Professional support and wellbeing service (PSWS)
Thames Valley were the first Deanery to have a PSWS (previously known by other names) and now most, but not all, Deaneries have this service.
PSWS is free to all Doctors and Dentists in training and is a fantastic resource. Primarily they offer one to one coaching, but they also have access to Medic Support, who are trained psychologists offering CBT, and exam coaching with a great success rate!
You can self refer via their website here. Alternatively, if it is felt you might benefit from their services, or you have had a developmental outcome at ARCP, your trainers might refer you.
Employee Assistance programme
Most Trusts have signed up to an EAP which is a free, confidential, telephone counselling service. The BMA also has a similar programme. This usually provides 6 or more telephone counselling sessions that you can organise to suit your timings.
Occupational health
All trusts have an OH department, and most but not all have an OH physician available. If you have any health issues, it is really important you make an appointment with OH so that you can talk these through and any work adjustments made if necessary. It is your employer’s responsibility to make sure you stay healthy at work and OH is the mechanism for this. There is also a Deanery OH service (Cordell) which can be referred to by your TPD / HoS only.
debriefing / trim
This is a service that is offered across some, but not all, Trusts. TRIM stands for traumatic incident management and was first developed for the military. It is not counselling, but you may find if you are involved in a difficult incident that you are contacted by the TRIM team, who will offer you a chance to talk through events. This can be enormously helpful. If your Trust does not offer a TRIM service, then finding someone more senior who can listen has still be shown to be helpful in processing. Recent research done in Thames Valley shows this was one of the protective factors in dealing with difficult situations.
national resources
There is a wealth of help out there: a few links below.
A service for all healthcare professionals specialising in mental health and addiction
A wealth of resources including financial support
Toolkits available as well as resources and signposting