The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
The Spalding branch of an NHS mental health service has helped more than 1,000 people cope with stress in the past year.
The NHS steps2change service is designed to help people suffering from anxiety, sadness, depression or stress and get treatment.
The Spalding branch has around 1,000 people a year entering treatment.
April is Stress Awareness Month and a recent study by Rotary International found out of a study of 1,500 East Midlands adults, 92 per cent “felt bogged down by the stresses of modern life” and 55 per cent worried about their mental health.
Steps2change Service Manager Nick Harwood said: “The steps2change service provides talking therapies for people experiencing mild to moderate common mental health problems (depression and anxiety) and is part of the national IAPT (Improving Access of Psychological Therapies) initiative.”
These include guided self-help delivery by qualified pyschological wellbeing practictioners, cognitive behavioural therapy, counselling for depression and interpersonal therapy.
“At steps2change we want to make accessing our services as easy as possible, that’s why people can self-refer by calling 0303 1234000 or by going online to www.steps2change.nhs.uk. Self-referral is the most direct and the quickest way of accessing our talking therapies.
“The evidence suggests that people who refer themselves are better motivated to engage in the therapy and they achieve better outcomes. Naturally, people who need support from steps2change can still make an appointment with their GP and be referred to us, but self-referral just speeds up the process.”
Mr Harwood said the service is currently coping well with the demand. “The national target is that 95 per cent of patients start treatment within 18 weeks. Although we are below that number for all treatments I would like to see these times even shorter.”
Initial assessments take place within a week.
