Psychological medicine in primary care in Stockport
We support people with complex or chronic physical and mental health difficulties.
You may have struggled to find the right service to support your mental health. You may also have had referrals to a range of services without feeling you are getting anywhere.
We support you as a ‘whole person’, focusing on both your mental and physical health.
Through one-to-one therapeutic work and, if helpful, group work; we focus on your needs and what you might want to change. We build a relationship with you, and help you concentrate on the issues you’ve identified.
We are a psychologically informed service, so our focus is not specifically on diagnosis or medication; but helping you make lasting and meaningful changes in your lives.
We work proactively, building relationships, and work alongside you to understand your difficulties and develop coping strategies.
Psychological medicines is based on a ‘relational’ approach to therapeutic intervention. This means that the therapeutic relationship between you and our liaison practitioners underpins our work.
Relationships can affect our outlook on life and the way we respond. A secure and safe relationship can help to rebuild our connection with others and ourselves.
We work more flexibly and creatively than a standard ‘structured therapy’ would allow, using a range of therapeutic interventions to meet your needs.
Rather than separating out physical and mental health needs, we work to understand you as a whole person. For instance, sometimes difficult experiences in early life can impact on our current life and long-term physical and mental health.
If you have complex health needs or persistent physical symptoms such as chronic pain, fatigue or long-term health conditions, these can hugely impact on your mental health. This may include day-to-day functioning, your quality of life, self-esteem and sense of self-worth. You may have also had very negative experiences with health services.
Psychological medicines aims to work alongside you to understand the impact of life experiences on your sense of self and wellbeing and to empower you to make whatever changes we identify together.
- You may have attended lots of different health services but felt you still did not find the answers to your long-term health issues.
- Your mood may feel like it rapidly shifts or you find it hard to manage intense emotions.
- You may feel persistently low and struggle to motivate yourself.
- You may have had difficult relationships or experiences in your life which have knocked your self-esteem or sense of safety.
- You may have been coping with this in different ways. Some patterns and behaviours may not be as helpful and you want to change them.
- You may have had thoughts of suicide or struggled with anger towards others.
- You could have tried mental health services or counselling before but still feel like you are struggling.
We take referrals from GPs, health and social care professionals, and from services within Pennine Care.
Once the referral is received, you will then go on a waiting list for an assessment.
We initially offer a full assessment of your situation and needs over 3-4 sessions. This process can be hugely helpful in understanding your difficulties and what is causing you to feel stuck.
You will have the opportunity to discuss with your assessor or assessors whether you feel the service is right for you.
If our service is not right for you, we will help you consider what alternative support may be better suited.
If our service is right for you, then you will be offered a period of work with a liaison practitioner. Liaison practitioners are experienced registered professionals from a range of backgrounds in mental health; e.g. mental health social work, mental health nursing and occupational therapists in mental health).
Your liaison practitioner can work with you for up to 18 months. Sessions will usually take place fortnightly for 50 minutes each time.
Our team also has psychologists and a psychiatrist who can see you alongside your liaison practitioner if needed. They can offer a review and help to jointly assess what we can do to help.
If you are currently a client or on our waiting list for assessment, please contact us on 0161 716 2018 (during office hours), and ask to speak to the duty worker. They may not be able to return your call straight away.
In case of emergency, or outside of our office hours, you can contact:
- Pennine Care helpline 0800 014 9995. Available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.
- Open Door Helpline: 0800 138 7276. The helpline provides immediate 24/7 mental health crisis support for Stockport residents.
- Speak to your GP or contact 111.
- In an emergency, you can go to accident and emergency and ask to see the mental health worker.
- Other helplines are available at www.penninecare.nhs.uk/help
If you have started working with our service, you can contact your keyworker (liaison practitioner) or access the above support. We understand that support from different people, services or phones lines can feel very different, so please do what feels most helpful for you.