Individual treatment and support
KeepingWell NCL provides quick access to free 1-1 wellbeing conversations and assessments with our specialist, multidisciplinary practitioner team. This service is independent and fully confidential.
Hub practitioners can help you think through your difficulties in the consultation or help refer you on to the right support for you using our links to specialist 1-1 services.
This service is open to staff working in any role in health and social care in North Central London.
You can find out more about the service and how to refer below.
Referring yourself for 1-1 support
We accept self-referrals from staff working in health and social care, who live or work in the boroughs of Camden, Islington, Barnet, Enfield and Haringey.
This service is independent and fully confidential.
You can self-refer or request an initial conversation via our online health chat or by emailing our team at keepingwell.ncl@nhs.net. Simply let us know in your message or email that you are making a self-referral for 1-1 support.
We can support you through an initial conversation where we will think together about what support you might need.
One of our team will contact you to gather more information and if needed arrange an assessment with a Hub Practitioner.
This assessment will last roughly 50 minutes. Our practitioners have an expert knowledge of resources, techniques and the services available to support your wellbeing. They may discuss a range of options with you including possible onward referral to one of our specialist referral partners (detailed below). They will talk to you about what you have been finding difficult and will ask you for some details to ensure they offer the right services for you, such as your gender identity, the organisation you work in, and how you define your ethnic background.
Our service is independent and strictly confidential. We will not share your information with your employer and we will always seek your consent before making a referral or contacting any services in the context of your care.
We know that wellbeing at work can be especially impacted by particular experiences of aspects of our identity, such as our ethnic background, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, or having a disability. We are here to support our staff with this.
You can choose when to let our practitioners know about difficulties specific to your protected characteristic(s), for instance, in your initial email or during your assessment. Our practitioners can support directly you with your specific concerns and their impact on your wellbeing, and will be sensitive and accommodating to your needs.
They can also refer or signpost you to support services specific to your concerns, such as our Intercultural Therapy pathway or another specialised external organisation.
Information for referrers
We accept referrals from managers concerned for their staff member’s wellbeing as well as from practitioners working in staff wellbeing roles. If you are a qualified mental health practitioner and have capacity to provide a full mental health assessment of a staff member, then please email the completed assessment to the team on keepingwell.ncl@nhs.net
See below for details of what should be included.
Alternatively, email the team with the name and preferred contact details of the staff member, copying them in.
Please ensure that you have discussed with the colleague you are supporting and acquired their consent, before sending the referral.
If you are making a referral on behalf of a staff member, please ensure you include the following information:
- Full name
- Date of birth
- Gender
- How does the staff member define their ethnic background?
- Did the staff member work in critical care during the pandemic?
- Organisation
- Job role (optional but helpful)
- Contact details (email and/or phone number)
- Contact preference (email or telephone)
Please ensure that you refer to our referral guidance documents for detailed information on referring to each pathway. These can be found below.
Our specialist 1-1 support links
The NCL Hub currently provides access to Intercultural Therapy and Relationship Counselling. We also have strong links with NHS Practitioner Health and local IAPT services.
Our Intercultural Therapy Pathway is a rapid-access treatment pathway delivered through Nafsiyat Intercultural Therapy Centre.
Nafsiyat provides accessible psychotherapy and counselling to people from diverse religious, cultural and ethnic communities in London. The Nafsiyat team is made up of experienced psychotherapists and counsellors from diverse backgrounds, who are sensitive to the particular therapeutic needs of cultural minority groups. The centre provides short-term intercultural therapy in over 20 languages. sessions are offered online or in-person.
Please note that staff must be referred by the KeepingWell NCL Hub to access this service. Staff can either self-refer via the Hub or be referred by a qualified mental health practitioner in a wellbeing role or by a manager with concerns about a staff member’s wellbeing. See ‘Information for referrers’ section for more information.
View or download our referrals guidance document for more info.
People’s responses to traumatic events can vary. Many people recover fully after being exposed to trauma, others may have coped really well initially and then find themselves experiencing a delayed response. Some people may respond to trauma with sleep difficulties, relationship difficulties anxiety and low mood. Some people’s symptoms may fit best within a PTSD diagnosis, while for other people their experiences may be best captured by a diagnosis of Complex PTSD.
Together with your Hub Practitioner, you will agree on which service is most likely to be helpful for your response to trauma.
Support for staff experiencing PTSD is generally offered through IAPT services either in the borough in which you work or live. To find out more about how to self-refer or be referred to IAPT, please see the ‘Local IAPT partners’ section below.
The KeepingWell NCL Hub also has strong links to NHS Practitioner Health. If you are a NHS professional graded at 8d and above, then you can self-refer to this service. Our relationship with the Practitioner Health service means we are able to refer any staff member working in health and social care in North Central London, in any role. This includes social care staff.
Please note that staff must be referred by the KeepingWell NCL Hub to access this service.
Please note that you can self-refer to your local IAPT service via their websites. You can find your local IAPT service by clicking here.
However, we have strong links with our IAPT partners across NCL, and Hub practitioners have ‘trusted assessor’ status. This means you could be placed directly onto an IAPT waiting list following a Hub assessment, as well as having the opportunity to discuss what other support may be available to you.
KeepingWell NCL is pleased to offer free relationship therapy to social care and NHS staff across NCL through their partnership with Tavistock Relationships. The service provides up to six FREE sessions with psychotherapists for couples and/or individuals to explore how their current situation is affecting them as individuals and their relationship. Working together with you and your partner to address these issues can help.
Tavistock Relationships aims to provide couples or individuals with the thinking space they need to face the challenges of working in demanding times, to understand the stresses they are experiencing and to mobilise their resources. Although the support is relatively short term, the benefits may be long-term. Sessions are online.
Any questions?
If you would like to discuss making a referral for yourself or a colleague, please contact our team via our online health chat or email us at keepingwell.ncl@nhs.net
