CBT FOR LONG-TERM HEALTH CONDITIONS
Living with a
long-term health condition
Your body is being treated. But who’s helping you live with it?
When you have a long-term or chronic health condition, so much care goes into managing the physical side: the appointments, the medication, the monitoring.
What often goes unsupported is everything else it asks of you. The worry before every result. The grief for the life or the body you expected. The exhaustion of managing something that isn't going away, and the quiet effect it has on your mood, your relationships and your sense of who you are.
That part deserves support too. Not because you aren't coping, but because you shouldn't have to carry it invisibly.
Support for life alongside a long-term health condition.
WHO THIS IS FOR
This support is for people living with, or adjusting to, a long-term physical health condition, and finding that it's affecting them psychologically as well as physically. That might be a recent diagnosis, a change in your condition, or the slow weight of managing something over many years.
People come to us while living with conditions such as:
Long-term or chronic illness (including autoimmune, cardiac, respiratory, neurological and other conditions)
A cancer diagnosis, treatment, or life after treatment
Persistent or chronic pain
Diabetes and other conditions that require constant daily management
Fatigue-related and long-term post-viral conditions
Health anxiety, whether or not there is a diagnosed condition
Adjusting to a change in mobility, independence, or body function
You don’t need a specific diagnosis, or a “bad enough” reason, to seek support.
If a health condition is affecting how you feel and how you live, that’s reason enough.
WHAT ADJUSTMENT CAN ACTUALLY LOOK LIKE
Adjustment isn’t a single moment.
It’s hundred small ones.
You might recognise some of these:
Bracing yourself before every test, scan, or appointment
Quietly stepping back from things you used to do, without ever deciding to
Feeling like a burden to the people you love, so you say less
Snapping at those closest to you, then feeling guilty
A future that once felt open now feeling narrowed or uncertain
Grieving the version of life or the body, you expected to have
If several of these land, that isn't you being dramatic or 'not coping well.'
It's adjustment: a genuine psychological process that has a name, and support that helps.
HOW WE APPROACH IT
Understanding first, then change
We can’t promise quick fixes. We can promise to understand your difficulties properly before you start to work on changing anything.
Our approach is grounded in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and related evidence-based models.
When difficulties are woven together with a physical condition, a proper understanding matters more, not less. So we don't rush into 'fixing.'
We take the time to map out, with you, how things developed, what's keeping them going, and what's genuinely within reach.
The aim isn't to force positivity or to talk you out of how you feel. It's to make room for the hard parts and help you build a life that still holds meaning, connection and direction alongside your condition. Acceptance here doesn't mean giving up. It means stopping the exhausting fight against what's real, so your energy can go where it actually helps.
Where it fits, we integrate Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) within a CBT framework, and approach well suited to living well with conditions that can’t simply be fixed.
Why Verus Minds
Psychological support for physical health is not an afterthought.
At Verus Minds, psychological support for physical health is at the heart of hat we do. Our founders have years of experience working within the NHS alongside people managing long-term health conditions.
We saw the same gap again and again: the physical side was carefully managed, but the psychological side (the fear, the grief, the daily mental load) was so often left out.
That experience shapes how we work. We are assessment-led, so we understand your whole situation before we treat anything, and grounded in approaches that help you live meaningfully alongside your condition, not just manage symptoms.
GETTING STARTED
Everything begins with a full assessment
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Referral
Complete our short referral form. We’ll be in touch to arrange your assessment appointmen.
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Assessment and formulation
A 90-minute clinical session with one of our founding CBT clinicians.
Together you will build a formulation: clear map of how your difficulties developed and what keeps them going.
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Summary and Recommendations
You will have a written summary and tailored treatment recommendations that are yours to keep, whatever you decide next.
If CBT is recommended and you’d like to go ahead, you will be matched with a therapist for focused goal-orientated sessions, with your progress tracked throughout.
READY TO TAKE THE FIRST STEP?
You don’t need to have everything worked out first
If living with your condition is weighing on you, that’s enough reason to get in touch. A careful assessment can help make sense of what’s happening and what might help.