Heart Education Awareness Resource and Training through eLearning (HEARTe)

Six months later

Please enable JavaScript in your browser to see this interactive content.

Jill is referred to a clinical psychologist and attends for an appointment. Jill and the psychologist agree that cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) might help her adjust to the impact of her aunt’s death and to develop more effective coping strategies.

CBT is a form of psychotherapy that focuses on teaching people skills to assist them to see their situation in a more helpful way and to learn some skills of managing life in a more productive manner. CBT helps people refocus on the positive and develop strategies for the challenges they are facing. The skills allow people to relax more, see the future in a more helpful manner and, generally, feel more in control of their life.

The video below is a useful introduction to CBT:

Jill finds it difficult travelling to face-to-face CBT sessions, as she lives some distance from the clinical psychology department, so she accesses an online CBT course (Living Life to the Full) and is supported by a practitioner trained in SPIRIT (Structured Psychosocial Interventions in Teams course Five areas: SPIRIT Training Project (Glasgow). The SPIRIT practitioner phones Jill regularly to support her.

Jill is feeling the benefit of the CBT and is coping more effectively with the trauma of her aunt’s death. She now has her drinking under control and her sleep pattern has improved. Along with her mum, she has attended a CPR training session in her local community and feels confident that she would now know how to deal with an OHCA.

Jill and her Mum in coffee shop. Jill looks flustered and dishevelled.

Slide 1

Jill speech bubble:: Sorry I’m late. I’d a bit of a late night.

Mum speech bubble: Another one? It seems to be becoming a bit of a habit. Don’t you think perhaps you are drinking a wee bit too much? I can smell alcohol on you from here!

Jill speech bubble: Don’t nag! A few glasses of wine won’t do any harm and they help me sleep at night. I’m still finding it difficult to since Aunt Rose died – I keep getting flashbacks of trying to resuscitate her.

Slide 2

Mum speech bubble: I thought things had improved since we’d been to bereavement support together? I’m glad our GP recommended that. I found it really helpful.

Jill speech bubble: It did help, at first, but things seemed to have become more difficult again. I was thinking about asking the GP about the Cognitive Behavioural Therapy that he mentioned.

Slide 3 (Jill and GP)

GP speech bubble: How are you?

Jill speech bubble: Not too good, I’m afraid. I know it is six months since my aunt died but I still don’t seem to be getting over it. I wondered if the Cognitive Behavioural Therapy that we talked about before might help.

GP speech bubble: Let’s have a chat about things and then, if you still want to consider CBT, I can refer you to our clinical psychology team.

Well done, you have reached the end of this section.

What do you want to do next?