How we help
Support for Individuals
We offer support to any individuals who are feeling worried, anxious or depressed. We encourage you to make initial contact with us by phone, for a supportive and non-judgemental conversation. We will then work together to make sense of what is going on and think about possible ways forward, which may include further support and, in some cases, further clinical assessment with a clinical psychologist.
Consultation for Team Leaders and Managers
Managers and team leaders are welcome to call or email if they are concerned about a colleague and/or if they would like to think about ways to support their team. We offer a telephone or MS Teams consultation with a clinical psychologist and think together with you about possible ways forward.
Individual Consultation
Managers and team leaders are welcome to call or email if they are concerned about a colleague. We offer a 30-60-minute telephone or MS Teams consultation with a clinical psychologist and think together with you about possible ways forward. We recognise the pressures that managers and team leaders are under, and this is intended as a supportive conversation to help you explore ways of supporting your team members and helping to normalise conversations about mental health and wellbeing in the workplace.
Peer Connecting Sessions
We also run regular 50-minute facilitated peer support sessions for those individuals with Line Management responsibility, who support others in health and social care across the Integrated Care System (ICS). This is an opportunity to connect with those who have similar responsibilities and to share ideas, as well as providing time and space to reflect on the impact of the role on you personally and how you can support yourselves and each other more generally.
Leading with Compassion Programme
This programme is currently being developed, please get in contact with us for more information.
Support for Teams
As well as bespoke support, we also offer a range of interactive semi-structured sessions for teams and it is important to us to ensure our support is targeted at the specific needs of each team. If you would like support for your team, then we would encourage managers and team leaders to speak with one of our clinical psychologists in the first instance to discuss options. The purpose of this initial consultation is to help us understand more about the team and any requirements for the session. We aim to design this session with you so that it meets the needs of the team.
We provide a variety of sessions for teams, with the main focus on connection, thinking about the emotional impact of work and how to look after individual and team wellbeing. We are able to attend team meetings, arrange separate sessions or help plan and facilitate mental health and wellbeing sessions or training at AwayDays. Sessions can be offered face-to-face or on MS Teams.
All of our work with teams is informed by Compassion Focused Therapy, using strategies and techniques that have been developed through the compassionate mind model. This model addresses the compassionate care needs of health and social care staff and helps to provide a buffer against the potential impact of our work.
Here are some examples of team sessions we currently offer. All sessions can be provided either face-to-face or on MS Teams:
Meet The Team (15-30 minutes)
This session introduces our service and how to contact us and provides information and resources about The Wellbeing Line. It also provides an opportunity to begin conversations about the mental health and wellbeing of your team or service and to think about your own support needs.
Bringing Compassion to the Workplace (60-90 minutes)
This session is a mixture of taught information, experiential exercises, and open discussion. It introduces some of the ideas from the compassionate mind model, whilst allowing staff a space to think about and discuss how this relates to them, and to think about the benefits of drawing on compassion focused principles during times of challenge at work. This is generally aimed at services or multiple teams who work closely together.
Looking After Your Mental Health and Wellbeing (60 minutes)
This is a taught session, which explores themes around the build-up of stress, noticing the signs of stress, how to understand our emotions, and how to look after ourselves by finding ways to practice compassionate self-care.
What gets in the way of Compassion? (60 minutes)
This session is designed as a follow up to the Looking After Your Mental Health and Wellbeing Session. We review some of the topics covered in the initial session. We then go onto explore what might be the barriers to self-compassion and receiving compassion from others. We think together about how we might overcome these barriers, and think more in-depth about how we can embed compassion practices into our workplace.
Decompression/Reflective Practice Session (60-90 minutes)
Using a Compassion Focused Staff Support framework, this session offers open discussion, encouraging the team to reflect on some of the challenges of working in health and social care. It aims to foster connection within the team using techniques from the compassionate mind model, to help people understand individual perspectives and to develop team cohesion.
Bespoke Sessions for Teams (30-60 minutes)
We are able to run sessions on specific topics that are related to mental health and wellbeing. These might include: sleep, stress and burnout, encouraging self-care, understanding common mental health difficulties, and mindfulness.
Compassion Focused Staff Support (CFSS; Six 60-minute sessions)
This group programme introduces teams to different strategies and ideas from the compassionate mind model, and includes breathing exercises, mindfulness techniques, as well as encouraging staff to develop their own compassionate “kit bag” to help and empower them with skills to look after their mental health and wellbeing.
Thriving in General Practice (60 minutes)
This session is specifically for our colleagues working in GP surgeries, and within the Primary Care Networks. This workshop was developed by GP Dr Katie Heil and offers staff the opportunity to learn about self-care and burnout with practical exercises, group discussion and a personal workbook.
Bespoke Sessions for Team Leaders/Managers (60-90 minutes)
We can offer any of the above sessions, but with the focus aimed at those colleagues who are leading teams/services.
Testimonials
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