North West Primary Care Mental Health Team

The service is for adults experiencing common mental health difficulties, such as depression and anxiety. The remit of the service is to provide brief evidence-based psychological interventions.

Access to the North West PCMHT will be dependent on having a GP within the North West sector. If you are not part of the North West catchment area you will be advised of how to access your local PCMHT.

North West Primary care mental health team is a short-term therapy service. We work with people who have mild to moderate mental health difficulties. We support individuals 18 and over to help develop their coping skills and improve their mood. Our therapist deliver evidence-based ways to help you self-manage difficulties and cope with feelings that are impacting on your life.

We can help you with common mental health difficulties, such as depression, panic attacks, and stress and anxiety disorders. As a short-term psychological service, we generally offer 6 to 8 sessions. This may involve learning strategies to manage distressing emotions, or developing new ways of approaching challenges in your life.

Services we provide

• CBT courses – All of our group CBT courses will incorporate the key characteristic of individual delivered CBT
• Individual Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) – a psychological approach that links how we feel with the way we think and the way we behave. Therapy may focus on identifying what has maintained your difficulties and how we can interrupt these “vicious cycles”

CBT aims to help you deal with overwhelming problems in a helpful way by breaking them down into smaller parts. You will learn how to identify and change negative patterns to improve the way you feel. Home practice is an important component of CBT. Developed collaboratively during therapy sessions, home practice is used to rehearse new skills, practice coping strategies, and restructure unhelpful beliefs.

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible for the NW PCMHT you must be:

• Aged 18 or above
• Registered to a GP in the North West sector
• ·Not currently open to other mental health services

Please note, we’re unable to accept referrals from third parties, family members or friends. If you’re concerned about a loved one please contact the GP.

If you’re a health and social care professional and wish to refer someone to our service, forward us a referral letter.

If English isn’t your first language and you are unable to fill in this form, please speak to your GP about a referral.

What happens next?

Your referral will be screened by our professionals and you will be contacted usually via email with the outcome.

If you need more help filling out this form phone 0141 232 9270 Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.

Privacy statement

When you contact us we want you to know that your information is in safe hands, and that starts with helping you understand why we ask for data and how we manage it.

The purpose of this form is to collect data to allow NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde to assess the needs of the service user and provide the appropriate treatment or service. The data collected will be used solely for this purpose and the self-referral details will form part of your NHS GGC clinical record and stored in line with our retention policies.

For information on your data rights please see our Privacy Notice: Data Protection & Privacy.

Disclaimer

This is not a crisis service. If you’re having suicidal thoughts, please contact any of the following:

• Your GP
• · NHS 24 on 111
• · The Samaritans on 116 123
• · Breathing space on 0800 83 85 87

Self-referral form

After you are referred into the service, a clinician will phone you for an assessment to discuss your mental health needs. This telephone assessment will usually last up to 30 minutes. Typically this assessment will be by telephone but, if necessary, other options may be available. Please advise your GP or the service if you cannot be contacted by telephone.

Your telephone call will not be at a set time. Please feel free to advise us of any times you are unavailable. If we are unable to get you we will typically leave a voicemail asking you to call back. Our NHS telephone number will appear as an ‘0800’ number. If you think you have a missed call from the PCMHT please call back on 0141 232 9270 to rearrange.

During your initial assessment you will speak to a clinician who will seek to understand your current difficulties as well as understanding previous experiences that might have affected your mental health.

The clinician will use this information to consider the most appropriate next step. All options will be discussed with you.

This might involve:

• Providing advice and relevant information
• Suggesting referral to another service
• Offering psychological intervention within the PCMHT

Therapeutic options will have be discussed with you at assessment. This is typically Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) but other therapies will be available. All therapies require a commitment to completing tasks between sessions to get most benefit from the therapy.

Therapy can be delivered in different formats, frequently these are delivered in a group environment.

Note: all therapies are currently being offered virtually due to the Covid-19 pandemic. If you are referred to our service during this period, one of our clinicians will discuss with you what this will entail.

Therapeutic options might include one of the following:

• CBT in Action Course: This is a 7 week class utilising cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) skills to improve your mental health and wellbeing. The aim of the class is to help you understand the connection between your thoughts, emotions, behaviours and physical symptoms, and to provide you with techniques to help you manage stress/anxiety and low mood.
• CBT for Insomnia: This is a 6 week class for people who struggle to sleep or who wake up during the night and find it difficult to get back to sleep. The aim of the class is to provide you with techniques to improve your sleep using a cognitive behavioural approach. It focuses on lifestyle factors, changing sleep patterns, and exploring and challenging the thoughts that interfere with sleep
• One to one therapy sessions: This involves talking about your difficulties with one of our clinicians. It typically consists of 6-8 therapy sessions lasting up to an hour. Our clinicians are trained in approaches such as person centred counselling, CBT and other psychological therapies.

We sometimes run additional therapeutic options throughout the year, you will be advised of these as appropriate.

We may also advise you of other services that are suited to your needs.

What you tell us will be treated in confidence. We do not share information with family, friends or other agencies unless you give us your consent. However, we will advise your GP of your progress. In exceptional circumstances where we are concerned about your welfare, or the welfare of others, it will be necessary for us to share information. Your clinician would discuss this decision with you.

The service operates a telephone assessment system to ensure all referrals can be responded to in a timely manner. This telephone assessment typically lasts around 30 minutes and during this call the clinician will seek to understand your current mental health needs.

Telephone assessment – The majority of patients will have received their telephone assessment within two weeks of their referral being made. Unfortunately it may not always be possible to contact you within this time frame. If you have any questions please feel free to contact us and we will be able to give you a more accurate estimate of when you will be contacted.

Individual therapy – The service aims to meet waiting list targets set by the Scottish Government, which requires services to offer treatment within 18 weeks of referral.

Waiting times can vary depending on a number of factors, for up to date information please phone the service where our admin staff will be happy to advise.

CBT is a form of psychological therapy used for a range of mental health disorders. CBT is based on the concept that your thoughts, feelings, physical sensations and actions are interconnected, and that negative thoughts and feelings can trap you in a vicious cycle. You will work with your therapist to agree goals that you would like to work on. CBT is highly structured and focuses on current problems. There will be tasks to complete between your sessions to put what you have learned into practice.

Person-centred Therapy (PCT) is delivered on an individual basis by our counsellors. PCT is non-directive, but has a structure which allows the client to freely explore their issues, and process their past and present difficulties. It can encourage a better perspective and understanding of themselves and others through challenging their thoughts and behaviours. There are reviews at each session to help the client focus effectively on their therapeutic journey.

If you wish to learn more about your mental health or ways to cope with your difficulties, you can access information online on the following websites 

Glasgow Wellbeing Services

Living life to the full

Centre for Clinical Interventions 

Lifelink

Get self help

SilverCloud

Head Space

It might be that the PCMHT is not the most suitable service for your current needs and we often advise people during the referral process to more appropriate services.

Some services we typically recommend are:

Computerised CBT (referral from GP)

Lifelink

Sandyford

We Are With You (previously called Addaction)

The Spark

PETAL

Anxiety UK

Charity providing support if you’ve been diagnosed with an anxiety condition.

Phone: 03444 775 774 (Mon-Fri, 9.30am-5.30pm)

Website: www.anxietyuk.org.uk

Bipolar UK

A charity helping people living with manic depression or bipolar disorder.

Website: www.bipolaruk.org.uk

CALM

CALM is the Campaign Against Living Miserably, for men aged 15-35.

Phone: 0800 58 58 58 (5pm-midnight)

Website: www.thecalmzone.net

Men’s Health Forum

The Men’s Health Forum is a charity supporting men’s health in England, Wales and Scotland. Website: www.menshealthforum.org.uk

Mental Health Foundation

Provides information and support for anyone with mental health problems or learning disabilities.

Website: www.mentalhealth.org.uk

Mind

Promotes the views and needs of people with mental health problems.

Phone: 0300 123 3393 (Mon-Fri, 9am-6pm)

Website: www.mind.org.uk

No Panic

Voluntary charity offering support for sufferers of panic attacks and OCD. Offers a course to help overcome your phobia/OCD. Includes a helpline.

Phone: 0844 967 4848 (daily, 10am-10pm)

Website: www.nopanic.org.uk

OCD Action

Support for people with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Includes information on treatment and online resources.

Phone: 0845 390 6232 (Mon-Fri, 9.30am-5pm)

Website: www.ocdaction.org.uk

OCD UK

A charity run by people with OCD, for people with OCD. Includes facts, news and treatments.

Support queries (advice line): 03332127890 (Mon-Fri, 9am-4:45pm)

Website: www.ocduk.org 

PAPYRUS

Children and young people (under the age of 35) suicide prevention society.

Phone: HOPElineUK 0800 068 4141 (Mon-Fri,10am-5pm & 7-10pm. Weekends 2-10pm)

Website: www.papyrus-uk.org

Rethink Mental Illness

Support and advice for people living with mental illness.

Advice service: 0300 5000 927 (Mon-Fri, 9.30am-4pm)

Website: www.rethink.org

Samaritans

Confidential support for people experiencing feelings of distress or despair.

Phone: 116 123 (free 24-hour helpline)

Website: https://www.samaritans.org/

Sane

Charity offering support and carrying out research into mental illness. 

SANEmail email: sanemail@org.uk

Website: www.sane.org.uk

YoungMinds

Information on child and adolescent mental health. Services for parents and professionals.

Phone: Parents’ helpline 0808 802 5544 (Mon-Fri, 9.30am-4pm)

Website: www.youngminds