This model has three parts to it, Biological, Psychological and Social that focus on health and they are all linked to a person’s overall health and well-being. All these three parts play an important part in health behaviour or ill-health. For example, the Biological aspect could be how some illnesses are influenced by our genetic make-up such as breast cancer and Huntingdon’s disease. A Psychological focus could be they are stressed about coping with long-term chronic pain and how their thoughts and cognitions regarding the situation are impacting on their everyday life. The Social part of the model could be how an environment is affecting people’s ability to change their behaviour, for example a smoker wishing to give up smoking, is surrounded by smokers within their work, family and home environment!
How does Health Psychology work?
There are many types of Psychological therapies that Health Psychologists can use for behaviour change. I tended to focus on Motivational Interviewing, behaviour change models and relaxation techniques when working with clients. To begin with, I go through an information-gathering stage to understand exactly what the issues/goals you need to address are.
Every client I see is individual and unique, therefore I work with you and your families to personalised your sessions to help you embrace change and gain a healthy lifestyle, or coping with long-term conditions. The first session will be based on understanding the issues of your difficulties and how initial targets for change can be identified. Most sessions will last for one hour or longer to suit your needs and can be flexible to suit your requirements. Please feel free to contact me by telephone or register your interest on the contact page.
