Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin NHS Talking Therapies is continuing to build on its offer to support people struggling with anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The launch last month of the new, streamlined service brought together Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust’s existing Talking Therapies teams in the county into a single, fully integrated service. It is open to anyone aged 16+ who is registered with a Shropshire or Telford and Wrekin GP, and is not currently being seen by another mental health team.

The service has recruited an additional four qualified Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners to join the workforce, supporting with reducing waiting times, as well as engaging with voluntary and community sector organisations throughout the area to talk about the work of the service.

Alongside this, 16 Apprentice Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners have been recruited; these are experienced individuals from the local community who are developing their skills to become qualified practitioners. Furthermore, the service is expanding its admin team to help process referrals and appointments as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Assessments have been standardised to ensure every person receives the same opportunities and support when they access the service, regardless of where they live in the county.

In addition, the recent launch of the Limbic Referral Assistant, a friendly robot assistant (chat bot) that can help with making a self-referral into the service, is streamlining the process and providing another option for those seeking support. The assistant will gather all the necessary information from the patient to enable the service to create a new referral, and offer a range of options to book in for their initial assessment appointment.

As a reminder, the new single point of access enables quick and easy access to the specialist team:

• Email: STWTT@mpft.nhs.uk
• Phone: 0300 1236020