Over 1400 seek help to cope with Covid-19 impact from NHS Grampian's online Psychological Resilience Hub
MORE than 1400 people have accessed a trail-blazing NHS Grampian psychological support service to help them cope with the Covid-19 pandemic fall-out.
The virtual Psychological Resilience Hub – the first of its kind in Scotland – was launched just days after lockdown was imposed in March.
People of all ages can refer themselves to the service for "psychological first aid" to help them cope with changes and fears the virus may have prompted. It aims to reduce distress, support people to remain at work, prevent further psychological harm and reduce the numbers needing front-line medical help.
Dr Lynne Taylor, NHS Grampian's director of psychology, said people seeking help included parents of young children, adolescents, adults and NHS staff.
She added: "The problem is the current situation is so unknown and so unexpected with no end point.
"Lots of people are worried about practical things too such as losing their jobs or are realising that working from home isn't temporary and it's going to be longer term."
Members of the public and staff can self-refer by filling in an online form. They are triaged to an appropriate clinician depending on the level of distress they are experiencing. They are then contacted by the hub which can provide up to three sessions of support.
At the start of lockdown more than 80 volunteers provided time to the service. The service is now transitioning to a core clinical team with a smaller number of volunteers.
The service is receiving around 50 referrals a week – down from 80 to 90 referrals a week when lockdown was lifted. A quarter of referrals come from NHS staff.
All the data points to a continued need for the service for many more months. Funding is in place to keep the service available until March 2021.
Dr Taylor said: "Children tend to be coming for lower levels of support as they have been showing lower levels of stress – but this has started to change since schools have gone back.
"The staff referrals went up very quickly to start with, but now they have gone right down. The public ones weren't going up initially – but now they are."
Dr Taylor said the service did not offer intensive psychological therapy – but rather psychological tips and techniques. She added: "With the hub we've had so much positive feedback about it from people who have never accessed that type of support before and found it to be really easy to speak to someone.
"It's virtual and they can speak to someone from the comfort of their own home, at various times of day and without having to travel to a clinic.
"Struggling at the moment is not necessarily a sign of having significant mental health difficulties. It's just that it is okay not to be okay at the moment and people can get that extra bit of help that they need to get them back on track."
For more information on the hub click here .
