NELFT mental health services in Barking and Dagenham helped to support the mental health training of future GPs with a psychiatry study day at St Francis Hospice in Havering-atte-Bower, Romford. The event programme on Wednesday 15 June was organized by Dr Mina Goyal, a local GP in Barking and Dagenham, and co-organised by Nadya Khokhar (Talking Therapies - Barking and Dagenham (IAPT)) who also delivered the opening part of the training on the day.

The programme is designed to benefit around 40 to 50 GP trainees from the Barking and Dagenham, and Havering training scheme. The aim is to help future GPs improve their understanding and awareness of mental illness – how to recognise signs of mental illness, how to treat in primary care and when to refer to NELFT.

The training programme focused on early recognition and intervention work that GPs can do in primary care, which is a key part of the five-year forward view and supports patients with mental illness getting treatment in primary care.

Topics covered included:

• OCD
• Phobias
• Personality disorders/managing patients in a crisis  
• Eating disorders
• Teenage mental health issues/self harm

Asif Bachlani (Barking and Dagenham, associate medical director) said: “We were delighted to be invited to deliver mental health training to the local, future GP workforce by one of the local GP trainers Dr Mina Goyal. Nadya Khokhar and the team have put an excellent programme together to upskill local GPs in recognition and management of common mental illnesses.”

For more information about Barking and Dagenham CAMHS and TLZ (The Listening Zone) visit: www.nelft.nhs.uk/services-barking-camhs-tlz

Information about NELFT Talking Therapies service can be found at: www.nelft.nhs.uk/services-talking-therapies

Pictured is one of the speakers Meera Kapadia, a psychotherapist for the TLZ Young People’s Counselling and Psychotherapy Service at Barking and Dagenham CAMHS.