Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, Bedfordshire Wellbeing Service, and Luton Total Wellbeing Service are working together to provide personalised wellbeing and psychological support to health and social care staff in Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes.
Who is the service available to?
- Anyone employed by the NHS in acute, community and mental health trusts and the Clinical Commissioning Group as well as Local Authority staff including social care and public health staff
- Anyone sub-contracted to do NHS work
- Primary care staff and dental staff
- Staff working in nursing homes and care homes (regardless of which organisation employs you)
- Carers who visit people in their own homes
- Carers who are paid via personal health budgets
- Those working in emergency services (such as the Police, Ambulance Service and Fire Brigade)
- Teachers
You don’t have to be working on the frontline in wards or care settings - this service is for everyone working in these organisations. We know anyone can be affected by the pandemic and may need some help. We hope that a whole range of people including clinicians, administrators, domestic staff, estates and facilities staff, porters, managers and leaders will all benefit from this support.
We accept referrals from anyone. All support is confidential and provides a safe space to speak about your struggles and wellbeing needs with a trained professional. Our practitioners can support with common mental health conditions and signpost to additional organisations, services and resources.
Our opening hours are:
- Monday: 9am to 5pm
- Tuesday: 9am to 5pm
- Wednesday: 9am to 5pm
- Thursday: 9am to 5pm
- Friday: 9am to 5pm
The support options from Keeping Well BLMK can include:
- A safe space to chat or speak about your struggles and wellbeing needs with a trained wellbeing professional
- Exploring your wellbeing needs and providing access to services accordingly
- Support with the identification of common or serious mental health difficulties, to assess signpost and fast-track referrals into existing services
- Wellbeing workshops
- Personalised online therapy
- Online guided self help resources
- Group therapy including cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
- A range of low and high intensity therapies according to your needs
Therapists at Keeping Well are trained to provide support with common mental health conditions and can signpost to additional organisations, services and resources.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
This therapy is effective for the treatment of a range of anxiety disorders and depression. CBT can be provided individually or in a group and it focuses on people’s thoughts, feelings, actions and bodily sensations and understands how they are all connected. When people feel worried or distressed they often fall into patterns of thinking and responding which can worsen how they feel. CBT mainly focusses on the here and now but important events from the past may also be discussed. Keeping well therapists are also trained to deliver sub-specialities of CBT including trauma-focussed CBT, which is an effective treatment for symptoms of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and couples therapy which can help people with their relationship.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
Therapy focussed on the treatment of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It is an 8-phase treatment and part of the treatment involves specific eye movements during the session to help process traumatic memories.
Counselling for Depression
This is a particular type of counselling that targets the emotional problems underlying depression. This treatment aims to help people identify underlying feelings, make sense of them and reflect on the new meanings which emerge.
Brief psychodynamic therapies (including Interpersonal Therapy and Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy)
Brief psychodynamic psychotherapy was developed for treating depression. Psychodynamic therapies explore difficult experiences in the past that continue to affect the way people feel and behave in the present and place particular emphasis on difficulties in relationships.
Drug and Alcohol support
We have a dedicated Drug and Alcohol Practitioner who is able to provide specialist support for anyone who is struggling with substance use (including prescribed medication, tobacco and alcohol). All of the support available is evidenced-based. We can also support any supervisors/managers who are concerned about staff who may be struggling with substance use.
Talk to us
It’s quick and easy to start a conversation with our team. All appointments are held over the telephone or using video consultation.
- Email us at keepingwell.blmk@nhs.net
- Call us on 01908 724 227
- Refer yourself to the service via our self-referral page, or refer on behalf of someone else (with consent)
- There is also a range of self-help materials and videos you can access in our resources section.
