Getting Help—Other Ways of Getting Help

GP Surgery (Primary Care)

Primary Care Mental Health Gateway Worker

These workers will deal with the majority of routine referrals to mental health services made by your GP or other health care professionals. They are based within the Community Mental Health Team but will in most cases, provide appointments within your own surgery.

Gateway workers will offer you up to two sessions each lasting approximately 30-45 minutes in order to conduct a full assessment of how you are feeling and what help would be most appropriate. They may refer you to primary care mental health services (counsellor, graduate worker), secondary care mental health services or decide another course of action is more appropriate. To learn more about secondary care see Hospital and Community Mental Health Services section under Mental Health Services, for your region.

How to access:

Your GP will refer you to the gateway worker. You will either be booked directly into a clinic when with your GP or receive a letter from the gateway worker following referral.

Primary Care Graduate Mental Health Worker

These workers help individuals experiencing a ‘common mental health condition’ such as anxiety, depression, panic and phobias. They provide up to 6 sessions of guided self-help based on cognitive behavioural therapy.

These workers may also suggest other resources within the community that you may find useful, such as Books on Prescription, further education and therapeutic group-work sessions.

How to access:

The gateway worker, your GP and other clinical and mental health professionals may all refer you to the graduate worker.

Links

Search for a GP
http://www.nhs.uk/servicedirectories/Pages/ServiceSearch.aspx