A wealth of experience
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Our Services
We are dedicated to improving wellbeing through the provision of a comprehensive, end-to-end mental health service which matches the right support to individual patient need, integrated with support for physical wellbeing and lifestyle. Our services include:
Occupational Health
Primary Care
Human Resources
Health Insurers
Private Individuals
Corporate
Emergency Services
Manufacturing
Therapy Service - Client Funded Cases
This service is for individuals who have been identified (by an OHP, OHA or someone in the business) as requiring psychological therapy of some form, and whose appointments will be funded by their employer.
The referring OH professional will receive a clinical letter from the Psych Health clinician post-assessment and post-discharge to help inform their advice to business. Appointments can be conducted face to face in person or face to face via secure video link depending on clinical appropriateness.
What does it entail?
Employers will either have ‘purchased’ the service on a contracted basis or will use the service on an ad hoc basis. In either case a number of appointments needs to be pre-authorised prior to the commencement of any appointments. We cannot assess a patient in the absence of any pre-authorised treatment. In the contracted model the number of pre-authorised appointments will be laid down in the contract, in the ad hoc model this will need to be considered on a case-by-case basis.
The standard model is one of 10 sessions, comprising 2 assessment sessions and up to 8 treatment sessions. During the assessment the clinical need for treatment will be considered, including numbers of treatment appointments required. Any funding issues arising from a mismatch between clinical need and the numbers of pre-authorised appointments will be addressed prior to entering into any treatment.
For referrals funded by an employer on an ad hoc basis it would usually be the role of the referring party to establish authorisation for funding as they would usually have the relationship with the employer that would allow them to do so.
In a small proportion of cases the clinical need for an increased number of sessions will only become apparent during treatment, and the Psych Health clinician will advise of this through a letter to the referrer at the earliest possible time so that authorisation for additional appointments can be sought.
Therapy Service – PMI funded
This service is for individuals who have been identified (by an OHP, OHA or someone in the business) as requiring psychological therapy of some form, and whose appointments will be funded by their PMI provider.
The referring OH professional will receive a clinical letter from the Psych Health clinician post-assessment and post-discharge to help inform their advice to business. Appointments can be conducted face to face in person or face to face via secure video link depending on clinical appropriateness.
What does it entail?
This funding route does not require any contractual agreement, referring clinicians can simply refer to Psych Health based on clinical need if they are aware that PMI is in place. Following referral,
the Psych Health admin team will contact the patient in order to establish that their PMI provider will authorise the appointments and number of appointments authorised etc.
A 2 session assessment will be undertaken and treatment options considered. Any funding issues arising from a mismatch between clinical need and pre-authorised appointments will be addressed prior to entering into any treatment.
In a small proportion of cases the clinical need for an increased number of sessions will only become apparent during treatment, and the Psych Health clinician will liaise with the PMI provider through a letter so that authorisation for additional appointments can be sought.
Contact us for more information and to discuss your requirements with us further
Specialist Assessment
Individuals who have been identified (by an OHP, OHA or someone in the business) as requiring a more in-depth, comprehensive assessment of their psychological health to answer specific questions that the business/ OH professional may have.
May arise in the context of a specialist independent medical (IMS), where employers have questions about someone’s deterioration in performance/ behaviour within the workplace, disciplinaries, grievances.
What does it entail?
A 2-session assessment (usually a week apart), with a comprehensive report to the referring OH professional.
The report will include (where requested) answers to specific questions, and (where relevant) recommendations for treatment and advice regarding any workplace-related issues.
What happens if the employee subsequently needs treatment?
The client can authorise costs for the number of sessions recommended in the report, and in effect the employee enters the Therapy Service (without the need for a further assessment).
Contact us for more information and to discuss your requirements with us further
Neuropsychological Assessment
Individuals who have been identified (by an OHP, OHA or someone in the business) as requiring specialist testing of an aspect of their cognitive functioning.
This is variously described as psychometric testing, cognitive testing, or neuropsychological testing, but refers to the same thing.
May be appropriate for individuals with problems with memory, concentration or executive functioning. This could be following a head injury or stroke, or signs of a dementia-related cognitive decline.
What does it entail?
This depends entirely on the nature of the question, and the aspects of cognitive functioning that need to be investigated. Cognitive testing can take anything from a few hours to around 10 hours, and each assessment will be tailored to the needs of the employee and the questions that need to be addressed.
This will usually take place over several appointments, and will also include a standard clinical interview to ensure that the individual is not suffering from any mental health difficulties which are known to impact on cognitive function (e.g. anxiety, depression)
We offer a range of psychotherapeutic treatments.
Screening Assessment
Employees of clients who have identified specific roles/areas of the business that may be vulnerable (“vulnerable roles”) to psychological or emotional harm due to the nature of the work entailed in the role.
The client in essence wishes to ensure at regular timepoints whether employees remain fit to carry out their role, have not been adversely affected by their role, and are not in need of further assistance, either organisationally or psychologically.
An example of one client who currently uses this service is an employer whose employees have to view graphic material of a distressing nature.
What does it entail?
An initial 2-hour assessment for each employee concerned, followed by one-hour assessments at an interval specified by the employer (e.g. 6-monthly or 12-monthly).
The content of the assessment is tailored to the role being carried out, and this service involves an initial set-up period where Psych health will need to meet with relevant managers/ HR to determine in detail the nature of the role and what the assessment will need to determine.
The service can be delivered in block clinics at an employer’s site.
Each employee is issued with a certificate following each assessment, indicating either that we have no concerns regarding their current psychological health, or that there is an issue which has been highlighted to OH.
What happens if an issue is identified with an employee?
We link up with the employer’s CMO in the normal way, providing the relevant advice and recommendations.
High Functioning Autistic Spectrum Disorder Assessment
Individuals who have been identified (by an OHP, OHA or someone in the business) as potentially having High Functioning Autistic Spectrum Disorder.
Probably not as many people as we get asked this for! The true prevalence of High Functioning Autistic Spectrum Disorder is far lower than the (rising) apparent incidence. It is really quite rare for someone to have reached adult age without this being picked up during childhood.
Often these enquiries originate because of a lay diagnosis; either the employee thinks that they have this condition, or a manager suspects this may be the problem underlying workplace issues. The assessment request, therefore, often comes in the form of asking for a diagnosis.
Our view is that we have to be cautious about such requests and through further discussion with the client, we need to elucidate exactly what is being requested, and why. Usually one party or another has a lot invested in the label for a particular reason which is important for us to know prior to proceeding with an assessment. This can be a red herring.
Diagnosis or not?
High Functioning Autistic Spectrum Disorder is difficult and contentious to diagnose even for professionals who are experts in the field. We find that such cases are often in fact other difficulties which have been misconstrued (e.g. personality, mental health, or just an employee being difficult in some way). However, the diagnosis has become increasingly ‘popular’ in correlation with exposure in the media and an associated rise in self-diagnosis via the internet.
What happens after a referral?
A discussion must occur in order to elicit a thorough clarification of the background to the referral. Following this discussion, there are two options that we can offer to clients:
If a formal diagnosis is required, the employee should be referred to their local Adult Learning Disabilities (LD) service within the NHS. Within this service they should be able to have the kind of specialist, multi-disciplinary assessment (including a meeting with the employee’s family to take a corroborative developmental history) that is generally regarded as best practice. This assumes that the local Adult LD services cater for individuals with High Functioning Autistic Spectrum Disorder; however, in some areas unfortunately LD services will not make such an assessment and this then rather unhelpfully becomes the remit of general Adult services who are often not terribly well disposed to do this work. In this case, a specialist service elsewhere may need to be sought. It should be noted that in cases where the employer suspects that the problem is High Functioning Autistic Spectrum Disorder, it can be a difficult task for an employer to suggest the employee attend a Learning Disabilities service because of the stigma attached.
Psych Health can undertake a modified version of the specialist psychological assessment we offer OH clients, which includes extra time to carry out standardised High Functioning Autistic Spectrum Disorder screening measures and, if the employee is willing, speak to their family on the phone concerning their developmental history (a necessary step in assessing High Functioning Autistic Spectrum Disorder). This would include a report addressed to OH, advising on their overall mental health, whether or not they have traits of High Functioning Autistic Spectrum Disorder, how these might affect their ability to carry out their role, and any adjustments that may help. It would not contain a formal diagnosis, although it could recommend such a step depending on the findings of the assessment. In essence, this option would rule in or out the possibility that the employee has High Functioning Autistic Spectrum Disorder, whilst screening for other possible mental health issues, and advising OH accordingly.
Workshops for Managers/HR
Individuals within organisations, normally HR professionals or line managers, for whom it is advantageous organisationally to have an overview and working knowledge of issues pertaining to the mental health of employees.
Typically up to 12 individuals per workshop.
What does it entail?
Typically, a workshop lasting from one hour to half a day, covering a topic such as “How to identify and deal with employees who may have mental health difficulties”.
This would aim to educate attendees as to the various issues involved for their organisation and for them as individuals in their particular roles in relation to employees. It also includes practical steps of how to address these issues. Depending on the client’s needs, this can also include takeaway materials/ toolkits for attendees.
Topics addressed can be tailored to areas of client need/ concern.
Workshops for Employees
Ideally, everyone and anyone within an organisation. Typically up to 12 individuals per workshop.
What does it entail?
We currently offer workshops around topics such as Resilience, Stress Management and Mindfulness (and can provide greater detail for each on request).
We can also offer workshops in relation to specific areas of concern the business may have, for example, dealing with trauma within the nature of one’s work.
The emphasis of each is on wellness, resilience, and delivering the tools to help individuals keep themselves well.
Typically, a workshop lasting from one hour during lunchtime to half a day. Can be provided as a series of open access workshops for employees as part of a client’s wider wellness programme, or targeted to specific areas of the business where the client feels it is needed.
Organisational Consultancy
Organisations/ teams/ employees where problems have arisen that cannot be understood entirely as arising within an individual. Where the ‘distress’ of an individual can be a manifestation of the ‘stress’ within the organisation.
E.g. a ‘sick team’ – high rates of unwellness, absence, staff turnover, grievance within a specific area of the business may be an indication that more is going on than simply a series of individuals becoming unwell.
The difficult, angry or disruptive employee may be the voice of discontent about harsh changes in the business structure.
The ‘depressed’ worker may be expressing an appropriate sense of hopelessness about unjust changes in the system. A warring team might be reflecting poor leadership in the senior management team.
Organisational Consultancy is a highly-trained and focused solution to these kinds of issues.
What does it entail?
The intervention is tailored to the problem and thus can be delivered in many forms, but generally speaking the principle is that the intervention is best placed at the heart of a whole department, team or management board.
For example, in the context of a massive re-organisation, it may be useful to help senior staff think about a process of change and how best to communicate and support staff to protect their health and wellbeing. Similarly, with cases of anxiety or stress relating to allegations of ‘bullying’ or ‘harassment’, it can be easier to locate the problem within key individuals, but frequently, further questioning can reveal a culture that is persecutory. Such cases need to be handled sensitively through a systemic review that is not about identifying and blaming individuals, but about thinking about how a whole system might change.
The intervention will generally include an ‘assessment’ of the problem, which will be a meeting with key individuals, then a series of ‘treatment’ meetings, which may be a series of facilitated team meetings, consultation sessions, coaching and mediation sessions, team days, or sessions with management groups.
Audit/research
Organisations who have a research question they would like investigated.
Examples include stress audits (i.e. establishing rates and type of stress in particular parts of the organisation), analyses of sickness absence data, and service effectiveness (i.e. the impact of having a psychological treatment service).
What does it entail?
Clearly this will differ according to the nature of the research question, however will usually involve a meeting to determine the question and the background to it, a development phase in which Psych Health will devise an appropriate tool to investigate the question, a testing phase where this tool goes back to the client for piloting, a data gathering phase where the tool is administered (usually via online survey) to the target audience, a data analysis phase, and then finally the presentation of the findings to the client.
Let's Talk
If you would like to speak to us about any of our services or to discuss your requirements or if you are interested in working with us as a clinician please call 020 3821 1452 or complete this form