Thursday 10 October 2019
Healthy Minds - previously known as the Primary Care Mental Health and Well Being Service, is launching a new website which will enable people to refer themselves to the service. Until now, referral to this Health & Social Care operated service has only been through the clients' GP but this new website means people can refer themselves to the service via an online form.
The form will be available from Thursday October 10th to coincide with World Mental Health Day. The Healthy Minds Service is a service for individuals aged 17 or over who have mild to moderate anxiety and/or depression. The primary aim of the Healthy Minds service is to enable people to learn healthier coping strategies to improve their mental wellbeing.
Following completion of the online form, therapists from the Healthy Minds Service will discuss the client's needs with them and then will be able to offer a variety of psychological interventions. These interventions include skills based workshops on topics such as understanding and managing anxiety and low mood, stress, mindfulness and assertiveness, a supported online Cognitive Behavioural programme (supported by Healthy Minds staff), 1 to 1 guided self-help and 1 to 1 support covering Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, counselling and Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing.
The Committee for Health & Social Care is pleased that this development has been possible. It provides another example of how changes are being made that support the key principles of the Partnership of Purpose, in this case, direct access to services, and greater investment in prevention and early intervention.
Dr Beverley Tachon, Counselling Psychologist and Manager for Healthy Minds said "we are delighted to launch this self-referral option. It will increase the availability of our service and people's opportunity to access psychological interventions earlier, so helping to prevent longer term mental health issues. Of course we still accept referrals through GPs and we would always encourage people to discuss any issues with their GP. But this self-referral system provides the option of free access to anyone who has a concern. The online form can be found at www.gov.gg/healthyminds
Healthy Minds will also be holding a drop in at the Guilles Alles Library on Tuesday 8th and Thursday 10th October from 5.00pm to 7.00pm. Everyone is very welcome to pop in to find out more about the service, the self-referral option and the interventions available. Further information is also available on https://gov.gg/healthyminds or email healthyminds@gov.gg.
