Providing accessible & effective psychological support and interventions
Understand that there is accumulating evidence from major incidents that suggests professional responders can take several years to present to mental health services for treatment (Lowell et. al, 2018).
Ensure that health and wellbeing services have multiple points of access, for staff to seek further help and support. These points of access should be culturally sensitive and take a proactive approach to engaging vulnerable at-risk groups.
- Case study: NWL Keeping Well service
- Case study: Manchester Working Well
Useful Links
Greater Manchester Resilience Hub
Greater Manchester webinars on setting up a resilience hub
Practitioner Health Service Description
Practitioner Health summary and referral routes
Good Thinking is London’s Digital Mental Wellbeing Service which provides free access to apps and resources for staff working or living in London to support their mental wellbeing
Support for doctors during COVID-19
The Self-Care Microsteps Webinar Series
Sustaining Yourself During the Coronavirus Crisis Microsteps
A robust assurance of confidentiality is key for staff engagement, therefore offer and actively promote opportunities for staff to self-check on their wellbeing and mental health using brief online measures. This will allow staff anonymous self-assessments.
Case study: Manchester Working Well
Case study: NWL keeping well confidentiality processes and procedure
Link self-check tools to chat functions and self-help materials, as well as to services offering psychological assessment and interventions.
Useful links
London – staff self-check in and self-help examples
Greater Manchester Covid-19 Wellbeing Screening
Good Thinking is London’s Digital Mental Wellbeing Service which provides free access to apps and resources for staff working or living in London to support their mental wellbeing. This includes wellbeing information; guides to improving mental health; courses on and offline; mobile apps and other therapy approaches.
Self assessments and quizzes: these clinically developed quick quizzes and self-assessment cover areas of sleep, stress, anxiety and depression. The self-assessments take 20 minutes to complete and will provide you with a guiding diagnosis, helpful resources and if necessary, relevant treatment options.
- Anxiety Quiz and Anxiety self-assessment
- Sleep Quiz and Sleep self-assessment
- Stress Quiz and Stress self-assessment
- Low Mood Quiz and Depression self-assessment
Workbooks
We’ve gathered a range of evidence-based information sheets and workbooks on mental wellbeing by the renowned Centre for Clinical Interventions for you to download and share.
Apps
tomo (free)
tomo is expertly designed to support you with many of life’s obstacles, including social anxiety and poor sleep. The app combines digital peer support with the best of social media and proven therapeutic techniques.
Feeling Good (Free)
Feeling Good offers Positive Mental Training audio programmes that boost your resilience and mood. The app is based on a Swedish Olympic sports performance programme.
Priority for staff to access psychological interventions with IAPT, secondary and specialist services.
Useful Links
Interactive map showing London’s IAPT services
SLAM Psychoeducation Leaflet – normal reactions to distressing events
Practitioner Health for complex MH needs and staff band 8D above
Offer staff the choice of accessing NHS mental health services including IAPT, secondary and specialist services from where there live or their place of work
Useful Links
IAPT guide – Which Talking Therapy For Depression
Practitioner Health for complex MH needs and staff band 8D above
Consider the provision of psychological interventions for staff in evenings and weekends especially for those people who are in vulnerable at-risk groups
24/7 staff advice and support line provided by SLaM and Kings Health Partners
Offer IAPT services to people with subthreshold trauma presentations and those with PTSD. For more complex PTSD presentations specialist secondary care services should be available.
Identify proactive, early intervention routes for staff at risk of crisis who may require more intensive psychological support.
Greater Manchester Covid-19 Wellbeing Screening
Greater Manchester Covid-19 Wellbeing Screening Case Study
MindEd Building Staff Psychosocial Resilience and Wellbeing training
Develop clear and simple pathways for referral and assessment of staff in crisis with access to timely care and support. Crisis services should be accessible to those who live or work in their area.
Useful links
Offer a Psychological Resilience hub or an equivalent service that will offer a single point of access to staff, proactive outreach to all staff and care coordination utilising NHS and other agencies.
A Resilience Hub (successfully used following major incidents) will enable coordination of care at the ICS level and will be able to provide the following functions:
- Coordination of access to confidential treatment with services that are suitable for staff needs and preferences.
- Manage waiting times for staff treatment
- Assist with access to specialist services including culturally sensitive services where they exist.
- Share lesson learnt and training between services supporting staff.
- Proactively engage with NHS and social services that fall beyond the catchment area of individual ICS/STP to promote wellbeing offers (e.g. London Ambulance Service).
Useful links
Greater Manchester Resilience Hub
National NHS England and Improvement Mental Health and Wellbeing hub guidance.