others, for example in relation to feelings and actions. This understanding helps us to get on better with others. In some mental health conditions, such as personality disorders, individuals can find it more difficult to mentalize, especially when in a stressful situation or encounter. This can lead to misunderstandings regarding emotions, thoughts and actions, and result in breakdowns in communication and relationships. Helping people to develop their own mentalizing skills as a therapeutic programme forms the core of MBT.

Watch this video of Peter Fonagy explaining what Mentalization is >>

Transference Focused Psychotherapy: TFP is grounded in contemporary psychoanalysis but has made specific modifications of technique to make it more helpful to people meeting the diagnostic criteria for personality disorders. It has a particular focus on structuring the treatment of patients and assessing and treating the way the individual’s personality is organised, to allow the individual to develop a more coherent and understandable sense of their identity.

We also offer 2 workshops for the ‘significant other’ of an individual currently in treatment with us.

These workshops aim to enhance the understanding of the significant other, so that they can better support the work that the individual is doing here at DeanCross. Some of the things included in the workshop are:

What is a Personality Disorder?
How Personality Disorder can affect relationships;
What is Mentalization?
The role of therapy.
How can you look after your own well-being?
How to access resources and support.