Lanie, my daughter was diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and offered a referral for CBT which she's not interested in (unfortunately). Son, 18, however, who also suffers from anxiety, albeit a different form, did take up the opportunity of a referral - We're in Scotland, so it might be different for you, but referrals here are certainly quite complicated.
He started Uni last year, but dropped out after deciding that he'd rather just concentrate on improving his anxiety, rather than try to combine it with studying. The uni was excellent and he's been guaranteed his place this coming September. A couple of months after being referred, he received an online questionnaire called Beating the Blues, which he duly completed. They've now come back to him and said judging by his answers on Beating the Blues, it's doubtful he will qualify for NHS CBT which is so frustrating - that's 5 months waiting for nothing! We'll probably now go down the private CBT route as time is now against us if he wants to complete it before trying Uni again. My friend did this with her daughter a couple of years ago and it was around £40 a session so I hope it's not increased too much since then.