Compassion Focused Therapy

Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) is a therapeutic approach designed to help people who are highly self-critical, experience shame, or find it difficult to feel safe and settled within themselves. It brings together ideas from psychology, neuroscience, and mindfulness to help you better understand how your mind responds to stress, threat, and emotion.

CFT explores the different emotional systems that influence how we think, feel, and behave. Many people spend much of their lives in a state of pressure, self-judgement, or emotional defence. Compassion Focused Therapy helps you recognise these patterns and develop a kinder, more balanced way of relating to yourself.

This does not mean ignoring difficulties or “being soft” on yourself. Instead, it means learning how to respond to pain, fear, and inner criticism with greater understanding, steadiness, and care. Over time, this can reduce shame, improve emotional regulation, and support a stronger sense of self-worth.

Compassion Focused Therapy can be helpful for anxiety, depression, trauma, low self-esteem, and persistent feelings of inadequacy. In therapy, you are supported to build inner safety and resilience, so that change feels more possible and more sustainable.