Clinical Psychology for colleagues

For colleagues wishing to access immediate advice and access Counselling, telephone VIVUP (24/7) on 03303 800658.

What is the Clinical Psychology Service for Colleagues?

The Clinical Psychology Service for Colleagues is available to staff across the Trust who are experiencing emotional distress or mental health difficulties caused by their work, such as stress, burnout, or traumatic experiences due to events that have happened at work. Colleagues who are employed by Medirest and Skanska have their own staff health provision, please contact your line manager to access this.

Colleagues are encouraged to seek the most appropriate level of support and are encouraged to explore the support available via the Wellbeing Team and VIVUP.

However, where the support required is greater than that provided either by the Wellbeing Team or VIVUP, consultation with the Clinical Psychology Service can be requested.

Who we work with and what we offer

Inclusion criteria

Trust staff members who are experiencing emotional distress or mental health difficulties caused by their work; these difficulties include:

Work-related stress and burnout
Traumatic experiences at work.

Available to staff who are in work, or who are absent from work due to the reasons above.

For staff who leave the Trust but who have already engaged with the service, this continues to be accessible for a period of up to four weeks after their leave date.

We offer:

A range of 1:1 psychological interventions.
Sessions with line managers who need support managing complex psychological needs within their team.
Group support sessions for teams (including education and support if there has been an incident).

Exclusion criteria

Staff member is already in receipt of, or waiting for psychological therapy, counselling, or mental health services elsewhere (such as VIVUP, NHS, private therapy, crisis service, or local mental health team involvement, etc). Please check with the staff member before making a referral.

If a staff member is reporting active suicidal ideation or planning suicide, please see the crisis contact numbers at the end of this page.

Where the primary difficulty is a life stressor such as a relationship breakdown, infertility, bereavement, or loss, in the first instance, a self-referral to VIVUP should be explored.

Where the main presenting problem is non-work-related, please refer to VIVUP.

Where the primary difficulty is conflict between colleagues, consider referral for Mediation via Organisational Development (OD). Please see the Organisational Development page on the intranet.

Where the difficulties relate to a recent traumatic event at work (within the past two weeks), please follow the Trauma Risk Management (TRiM) pathway in the first instance. Please see the TRiM or Trauma Support information on the intranet.

We do not provide assessments or diagnosis for intellectual disabilities, such as ADHD, Autism, etc. Please see your GP to discuss a referral for these issues.

Other support services

Colleagues are encouraged to seek the most appropriate level of support and to explore the support available via the Wellbeing Team and VIVUP. VIVUP is a counselling service for Trust staff members that supports them with less complex difficulties.

However, when VIVUP or the wellbeing team does not meet a colleague’s need for psychological support, access to the Staff Clinical Psychology Service can be explored, either:

Their manager
HR People Partner
Occupational Health

What happens once a referral has been sent to us?

The Clinical Psychology team meets weekly to discuss all referrals received and decide whether referred colleagues will be seen by us, or whether they are better suited to another service, such as VIVUP. If we don’t have enough information about the colleague’s difficulties, we may ask for more, or we may offer the colleague an assessment appointment to find out more.

What happens during an assessment appointment?

Assessments are facilitated by a Clinical Psychologist to identify the most suitable service for a referred colleague. If, in our clinical opinion, we believe the colleague is better suited to receive support elsewhere, we will either refer on or suggest self-referral to this alternative service.

Assessment appointments entail the following:

Discussing confidentiality and its limits – explaining that what is spoken about stays between you and us, except where there may be a risk to yourself or others.
Discussing storage of data – we use a system called G2. All data is stored securely and confidentially with access restricted to the Staff Clinical Psychology Service.
Stating how long the waiting list for intervention is if we were to offer you support.
Consider what support would be the most helpful.
Ask about how the current difficulties are impacting you at work, at home, and in your personal life. What you’ve tried, what support you’ve had before, what you avoid/what you struggle to do because of the difficulties you’re experiencing, etc.

We’re not here to judge, just to listen and provide a space to open-up so that we can correctly identify the right care for you.

While the service will endeavour to respond to referrals rapidly, it is not a crisis service. Where staff are in immediate crisis, please contact the Crisis Access Line (24/7) on 0808 196 3779.

For colleagues wishing to access counselling, telephone VIVUP (24/7) on 03303 800658.