'The Huddle' is a new Keeping Well initiative facilitated by You Okay, Doc?, a mental health charity for doctors founded by doctors.

This Huddle Programme provides an additional space for all BLMK GPs, hospital doctors and speciality doctors/consultants to share their stories, have conversations, and learn from each other on how to positively manage their mental health and wellbeing in order to get the best out of themselves.

Similar to a Balint group (the premise of which is to use case discussions to help focus on the emotions of doctors, rather than on clinical management, encouraging reflective practice), the huddles also provide the flexibility to discuss situations both inside and out of work life in a supportive, non-judgemental environment.

“Encouraging staff to use informal support mechanisms, like a Balint group, in addition to high quality psychological and wellbeing services, helps to foster team spirit and cohesion. Providing opportunities for staff to reflect regularly on their experiences, rather than using single session debriefs, also has the potential to foster resilience, reduce burnout, and lower the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder.” - Vijay Pattni, Jeff Phillips, and Rajnish Saha, BMJ Opinion.

Sessions will be held on Zoom so that participants can choose to be muted/unmuted and can opt to speak, if they wish. Cameras can be turned on or off and pseudonyms may be used if participants wish to remain anonymous. Each huddle is hosted by a qualified psychotherapist, and has a maximum of 12 participants.

“I found instant community and connection at the huddle – we are all medics so instantly understand the pressures of being a doctor and how difficult it can be to talk about mental health. There is no need to over-explain, we all get it. If you are looking to connect with other doctors in the local health system, and to have genuine, raw conversations about how we’re really feeling, I recommend coming along and giving it a go.” - Dr Shankari Maha, GP, BLMK CCG Governing Body member, BLMK ICS PC Training Hub Deputy Chair and You Okay Doc? Ambassador.

When is it?

BLMK huddles will be held every Tuesday at 8-9pm from 18th January 2022 until 8th March 2022.

How to join:

To join the programme, please click here to register. Zoom links and diary invites will be emailed through to you with reminders nearer to the date of each Huddle.

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