A website offering free and immediate access to support from mental health specialists has been launched by Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT) and partners in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The website www.covidwellbeingsupport.com features a series of self-help videos created by trained psychologists and therapists to help anyone struggling with the impact of COVID-19. Launched in collaboration with online mental health platform Omnitherapy, the videos feature specialists from the Trust’s Therapy for you and Clinical Health Psychology teams sharing tools and techniques to help people better manage challenges they may be facing. Richard Black, head of Therapy for You, said: “The pandemic has taken its toll on all of us in different ways whether you’ve experienced personal loss or illness or have found it hard to adjust to the new circumstances we find ourselves in.
“Our website provides support to anyone struggling with the emotional experience of lockdown or the recovery and effects of having had COVID. It allows people to choose a support pathway and watch a series of videos tailored to their needs at their own pace wherever they may be.” Neil Heather, Director of Omnitherapy.org, said: “High quality, readily available and instantly accessible information was the reason we created Omnitherapy.org. Partnering with Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, in the creation and digital publishing of this suite of CBT, COVID-related therapy videos, has allowed us to expand the reach of quality NHS clinician-created and delivered information.
“We are proud to assist in bringing this free of charge resource to hundreds of thousands of people across Essex and beyond. Anyone can access the website, there is no need to register and visitors will find videos on a range of issues including anxiety, low mood, improving sleep, coping with post-viral fatigue and trauma and practising self-compassion. Further support is available from EPUT’s Therapy for You (IAPT) service. Therapy for You provides free counselling and psychological therapy to people experiencing depression, anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder and specific phobias.
Therapy for You is available to people aged 16 and over in north east Essex and 18 and over in south east Essex and can be contacted directly at www.therapyforyou.co.uk or on 01268 739128 (south east Essex) or 01206 334001 (north east Essex). Members of the public can also speak to their GP about a referral to the service. People who live outside of these areas can find further support at www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-psychological-therapies-service
