CBT4T - A Mission since 2020
Debbie Featherstone's mission since 2020 has been and continues to be to reduce the need for expensive individual therapy for people suffering because of tinnitus by providing an affordable alternative; not to replace individual therapy, but to provide an alternative choice. She has done this through building on the original online 6 module Tinnitus E-Programme (2009-2018) > CBT for Tinnitus E-Programme (2018-2020). This 6 module, week-by-week online programme was limited, in so far as it couldn't thoroughly address and give the necessary input for a significant MINORITY of people assessing their tinnitus as either severe or very severe (THI categories 4 & 5), and as a big, or very big problem (TFI categories 4 & 5).
The cost of private individual therapy is itself prohibitive, when the opportunity to access qualified therapists is already so limited. A well-qualified, experienced therapist's time is always over-committed: there are only so many work hours in a day! In private practice, 4 patient bookings per day, the number of patients that could be helped at any one time was a maximum of 20 per week. With fortnightly appointments, a maximum capacity was 40 patients at any given time over a 6-8 month duration. It was 8 patients a day in the NHS - detrimental to patient care, unworkable, exhausting and a significant reason why Debbie retired early from the NHS in 2010 - that and the prospect of pension-age being pushed further and further away!
15 years on during 2025, Debbie has accepted fewer than 5 clients individually - most have been persuaded to enrol on the CBT4T programme instead. Each clinic week, she meets with CBT4T clients three days per week (Tues/Wed/Thurs), often at odd hours because CBT4T is used worldwide; the remainder of a week consists of monitoring, reviewing and responding by email as needed, dealing with:
- Impact Statements (Past, Present, Future) - assessing trauma indicators, as where present, they are likely to have a bearing on the person's current level of nervous system dysregulation
- Calculating initial assessments for an on-boarding report, and compiling each person's comparison reports (TFI, THI, GAD-7, PSS, ASQ, HSQ, HAQ) with reflective feedback at Stages 4 (the first appointment is sent with the Stage 4 report), 6 and 8
- Daily Relaxation Logs
- Progress Checks when a Stage is completed and a new one begun
- The weekly SITREPs that arrive throughout the day each Friday
- *Two Arrows practicals
- *Costs & Benefits Transactions
- *Cognitive Distortions Practicals
- *Reaction Analysis
- *Meaning Adjusters
- **Core Belief work in Stage 7
- Plus of course, everyday email enquiries....
- Plus the CBT4T Substack
Full capacity is still to be reached, yet outcomes for CBT4T clients match those for individual working - see the feedback
*Cognition tools developed for CBT4T by Debbie Featherstone (Intellectual Property of Debbie Featherstone)
** Core Belief work is that by Christine Padesky, Mind over Mood
CBT4T 2025-26 - the latest edition of the CBT4T Programme from 1st October 2025
- Where your concerns include there being so few face-to-face appointments, during 2020-2024, 90% of CBT4T participants used just TWO appointments. The evidence for this was demonstrated over FOUR YEARS (2020-24) since the CBT for Tinnitus E-Programme was first developed (2020)*
- During 2025, with enhancements made to the CBT4T framework brought to CBT4T 2025, plus the weekly SITREP and addition of the new CBT4T Substack, 80% of CBT4T Users are successfully completing using only ONE appointment (the appointment after completing Stage 4)
- The result is CBT4T 2025/26 (available from 1st October 2025) - cost of the amazing CBT4T programme is low, starting at £150 or two monthly instalments of £75. Appointments can be added at the time of enrolment or later in the programme. The first appointment is due on completion of Stage 4
- Where you feel you would benefit from more regular appointments, you could enrol on CBT4T with Enhanced Support It includes a 60-90 minute 1-1 appointment (using Zoom) at the end of each of the first SIX MONTHS of enrolment to review your progress to date and discuss a plan of action for the upcoming month
*The original online Tinnitus E-Programme established in 2009 was a short, 6 module course suitable for those with up to mid-moderate tinnitus distress