Hello everyone,
An intrinsic part of living in the UK is having access to the National Health Service, and the idea that getting medical help should be free and accessible to everyone.
We also know, like you, that over the last decade the NHS has faced an impossible level of pressure, with the demand on its services continuing to rise, but the capacity, staff and resources are not keeping pace.
The Covid-19 pandemic had a major impact on this, and every winter NHS trusts routinely declare states of emergency, whilst A&E wards are crammed full and people receiving treatment in hospital hallways are not uncommon. Waiting lists for even routine surgeries regularly stretch into over a year, and trying to book an appointment with your GP usually involves at least half an hour on hold on the telephone.
But most difficult for many of us is trying to get help for mental health. Despite more and more funding, and the 111 service now offering better mental health support directly, getting help on the NHS can be extremely frustrating, difficult and feel inadequate. In Southampton, these include services such as Steps2Wellbeing, iTalk, IAPT and Counselling For Depression.
This is even more difficult for young people getting help, and we regularly hear from parents and young people contacting Solent CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) that the waiting list in the Southampton area exceeds two years.
We don't feel that's right, and we know that neither do you. And we know from speaking to many of our counterparts in the NHS how challenging it is, with staff burnout and people leaving being a key problem for our public health service.
When we started The Empathy Project, a key goal for us was finding ways to try and help people get high-quality, open-ended support much quicker, and not just being placed on a waiting list. We've set ourselves up so that you can get counselling in Southampton quickly and easily.
One of the positive social outcomes for this is that by presenting ourselves as a quality alternative, we can also help relieve some of the pressure on our NHS colleagues and reduce the number of people on their waiting lists.
Over the Summer, we started some really important conversations with our friends in the NHS, and this led to two very successful meetings with senior mental health leaders in August, and then with the Solent NHS Primary Care Network (PCN) in September.
The PCN represents service that are usually the first point of contact for many of us when we first contact the NHS seeking support for any medical problem, including mental health, such as GP surgeries.
Charlotte and Tom delivered a presentation to these colleagues on who we at The Empathy Project are, how our service works, and how NHS teams can help signpost and refer people to us to get quality mental health support faster.
This often complements the NHS's work well, such as people coming out of a crisis point and now being ready to have dedicated counselling with us, as well as the other way around, with clients who have successfully had counselling and are now looking for help in other areas, such as practical support and CBT therapy.
Also attending were Solent Mind, and they've already reached out to have another chat with us to talk about mutual signposting from their group therapy and support services with us.
We're delighted to say that the reception and feedback to The Empathy Project was very positive, and already this has led to a significant increase in new referrals to us for people seeking counselling. We're hoping that this will lead to a long-term relationship where we and the NHS can support each other's services, and most importantly expand quick access to mental health support that is right for you.
We've also made some improvements to our referral system, so that our "Refer Yourself" form now better explains how our service works and what to expect after you complete the form. If you haven't done so already and are looking to contact us for the first time, you can do so by clicking the link below.
Best wishes
Tom & Charlotte
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