How you might be feeling

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How you might be feeling

NHS Northamptonshire talking therapies can help you with low mood and a variety of anxiety issues such as worry about your health, intrusive thoughts, panic, social anxiety. We also offer support for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder.

Low mood/depression

Everyone suffers with low mood at times but this usually passes. When you have a persistent low feeling that does not seem to be getting better, it may be the time to seek help. If you notice that you are having trouble sleeping or sleeping too much, your appetite has changed, you start to have negative thoughts about yourself, others and the future, then you may be experiencing depression.

Anxieties

There are several types of anxiety which talking therapies can help with. For example:

Not being able to switch off from worrying (Generalised Anxiety Disorder), intrusive thoughts and compulsive behaviours or rituals (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), worrying excessively about your health (Health Anxiety), having intense physical feelings of anxiety and being fearful you might die as a consequence (Panic Disorder), avoiding social situations (Social Anxiety) or avoiding going out at all (Agoraphobia)

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

PTSD does not occur after all traumatic events and it is treatable with talking therapies. It can occur within a few months of an event or be triggered much later in life. If you notice that you are fearful in your everyday life, feel as if you are re-experiencing the event all over again (flashbacks), have persistent nightmares or are remain feeling ‘on edge’, you may be experiencing PTSD.

Richard has received support through Talking Therapies, and has taken the time in this short video to discuss his experience:

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What are Talking Therapies?

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What are Talking Therapies?

Talking Therapies, or psychological therapies, are effective and confidential treatments delivered by fully trained and accredited NHS staff. They can help with common mental health problems such as stress, anxiety and depression.

Talking Therapies can help you to understand your problems and find ways to manage them. Our therapists can guide you through this process. We also have Peer Supporters who can work alongside our therapists to offer you additional support.

Treatments

There are number of treatments available within Talking Therapies, including guided self-help.

What is guided self-help?

Guided self-help is suggested as a treatment for some types of depression, anxiety, panic disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) .

How is treatment offered?

Treatment is typically offered online, as a webinar, SilverCloud programme or group, with regular contact with a therapist.  The aim is to give you helpful tools and techniques, you can carry on using after the treatment sessions have finished.

What treatments are available as guided self-help?

Get motivated again
Talking  Therapy aims to help people with depression take simple and practical steps towards enjoying life again . The aim of the therapy is to give you the tools to help you make small and positive changes . This will help you live life in a way that is meaningful to you.
Test negative thought cycles
When we feel down or anxious, we can have negative thoughts about ourselves, the world, or other people . We can become trapped in a negative cycle of thinking. This can affect how we behave and feel. For example, we might feel down, anxious and avoid people or places. It may also stop us from moving on with things. Changing the way you think about negative thoughts can help you feel more hopeful about the future . This may help you feel more confident and less anxious or scared.
Guided self-help aims to stop negative cycles such as these. It does this by looking at and checking the thoughts that make you feel anxious or scared. This can help you change negative thoughts and feel better.
Managing worries and anxiety
Worrying is a natural response to life's problems. If your worries feel too much, you might find yourself avoiding stressful settings. However, there are ways to manage or overcome these. You could try stepping back and breaking things into smaller parts to make them easier to handle . We can help you to learn these techniques.
Graded Exposure - Facing your fears
Graded exposure can be useful for people with phobias. For example, a fear of busy places, animals, insects, heights, or doctors' offices.
Graded exposure involves learning to face your fears in a structured way. At first, your therapy will start with facing objects or settings that you fear. These will be at a level of anxiety you can manage. Each time you face it, your anxiety should get smaller and last for less tim e. Working with your therapist, you will then decide the next steps.
Exposure and Response Prevention
Exposure and Response Prevention can be useful for people with OCD. It  follows a similar process to graded exposure. It helps you face your fears and thoughts without using your usual ways of calming down . For example, extreme checking, counting or washing habits.
For all of these methods, you will need to practise the techniques often to overcome your problem s.
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What happens after I've completed the form?

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What happens after referral?

We will contact you and offer a telephone assessment. We will ask questions to find out what difficulties you are experiencing and how we might be able to help you.

What kind of help can we offer?

Treatment is typically offered online, as a webinar, SilverCloud programme or group, with regular contact with a therapist.  The aim is to give you helpful tools and techniques, you can carry on using after the treatment sessions have finished.

If we cannot help with your difficulties, we will guide you to a service that can support you.

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Support for those living with a long term-condition

Introducing NHS Northamptonshire Talking Therapies Health

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Support for people living with a long term-condition

NHS Northamptonshire Talking Therapies Health is a talking therapies service for people living with a long-term condition such as diabetes, respiratory difficulties (e.g., COPD), cancer and cardiovascular disease (CVD). 

We offer non-urgent psychological therapy for common mental health problems in the context of a long-term condition. 

We support people from across Northamptonshire, including Corby, Kettering, Wellingborough and Daventry.

Who do we support? 

We support people who are: 

  • Aged 17 and a half or over
  • Registered with a GP in Northamptonshire
  • Diagnosed with diabetes (Type 1 and 2), respiratory difficulties (e.g., COPD), cancer or cardiovascular problems
  • Experiencing emotional distress.
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How we can help

Person thinking

How we can help

It is common to experience negative emotions, difficult thoughts and distressing physical symptoms when living with a long-term condition. This can make it more difficult to cope with self-care needs and daily demands. 

Common difficulties include feeling low in mood, anxious, frustrated, hopeless, having a sense of loss and struggling to adjust to a physical health diagnosis and any required lifestyle changes. 

We are a team of psychological practitioners who have knowledge and understanding of the challenges experienced by people living with a long-term condition.

We offer treatments via video-call, telephone and face-to-face sessions. These could be one-to-one sessions, groups or webinars.

We use a stepped-care approach, which means that you receive the most effective treatment for your needs. This will be in the form of low-intensity or high-intensity treatment. We tailor the treatments we offer to your specific needs so you can achieve your therapy goals.

We are here to support you in case your physical health condition has resulted in difficulties such as depression, panic, phobias (e.g. agoraphobia, needle phobia), anxiety disorders, OCD, PTSD, diabetes distress, fear of cancer recurrence, low self-esteem, amongst others. 

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Register with the health team

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Register with the health team

You can ask your GP or healthcare professional to make a referral on your behalf.

Alternatively, you can sign up yourself by phone, email or post:

03000 270584 (9am - 4pm)

talkinghealthnorthants@nhft.nhs.uk

NHS Northamptonshire Talking Therapies Health, Lotus House, Victoria Street, Northampton, NN1 3NR.

Please note: we are not an emergency service. If you require urgent help, please call NHS 111, The Samaritans on 116 123 or the mental health number 0800 448 0828.

What happens next?

Once we have received your referral, we will contact you for an initial assessment to establish what your needs are and whether we are the best service to support you.

If we are suitable to support you, we will send you an appointment outcome letter outlining our discussion and any treatment plans. We will only share this information with your referrer/GP if you consent for us 
to do so. 

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Mental health, learning disabilities and speciality services

  1. Acute Liaison Mental Health Service
  2. Adult ADHD, Autism and Tourettes Team (AAATT)
  3. Adult Inpatients Acute
  4. Adult Inpatient Low Secure
  5. Adult Inpatient Specialist
  6. Adult Inpatient PICU
  7. At Risk Mental State Service
  8. Community Mental Health Adult - Early Intervention N’Step
  9. Community Mental Health Team
  10. Community Mental Health Transformation
  11. Complex PTSD service
  12. Criminal Justice Liaison and Diversion Team
  13. Crisis cafés
  14. Crisis Response Unit
  15. Crisis Houses: The Warren and The Martins
  16. Custody Healthcare Team
  17. Eating Disorders Service
  18. ECT and Ketamine Therapy - The Treatment Centre
  19. Forensic Team
  20. Gender Identity Clinic
  21. Health Based Place of Safety
  22. IPS Employment Service
  23. Learning Disabilities
  24. Northants Personality Disorder Hub
  25. Liaison Psychiatry for Older People
  26. Maternal Loss Psychology Service
  27. Memory Assessment Service
  28. NHS Northamptonshire Talking Therapies
  29. Older Adults Community Mental Health Services
  30. Older People’s Inpatient Acute
  31. Peer support service
  32. Police Liaison & Triage
  33. RECONNECT - Care after custody
  34. Recovery College
  35. rTMS - Centre for Neuromodulation
  36. Secured Services
  37. Serenity Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC)
  38. Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Service
  39. The Mental Health Number
  40. Urgent Care and Assessment Team
  41. Younger Persons with Dementia Team