Compassion Focused Therapy in Essex and Online
Private CFT for self-criticism and perfectionism
Compassion Focused Therapy at Slán Therapy is offered by Ryan Hegarty, a BABCP-accredited CBT and EMDR therapist in Essex, as part of an integrated approach to treating self-criticism, perfectionism and anxiety in professionals and high achievers.
What is Compassion Focused Therapy?
Compassion Focused Therapy is a structured psychological approach developed by British clinical psychologist Professor Paul Gilbert. It draws on cognitive behavioural therapy, neuroscience, evolutionary psychology and mindfulness to help people develop a healthier relationship with themselves.
CFT is not about positive thinking or being kind to yourself in a vague, aspirational sense. It is about understanding why the brain defaults to self-criticism and shame, and building the practical skills to regulate that response: skills that sit alongside the structured work of CBT and EMDR sessions.
What CFT can help you change?
CFT works by strengthening the brain’s soothing and affiliative systems: the ones that get overridden when self-criticism, shame and threat responses take hold. Over time, clients develop a steadier, more balanced internal response to difficulty.
For most people, the shift is not dramatic. It is quieter than that. The internal critic does not disappear, but it loses its grip. Shame becomes something to understand rather than something to hide from.
Perfectionism starts to look like a pattern with an origin rather than a fixed personality trait. And for high achievers in particular, that shift in self-relationship often unlocks clarity and performance in ways that no amount of pushing harder ever did.
How Compassion Focused Therapy works in practice?
CFT sessions at Slán Therapy are structured and practical. It typically begins by building an understanding of why the brain defaults to self-criticism and threat responses in the first place. That is not a detour; it is the foundation. Once you understand the mechanism, you can start to change it. From there, sessions use guided techniques including imagery, breathing exercises and structured practice to train a different internal response, one rooted in steadiness rather than judgement.
The skills are practical and transferable. As with CBT, the goal is a framework you leave with, not a dependency you maintain. CFT is particularly effective for people who intellectually understand their problems but cannot shift how they feel about themselves. CBT changes the thinking. EMDR processes the experience. CFT changes the relationship you have with yourself. Used together, they cover ground that no single approach can reach alone.
Compassion focused therapy for self-criticism, perfectionism and anxiety
CFT is used at Slán Therapy to support clients working through:
Perfectionism and High Self-Expectations
Standards that were once an asset but have become a source of constant self-judgement and anxiety.
Chronic Self-Criticism
A persistent internal voice that does not shift regardless of what you achieve or how long you have been trying to silence it.
Low Self-Esteem
Particularly where it coexists with external success, a common pattern in professionals and high achievers.
Shame
Including professional shame, failure-related shame, and the kind that is hard to name because nothing obviously bad has happened.
Anxiety in High Achievers
Where anxiety is driven by self-imposed pressure, fear of failure or the constant sense of not being enough.
Burnout With a Self-Critical Edge
Where the burnout is sustained or worsened by the inability to ease up on yourself, a pattern particularly common in professionals and high achievers.
Perfectionism and High Self-Expectations
Standards that were once an asset but have become a source of constant self-judgement and anxiety.
Chronic Self-Criticism
A persistent internal voice that does not shift regardless of what you achieve or how long you have been trying to silence it.
Low Self-Esteem
Particularly where it coexists with external success, a common pattern in professionals and high achievers.
Shame
Including professional shame, failure-related shame, and the kind that is hard to name because nothing obviously bad has happened.
Anxiety in High Achievers
Where anxiety is driven by self-imposed pressure, fear of failure or the constant sense of not being enough.
Burnout With a Self-Critical Edge
Where the burnout is sustained or worsened by the inability to ease up on yourself, a pattern particularly common in professionals and high achievers.
CFT delivered by a BABCP-accredited therapist in Essex
I came to CFT through clients who understood their problems perfectly but still could not shift how they felt about themselves. CBT changed the thinking. CFT changed the relationship they had with themselves. For high achievers for whom shame and self-criticism are the default, that distinction matters.
I use CFT as part of an integrated approach alongside CBT and EMDR, not as a standalone modality, but as the framework that addresses what the other approaches sometimes cannot reach alone.
I am Ryan Hegarty, a BABCP-accredited therapist in Essex with clinical experience across high-security psychiatric settings, NHS services and the University of Cambridge, offering private therapy sessions online and by home visit.
Every session is with me directly. My accreditations are publicly verifiable via the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies and the Nursing and Midwifery Council.
Here is what clients say
Hear from some of my clients.
Can’t recommend highly enough!!!
Ryan was an exceptional trauma-informed CBT therapist and I can’t recommend him highly enough. From the very first session, he immediately made me feel relaxed, safe, and comfortable enough to open up about what was going on. He explained things in a way that was easy to understand and always made the techniques feel relevant and personal to my situation.
My time working with Ryan was very helpful and productive. I’ve had several counsellors over the years, and elements of Ryan’s approach were quite different and very suited to me. His manner is relaxed and empathetic. Whilst the time was taken to aid my understanding of myself, he also provided real tools and tactics that enabled me to put the changes I wanted to make into practice. This has often been the gap in the past that prevented me from making meaningful change. I’m doing well now, but wouldn’t hesitate to go back to Ryan, for a top up, or to work through another issue on the future. Thank you, Ryan.
Life Changing.
Ryan has been incredible throughout. His pragmatic approach and tools have helped me overcome a number of challenges which have built up over time.
His clear communication style and clarity ensured I was able to understand everything in the first instance and the awareness I developed with his help has significantly improved my view on many things and helped me be more accepting in certain situations which would have previously snow balled and got out of control.
Without question or doubt, I’d highly recommend Ryan. Thank you Ryan.
I couldn’t recommend Ryan more.
Ryan is a highly trained therapist, who you feel at ease with after just your first meeting. He speaks to you like you’re a real person and creates an environment that you feel that you can open up in. Ryan has real life applicable techniques which are easy to integrate into your day to day life. He genuinely has changed my life and way of thinking.
I have tried NHS and a few other therapy services. Slan Therapy was the one that stuck. Ryan is patient and lets you go at your own pace whilst also making sure you are progressing. He made me feel so at ease and I looked forward to the sessions instead of dreading them (like all the ones before). My life is now brighter since working with him. 100% recommend, his Irish self won’t let you down!
Ryan is a phenomenal practitioner of pyschotherapy and CBT. I started working with him on a personal recommendation and within a few sessions he had helped me not only understand (for the first time) what was going on for me, but also started equipping me with practical work that made a real difference.
Ryan is a highly trained therapist, who you feel at ease with after just your first meeting. He speaks to you like you’re a real person and creates an environment that you feel that you can open up in. Ryan has real life applicable techniques which are easy to integrate into your day to day life. He genuinely has changed my life and way of thinking.
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Questions about Compassion Focused Therapy in Essex
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What is Compassion Focused Therapy used for?
Compassion Focused Therapy is used to treat self-criticism, shame, perfectionism, low self-esteem and anxiety; particularly in people who struggle to shift how they feel about themselves despite understanding their problems intellectually.
At Slán Therapy, Ryan Hegarty uses CFT alongside CBT and EMDR as part of an integrated approach, selecting the combination of methods that makes most sense for each individual client.
Is CFT the same as self-compassion therapy?
Self-compassion therapy and CFT overlap significantly but are not identical.
CFT, developed by Professor Paul Gilbert, is a structured clinical approach that incorporates self-compassion as one of its core mechanisms.
It goes beyond self-compassion practices alone by drawing on neuroscience, evolutionary psychology and cognitive behavioural therapy to address shame, self-criticism and emotional regulation at a deeper level.
At Slán Therapy in Essex, CFT is delivered as part of a broader therapeutic framework rather than as a standalone self-compassion programme.
How is CFT different from CBT?
CBT works by identifying and changing unhelpful thoughts and behaviours. CFT works on the relationship a person has with themselves — specifically, the tendency toward self-criticism and shame that can persist even when CBT has successfully changed the thinking patterns.
At Slán Therapy, Ryan Hegarty often uses both approaches together because they address different dimensions of the same problem. CBT changes what you think. CFT changes how you treat yourself when things go wrong.
How many CFT sessions will I need?
Most clients at Slán Therapy see meaningful change within eight to twelve sessions, depending on what they are working through and whether CFT is being used alongside CBT or EMDR. Ryan Hegarty will give you an honest view of this early on, not keep you coming back longer than is useful.
Is Compassion Focused Therapy available online?
Yes. CFT sessions at Slán Therapy are available online by video, in person in Essex, or by home visit across Essex, London and Cambridge. Online sessions follow exactly the same structure and approach as in-person sessions.
Ready to find out if CFT is right for you?
Start with a free 20-minute discovery call. We will talk through what has brought you here, which approach makes most sense, and whether I am the right fit.
If it resonates, we crack on. If not, that is fine too.