Counselling and Wellbeing Support

Introduction

Counselling can help individuals tackle emotional and psychological challenges by seeking to expand understanding of problems and identify effective ways to deal with them. It can be helpful for individuals to share what they are worried or stressed about, for example issues of self-confidence, self-esteem, depression, anxiety, bereavement, relationship breakdown and addictions.

The Yorkshire and Humber Deanery funds access to the following counselling and psychological support for all Postgraduate Doctors and Dentists in Training (PGDiTs) based within the region, accessible on a confidential self-referral basis. Doctors and Dentists in training based in the South may access Workplace Wellbeing, those based in the West, East and North may access Take Time.

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Workplace Wellbeing

Based in South Yorkshire, Workplace Wellbeing is a professional counselling and consultancy service to help doctors and dentists in difficulty deal with personal or work-related stress and psychological trauma relating to work roles. The service aims to help Postgraduate Doctors in Training (PGDiTs) improve psychological health and stay psychologically healthy. 

Workplace Wellbeing is a standalone, confidential service, with clinical notes kept on their own server. They provide short term, one-to-one counselling which can be accessed face-to-face, by telephone or virtually.

They also provide access to resources and deliver group-based psychoeducational workshops on topics such as stress and coping with burnout; coping with traumatic events; and coping with the effects of racism. 

The service aims to offer a first appointment within ten days of referral submission. 

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Take Time

 

What is take time?

Medicine and dentistry are challenging professions which can often push us to our limits. Doctors and dentists are first and foremost human beings prior to training; however, this fact can often be forgotten. Understandably we can all be impacted by our jobs and the patients we care for on a daily basis. Furthermore, it is not possible to completely separate our professional from our personal lives which can then have a potential knock-on effect on our respective work/life balance. Whatever these effects might be on our minds and bodies, Take Time offers postgraduate doctors and dentists in training a space and an opportunity to explore their difficulties; professional and/or personal in a safe and confidential manner with a trained therapist. The list of difficulties (although not exhaustive) may include:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Burn out
• Issues around work/life balance
• Interpersonal difficulties at work and at home
• Adjustment difficulties
• Examination stress
• Inquiry/clinical incident stress
• Trauma (past or present)
• Bereavement/loss
• Any other issues that may cause emotional distress

 

How does Take Time work?

All of our psychotherapeutic work is brief with a focus on gaining a deeper understanding with the aim to help you attend to yourself and experience less psychological distress.

Take Time offers up to two initial assessments appointments to gather further insights of you, your difficulties, and your ongoing psychological needs. After a collaborative discussion between you and your therapist, further therapy sessions can be offered if thought to be helpful. This is usually up to four sessions.

Interventions vary depending on the therapeutic approach of the clinician, however they are always tailored to the individual in the context of a supportive relationship.

 

Who will I see? 

Take Time is a service offering a variety of psychological approaches including (but not exclusive to):

• Psychoanalytical psychotherapy
• Integrated counselling
• Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
• Trauma focussed therapy (such as brief EMDR for single event trauma)

Our team is comprised of highly qualified and experienced clinicians in the area of mental health and psychological wellbeing in relation to occupation. We have a combination of medical and non-medical staff, allowing for a valuable multi-disciplinary approach. 

Each clinician brings their own areas of expertise to provide a well-rounded service and are registered and accredited by professional bodies in their own area of practice. 

 

Where is Take Time located?

The Take Time service is located at St Marys House, South Wing, and University of Leeds, 19-21 Clarendon Place.

We offer face-to-face appointments at the above locations and are also able to facilitate remote sessions based on individual need and therapeutic approach.

 

How do I access Take Time?

You can access Take Time by completing the online self-referral form. 

Once the form has been received, a member of the team will endeavour to contact you via email within the following seven days. Please check your spam/junk email if sending from a personal email address.

Please be aware: Take Time is not a crisis service. We operate on a 9-5 basis where referrals may not be read immediately. If you have any immediate concerns about your mental health and the safety or yourself or others, please contact your GP in the first instance. If this is outside of working hours, contact out of hours GP services, 111, your local crisis service or 999 in an emergency.

If there are any risk issues elicited during assessment and/or therapy, the clinician will discuss with you whether you are agreeable to share this information with other services involved in your care.

Of note, NHSE is aware of the importance of maintaining individuals’ mental and physical health and therefore is supportive of doctors and dentists being released to attend the Take Time appointments out of hours.