
At some point we all feel low, anxious, worried or depressed. It is completely normal but it can also start to impact what we do and who we are and when we reach that point it is important to get help to prevent these feelings getting worse. We understand that seeking support is a big step. There are many situations in a person’s life which may cause stress, anxiety, low mood or depression. We hope to provide you with support and information that will help you feel yourself again.
Our teams are trained and experienced in supporting a wide range of more common mental health issues. This often involves ‘talking therapy’ approaches which may be delivered through groups and courses, as well as 1-2-1 support.
You can refer yourself to the NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire Talking Therapies by phone or by completing our online referral form using the links below.
I am over the age of 18 and live in Herefordshire (If you require assistance in completing the online referral form, please call: 01432 220507)
I am over the age of 16 and live in Worcestershire (If you require assistance in completing the online referral form, please call: 03000135727)
Please note you must live in either Herefordshire or Worcestershire and be registered with a local GP practice to access NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire Talking Therapies. If you live outside of these counties, find details of your local NHS Talking Therapies Service.
If you fall outside of the age brackets specified above or need support for a young person please visit our Children's Mental Health and Wellbeing website
What happens after I am referred?
Once you have referred yourself then you will be contacted on the telephone number on the referral form by one of our Healthy Minds administrators who will book you into a screening slot with one of our practitioners at a time and date convenient to you. Screening appointments are available within 2-3 weeks of us receiving your referral.
If you have been referred by another health professional then this referral is reviewed by one of our duty workers before we contact you to make sure we are the right service for your needs.
What happens during the screening appointment?
The screening appointment will occur over the telephone and last approximately 45mins. During this time the practitioner will discuss with you your current difficulties, make sure that we are the right service for you, and if so, talk about the treatment approaches that best suit your needs. It helps if you come prepared for your screening appointment by thinking beforehand the main difficulties that you need support with, and your goals for treatment.
What support can the service offer?
If we feel we can support you, your practitioner will talk to you about the most appropriate treatment for you needs and place you on the waiting list for this support. All of our treatment requires you to be collaborative in the process and some require you to complete tasks in between sessions to move closer to your treatment goals.
The following treatment options are available:
Supported online programme, Silvercloud.
This is different from the more general Silvercloud option which anyone can access, anytime. You will be guided through the online course with our team and it will be tailored to meet your specific circumstances.
There is no real wait to access this. You can expect to be up and running within a week or two of the assessment if this is deemed an appropriate option.
Psychoeducational courses
Online psychoeducational courses about anxiety and depression are run frequently, these are facilitated by two of our Practitioners, and run for 6 weeks. There is no expectation for you to speak about your difficulties in front of the other participants, but the courses provide a supportive environment to teach you how to understand your difficulties and make changes to work towards your goals.
Guided Self-Help
With Guided self-help you will received weekly or fortnightly telephone calls with one of our practitioners who will support you to make changes in areas that will help you to feel better. These calls last approximately 30mins, and there is an expectation to do some work to move towards your goals between the sessions. The waiting list for guided self-help is around 8-12 weeks depending on which county you live.
High Intensity 1-1 Therapy
We run a range of traditional 1:1 support. For example, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (DIT), Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT), Counselling for Depression (CfD) along with other forms of CBT. All these will be explained to you if this is the best course of treatment for you. The waiting time depends on the type of treatment that you and your practitioner identify as the most appropriate at screening, and the area in which you live. Unfortunately some of these waiting times can be lengthy.
We are working really hard to minimise the wait for 1:1 support as much as we can. You may be invited to access the supported online programme and/or a group session until we can confirm an appointment.
High Intensity Group therapy sessions
If it is identified at screening that you need a High Intensity approach to treatment you may be offered group therapy as a way to learn to understand your specific difficulty and ways to change this. You will be placed in an online group run by two Hi Intensity Therapists and with around 8-12 others experiencing similar difficulties to you. The facilitators will lead discussions and talk about ways to change. People can really benefit from hearing from others who are experiencing similar things to them. It creates a peer support network.
What can I do while I am waiting?
There are various self-help resources and other services that you can access whilst you are waiting for your treatment to commence.
What if I feel worse in the meantime?
The resources and services you can access will hopefully help improve, or at least manage, how you are feeling. However, you may need to return to your GP surgery for a further discussion. If you feel like you need urgent support, or are at crisis point, then please call the local 24/7 urgent mental health helpline. It is free and open to everyone in Herefordshire and Worcestershire by calling 0808 196 9127
At Herefordshire and Worcestershire NHS Talking Therapies, we are committed to making our service accessible and pursuing equality within mental health care. We know that some people face barriers when accessing mental health services, and we aim to work with our service users to overcome these barriers:
You may feel that certain things are required for you to use our service comfortably. Everyone is different but below we have listed some examples of the adaptations we make on a regular basis:
Things we can do:
Things you can do
If you feel any adaptations are necessary, please indicate this when completing your self-referral form at the appropriate point or mention to your GP if they are referring you. This will help us establish any necessary adaptations from your first appointment where possible. We will also ask about barriers in your initial assessment, and we welcome you to discuss it with us then.
Any changes that we make can be reviewed throughout treatment if you feel that there is something else that we need to know.
All of our staff receive training and access to guidance on supporting a diverse range of individuals and helping everyone in a respectful and person-centered way.
We have an Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Champion, who works closely with the broader Equality, Diversity and Inclusion team to align our work with the Trust values.
If you have any queries, you can contact them at whcnhs.webelong@nhs.net with the subject line ‘Talking Therapies EDI’.
If you can, we would like you to tell us how you learn best as this will help us to tailor your treatment to your individual needs. For example, you may prefer visual to audio resources or wish to make notes to refer back to. Please speak to the clinicians involved in your care for more information.