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NELFT NHS Foundation Trust provides a range of community health and mental health services across the north east London Boroughs of Barking & Dagenham, Havering, Redbridge, Waltham Forest, Essex and Kent and Medway.
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NEL Talking Therapies Conference
Colleagues from seven talking therapies services gathered at Stratford Hyatt Hotel on September 22, 2023.
Talking therapies are psychological treatments for mental and emotional problems like stress, anxiety and depression. Services are free and people can self-refer to the service for their area.
The conference featured staff from the area’s three NHS Trusts that provide talking therapies in NEL: East London NHS Foundation Trust, North East London NHS Foundation Trust and Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.
A busy programme saw attendees explore the delivery of face-to-face group interventions, dynamics within groups training, discuss enhancing work for residents and collective aims to enhance group therapy experience for residents and staff.
Teams also shared examples of great work their services, including insights from staff regarding specific groups such as working with PTSD, trauma and long term conditions.
Chris Spanton (Newham talking therapies) and Natasha Alexander (Barking and Dagenham talking therapies), NEL Collaborative special interest group leads, have praised the commitment of colleagues across all seven services in developing care and support for their communities.
This is a very exciting time for group-based therapy within talking therapy services. Feedback from participants of groups has been positive and staff have reported feeling enthusiastic and motivated around the developments the project has made so far.
“The conference was an event developed as part of the ongoing group therapies project which has focused on ways we can all work together to share our group therapy resources and also share expertise,” he added.
“The project has focused on starting pan NEL group therapy sessions for residents which aims to improve capacity and availability for clients, creating more choice along with an ambitious CPD (continuous professional development) programme for all staff.”
Talking Therapies Services available in North East London (NEL) are:
Tower Hamlets Talking Therapies
Picture: Away day team at the NEL Talking Therapies Conference
Picture: Left, Natasha Alexander (Barking and Dagenham talking therapies), and Right, Chris Spanton (Newham talking therapies)