What Is The Role Of A High Intensity Therapist?

Becoming a high intensity therapist means taking up a specialised role which offers an extremely challenging yet rewarding career.

Let’s take a look at what this demanding position entails.

The role of a high intensity therapist:

Being a high intensity therapist offers you the opportunity to make a significant difference to people’s lives.

You will strive to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of men and women who are currently struggling to overcome a variety of complex problems related to such things as depression and anxiety.

Your work will be to provide support, assistance and encouragement through a range of evidence-based interventions.

What will your working life consist of?

On a regular basis you will arrange individual, face-to-face sessions with clients as well as being the facilitator or group therapeutic sessions.

The clients you will be working with have a range of problems including:

• OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder)
• PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder)

A major part of your role will be the ability to assess the suitability of a client in terms of evidence-based psychological interventions.

Once you deem it beneficial for a client to receive such treatment you will then be responsible for the formulation and implementation of such therapy while evaluating progress throughout its progression.

Common intervention therapies you will offer:

You will use a range of high-intensity psychological interventions. The most common being CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy). This is a globally recognised treatment method which is proven to be highly effective.

You will also be aware of, and have the ability to recommend other evidence-based therapies such as:

Depression therapies – This will include; interpersonal psychotherapy, therapy for couples with depression issues, and counselling for depression.

Where appropriate you may also implement such therapies as; brief dynamic interpersonal therapy, mindfulness based cognitive therapy, and behavioural therapy for couples.

The above therapies are certainly not the extent of your knowledge-base but should give you an idea of the scope that a fully qualified high intensity therapist needs to cover.

What sort of person does it take?

The skills and values required to succeed as a high intensity therapist are many, varied and demanding.

Having said this, the value and benefits you can bring to others offers huge personal fulfilment.

The fact that you are helping those with varying degrees of mental health conditions understand, accept and overcome their current issues can only be applauded.

Clinical and organisational skills:

Your clinical and organisational skills will see leadership come to the fore through such things as:

• Highly effective communication as well as interpersonal attributes
• Empathetic listening skills
• An ability to remain fully focused and solution-oriented
• The ability to work well in a challenging, often fast-paced environment
• Strong supervisory skills
• The ability to participate and accept shared decision-making choices
• An ability to identify triggers and patterns in the behaviour of those you treat
• A sound ability to formulate the use and development of the most appropriate treatment on a case-by-case basis

Demanding, challenging, rewarding:

It is clear that being a high-intensity therapist is not a role for the faint-hearted.

At times this challenging career will test you to your limits, but helping those who are most in need of your skill-set is a reward that is more than worth the effort.