Sleep is an incredibly important process, and when you can’t sleep it can have a huge knock-on effect on the rest of your life. Sometimes insomnia seems to gather momentum, and it can feel like you will ever sleep properly again. 

However, this is not the case – effective treatments exist for treating insomnia. 

This treatment is called Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia, or CBT-i. This is a form of talking therapy that teaches you techniques for falling asleep quicker and staying asleep.  It explores the reasons why we don’t sleep well – looking at how our thoughts (or cognitions) and our actions and habits (or behaviours) affect the quality and quantity of the sleep we get. CBT-i also includes elements of education on the science of sleep and relaxation techniques. 

CBT-i is very effective and is recommended as the first-line treatment for insomnia by the NHS, NICE, the British Sleep Society, and the American Association of Sleep Medicine. CBT-i is different to sleep hygiene. Sleep hygiene is more like general good advice for sleep, but is not an effective treatment for insomnia.  

Everyone’s sleep is different, and so is their insomnia. The first session is an assessment where we understand your life, sleep, and lack of sleep, as well as any other medical issues you might have, and any medicines that you take.  

We then make a personal CBT-i treatment plan to get you back to better sleep. This treatment is delivered through a number of online video sessions. Because everyone is different, we don’t all need the same number of sessions, though between 2 and 4 is the most common. You don’t have to pay for all of these sessions up front. 

CBT-i is medication free. If you already take medication for sleep then it is ok to continue this. If you would like to come off your sleeping tablets then CBT-i can be used to help with this.