At your appointment time, a member of our team will call you from a withheld/blocked number. We will try to call on time, but sometimes our call may be a little late if an earlier appointment has overrun. The appointment will last between 45-60 minutes.
Please make sure you are somewhere quiet and private where you can concentrate and talk confidentially. We may be unable to do the assessment if you are in a public place or driving for example.
We help people with mental health problems such as depression and anxiety and offer a range of short-term treatments and therapies. The purpose of the assessment is to find out whether the treatments we offer are right for you. If not, we will try to help find something more suitable.
IMPORTANT – 48 hours before the appointment, a health questionnaire will be sent to your email address (please also check your spam/junk folder). Please complete the questionnaire prior to the appointment as this will enable the assessing practitioner to prepare for your session and will allow you more time to speak freely about your current situation.
If you have any questions, please call us on 0333 200 1893.
If you feel you are in need of immediate help or that you are in a crisis whilst you are waiting for your appointment, contact your GP or emergency services on 999. Alternatively you can contact the Samaritans on 116 123.
About your assessment
The assessment is split into two parts.
- The results from the health questionnaire that you completed online prior to the appointment will be discussed.
- Next you can talk about your reasons for getting in touch with us and the support you are looking for. Your assessor will ask you questions about these problems, and about the changes you are hoping to make. The outcome of the assessment will depend on your personal situation, your needs and the evidence for the treatments we offer.
Broadly speaking there are 4 possible outcomes from the assessment:
- If our service is the most suitable service for you, the assessor will discuss with you the specific treatment we can offer.
- If our service is not the right service for you, the assessor will aim to help you to find a more appropriate service or organisation.
- Sometimes we may require more time to think about how best to help you, or to arrange a follow up assessment. If this is the case, the assessor will discuss this with you at the time.
- In many cases, changes in mood are natural, understandable and likely to return to normal over time. It can therefore be unhelpful to interfere with these normal processes by offering therapy. If this is the case, the assessor will help you to think about drawing on or developing your own coping strategies, or perhaps taking more time before considering whether a psychological intervention would be the most helpful option.
Missed appointments
Please do not miss your appointment. Our service is very busy and missed appointments lead to longer waiting times overall.
If for any reason you need to cancel or change the appointment, or have any further questions, do not hesitate to contact us. If you do rebook your assessment appointment and fail to attend the second appointment without providing us with notice, then we will not be able to offer you another appointment until 4 weeks have elapsed.
After your appointment
If a plan has been made to offer you treatment, we will send you a brief letter outlining this plan. We usually send a copy of this letter to your GP, but if you’d prefer us not to, let us know.
Please note that we don’t write detailed assessment reports or offer diagnoses.
Attendance and Motivation
Our treatments require you to attend regular weekly sessions. Whilst we understand that it can be difficult, psychological change takes motivation and commitment. Much of our treatment is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, which involves doing tasks between sessions and is focused on goals which are set jointly between you and your therapist.
It is important that you feel ready to commit to making the changes that you feel that you need in order to live a more fulfilled life. This means prioritising these sessions and giving yourself the best chance for making steps in the direction of positive change. If you are unsure about your readiness to engage in treatment, please feel free to discuss this with your assessor.
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