Any experiences of using nhs "traumatic stress services"?

[barefoot]

I've discovered that there is an NHS Traumatic Stress Service near me - it describes itself as "a national centre of excellence" and it looks like you can refer yourself or have a GP/mental health system referral.

It says:

We provide a clinical service if you have experienced trauma or are struggling with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

We can treat you if you are suffering from:

• PTSD
• complex PTSD
• traumatic bereavement

We specialise in treating:

• adult survivors of childhood abuse
• military veterans
• people struggling with feelings of shame

It looks like, after your referral, you have to have an initial assessment and then possible treatment options - if they think it's suitable for you based on the initial assessment - are individual therapy (could be trauma focused CBT, EMDR, NET) and group therapy (including groups for women survivors of CSA, women who have experienced domestic abuse and compassion groups for people who feel shame as a result of trauma).

All of this sounds good. And it feels like a no-brainer that I should contact them to see if they can offer me anything.

But...I'm also in avoidance mode! I discovered the website a few weeks ago but still haven't phoned them. Partly because I find making phone calls very stressful. And partly because...I'm not really sure!

Maybe I'm not sure if it would somehow go against me that I already see a therapist privately. Should I tell them that or keep it to myself and have them think I don't have any professional support right now? That feels dishonest and therefore perhaps not ultimately helpful. But I suppose I know how stretched the NHS is so I think they may not offer me anything if I let them know I already have something that I pay for. I know I won't know the answers to these questions until I phone. I'm just not sure how best to approach it.

Has anyone used one of these services? And, if so, what was your experience?

Any encouragement/advice on approach to motivate me to phone them and enquire also welcome!

Thanks.

 

[digger]

Wow! On paper it sounds like an option really worth checking out. Sorry no experience - there's nothing even close to looking like that where I live, but if there was, I would definitely give it some serious consideration.

So far as having a private therapist, you can always phrase it that you have seen someone privately. Cost and availability with your current therapist isn't actually ideal anyway, so there is nothing wrong in looking at other options. If you were wanting to continue with your private therapist alongside NHS services though, that might be a problem

Do they have an email address that you could use to ask questions - waiting times, whether there services are time limited etc so that you could get a better idea about whether it's something that might work for you?

 

[barefoot]

@digger - yes, on paper it all sounds very good. Apart from my phone phobia, I'm not really sure what my big hesitation around making contact is... I think it might just be that fear of saying the wrong thing and shooting myself in the foot and not then being offered any help. Me messing it up, in other words!

You're right - saying I *have had* private therapy may be the best thing. My GP has had no involvement with my therapy and I don't have PTSD on my medical records, so perhaps that's the best approach.

Can't see an email address - looks like they want you to phone. Says that the number of sessions depends on the nature and complexity of your difficulties and that the average is 12-20 sessions, 1 - 1.5 hours a week.

Can't get my quote function to work just now...Do you mean if I want to continue with my private therapist alongside NHS services that could be a problem because the NHS will only offer support to people who haven't got any other (especially private paying) arrangements? Or because doing both things alongside each other would be confusing /difficult/not very productive for me in terms of doing the work?

A quick update on my situ with my therapist for context...somewhat remarkably - and after quite a lot of effort on both sides - we are now in a good, strong place and she has been a great support for preparing me for my upcoming surgery. When I return after my surgery I'll probably be switching to fortnightly sessions, which will be quite an adjustment (though that transition may well be eased by the fact that I'll have already had at least a month-long break from therapy to recover from my op) So, I was thinking that this NHS trauma service could supplement/compliment what I'm doing with her. I'm actually quite intrigued by the idea of the groups. But, in reality, I'm not sure how I'll find sitting with a group of people - especially if you're meant to share stuff. I think it sounds like A Good Idea. I'm just also quite scared of the whole concept...probably because I don't really know what to expect from group therapy. But that's probably for another thread - if it comes to it!

 

[digger]

Do you mean if I want to continue with my private therapist alongside NHS services that could be a problem because the NHS will only offer support to people who haven't got any other (especially private paying) arrangements? Or because doing both things alongside each other would be confusing /difficult/not very productive for me in terms of doing the work?

The second one. It would depend on what was being offered I think, but if it was something similar to the type of therapy you are receiving from your current therapist, neither may be keen for you to be seeing the other at the same because of possible conflicts/confusions yes. My (private) counsellor has said it wouldn't be usual for someone to see two counsellors at the same time for the same issue - this wasn't actually something I was considering but came up out of a conversation with a GP about the possibility of referring me back to (completely inadequate here) NHS services.

So yeah, I think it would depend on what you were being offered whether it could be viewed as complimentary and possibly meeting different needs than what you are doing with your T.

Sympathise very much with the phone phobia.

 

[barefoot]

Thanks @digger. That makes sense. I wouldn't want to just do a parallel of my current therapy with another therapist. I found it confusing enough when I had a therapist and a coach at the same time a while back - I got very obsessed with trying to keep different parts of work separate and still got confused about what work to do where because so much stuff seemed so entangled! But I think if I could do the compassion group working on shame, for instance, that will hopefully be useful on its own and would also be beneficial with my work with my private therapist.

Hmm...I guess I'm going to have to call them...!

 

[BattyM]

I've discovered that there is an NHS Traumatic Stress Service near me - it describes itself as "a nati...

I was offered 20 EMDR sessions. So when the C-PTSD was no better by #20 i was discharged and left to my own devices or to go private.

 

[barefoot]

Thanks for your reply @BattyM and sorry to hear that you didn't have huge success with the service. I hope you found some other support?

I still haven't done anything about it so thanks for putting it back on my radar again as something to consider.

Did they offer you any group stuff?

 

[Teasel]

I'd live to hear how you get on if you do try it :-)

 

[Aquarius lady]

I've discovered that there is an NHS Traumatic Stress Service near me - it describes itself as "a nati...

Yes I've used this service, a little different as I started off by seeing a doctor who had a counsellor at my surgery, you get referred there and then seen, in exceptional cases you get 8 weeks which I did, she then referred me herself via the dr to this service but you can do a self referral, I then had an assessment with a psychologist who did a report on me, I then had a one off appointment with a psychiatrist who advised me on medication, then I was referred to a cbt therapist and have had 8 weeks with her and now I've been referred to a specialist trauma therapist who's going to do EMDR with me. All in all it's been a year since I got the ball rolling and a lot of 'nothing' in between waiting for appointments to come but I can't fault the service I've received, my counsellor at the dr's surgery was amazing and really helped push things along for me, I guess I was just very lucky, but I highly recommend you do this but start it sooner then later as there is likely to be quite a wait for it.

 

[Friday]

Re-opened

 

[barefoot]

Thanks for reopening @Friday

So...wow...it’s been almost 3 years since I started this thread and I’ve only very recently taken any action!
They have changed it so you can’t self-refer any more. I have a different GP now who I like and she knows that I have a private therapist. So, I bit the bullet a few weeks ago and asked if she could refer me, which she was happy to do.

I thought it was going to be a referral to that specific trauma service but it turns out it’s a general referral to the NHS Talking Therapies service in my area.

I have a phone call with one of their therapists scheduled in a couple of weeks - an assessment. They will ask questions to determine how depressed/anxious etc I am.

I feel quite unsure about it. For a few reasons really:

• I think I really want to say that I just want to go to that trauma service. I’m not really interested in getting some generic cbt sessions for anxiety or whatever. I already have a therapist so the key thing about getting into this particular service is the trauma specialism. Not sure how to broach that though because they will be doing a general assessment for the whole Talking Therapies service.
• I’m still unsure whether/how to broach having a therapist. My GP shrugged and said ‘don’t tell them.’ But that would be very misleading if they think I’ve never had any therapy around any of this and if they think I’ll be starting from scratch. I haven’t told my therapist about this referral. I don’t know why not. I think it feels like I’m doing something wrong somehow... During a quick admin call from the service last week where we scheduled my assessment call, one of the general questions was am I currently receiving any psychological treatment. I panicked and blurred out no. Now I’m not sure what to do for the best about that...
  
  
• I’m not sure that my current symptoms are bad enough to warrant getting help from this trauma service. On the one hand, I don’t want to make things out to be worse than they are. On the other, I don’t want to be dismissed because I’m fine.

I think the thing I most hope to get from the service - if they accept me - is that I would like to try to make more progress with shame. I think shame gets in the way a lot and hinders progress in my therapy. So, if I’m getting support from trauma specialists and one of the things they flag is helping people who struggle with shame, I’m hoping that might lead to some sort of shift.

Any thoughts about any of this? How to tackle the current therapy question? Whether I should mention it to my therapist? Whether I shouldn’t waste their time if I’m not massively symptomatic at the moment?

 

[digger]

I'm in a similar position at the moment @barefoot. I have a private therapist who I have been working with for several years, but realistically can't afford to continue seeing much longer, I've already spent much more of my savings than I should have on therapy, don't have a reliable income, but also don't currently qualify for any benefits. I'm also not sure that I haven't reached some kind of plateau with what we can achieve.

I've had a couple of really appalling experiences just trying to access anywhere near adequate mental health support from the NHS, resulting in zero actual therapy from them, but I have had a much better GP in the last couple of years and she has put in a new referral for me. It hasn't gone smoothly, someone somewhere didn't pass it on to another someone somewhere else etc etc, but I have an assessment now booked in February. My GP has made a lot of effort to try and make sure that the referral went to secondary services this time and not just to IAPT, so, in theory, I may end up with some actual trauma relevant therapy (I'm still not holding my breath).

They are aware that I currently have a therapist, but I don't expect to be able to see both at the same time (even if I could afford it). My current therapist is also aware of the referral, and actually has been a huge help in helping me manage the stress/anxiety around the referral. The other main reason for having her on board though is that I'm aware that we are going to need to do some kind of wrapping up and that that is going to be difficult.

It will depend on the outcome of the assessment in February and what they can offer me, what I decide to do next, it may end up being that I just drastically cut down the number of session I have with my current therapist, but I personally feel better for being open about it with all parties involved from the outset.

Don't know if that helps.