About us
We are a psychological therapy service within the Long-Term Offer Community Mental Health Teams (CMHTs) of Derbyshire Healthcare.
On this page, you can find information on:
What we offer
We offer assessment, psychological formulation and time limited psychological therapy. We also provide consultation and supervision to the CMHTs. The work we offer is designed for the individual and is in line with best practice guidelines. This may include specialist therapies. It is likely that a range of different therapies would be used to suit the individual being supported.
In some of the CMHTs, we may also have groups, such as Compassion Focused Therapy. The groups we run depend on the need of the communities that we are supporting, so this will vary from team to team.
We start with an assessment to gain information to create a shared psychological understanding of an individual’s difficulties and strengths. We call this a psychological formulation. This understanding can then support the development of a care plan, which may involve us sharing this formulation with other professionals working with you. In some cases, the formulation might suggest that it would be appropriate to offer a psychological therapy.
The therapeutic approaches offered will depend on the psychological needs and preferences of the person seeking support, best practice and evidence base, e.g., NICE guidelines and the training and experience of the Psychologist or Psychological Therapist. The therapy will be reviewed regularly and have a time limit.
We work with people who are ready, willing and able to focus on their issues in a psychological way. We often support to people who:
- Have experienced traumatic events
- Feel very low and perhaps have thoughts of ending their life
- Harm themselves
- Find it difficult to care for themselves and their dependents
- Feel so anxious they struggle to interact with the world
- Experience dissociation
- Have very low self esteem
- Struggle to find and maintain safe and/or healthy relationships
Psychological therapy requires people to talk and think about their difficulties and to work towards making meaningful change. We know this can be a challenging task. For some people, they may not feel ready to begin therapy or their circumstances may not be stable enough, but there might be other helpful interventions available in the CMHT, wider NHS mental health and voluntary services. We can support you and colleagues in the CMHT to think about this and when might be a better time to consider future psychological work.
Our clinicians
The Psychology Service in Adult CMHTs is made up of a group of Psychologists and Psychological Therapists all registered with either the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) or British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP).
This includes Clinical and Counselling Psychologists and CBT Therapists. Our staff have undergone an extensive core therapy training (e.g. Doctor of Clinical Psychology, Doctor of Counselling Psychology, Post graduate Diploma in CBT) in addition to subsequent training in differing therapy models. We have Trainee Psychologists who join us for their doctoral training placements, and in some teams, we have Assistant Psychologists, who will have completed a psychology degree to a high level as the first part of their training.
All staff receive regular supervision for their clinical work with an experienced clinician.
Accessing the service
To access the Psychology & Psychological Therapy service in the CMHT, you would need to meet the criteria for secondary mental health care within Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (long-term offer team) and have a detailed assessment with one of the CMHT workers. It is likely that you would also benefit from working with another mental health professional within the CMHT, e.g., Community Mental Health Nurse, Occupational Therapist, Psychiatrist.
Referrals are made by a clinician within the CMHT. A mental health professional who you have contact with will speak to you about the referral, so that you are involved and you consent to the referral being made.
When considering referrals for Psychology & Psychological Therapy in the CMHT, we consider the following:
- Readiness – is it a good time to undertake psychological work? Can you prioritise and commit to this, e.g. weekly sessions and work outside of sessions?
- Willingness – do you want to understand and change your difficulties? Are you able to identify some realistic goals, that are change- focussed and are you motivated to work on these?
- Ableness – do you have the capacity for self-reflection about your thoughts, emotions and response to others? Are you able to set time aside between sessions to put into practice what you are working on in your therapy?
What to expect when you have been referred
A confidential space is offered to safely express thoughts, feelings and sometimes to talk about what has happened in the past. Sessions may be individual or in a group and can be weekly or fortnightly.
The Psychologist or Psychological Therapist will be clear, open to feedback and professional. Therapy is a place to be heard and supported to change.
The focus will be to build a therapeutic relationship where change can happen, and a better quality of life achieved. A Psychologist or Psychological Therapist does not provide the answers or make change happen but aims to support an individual to make those changes for themselves.
Therapy can be hard work and takes a lot of commitment and work both in and out of sessions. Thinking about how to be safe outside of therapy is very important and we may focus on skills and techniques to support with this.
Reviews will take place together and different perspectives will be heard. Throughout treatment we will use questionnaires and ask for feedback to review progress and to help guide therapy.
The overall aim for the therapy work will be for the individual to continue the psychological work and progress outside of therapy both in between sessions and as the work comes to an end.
Locations
Our Psychology teams are in the following CMHTs, across North and South Derbyshire and Derby City. The CMHT you would access is dependent on where your GP surgery is. The locations listed below are the main location of where the CMHT is based, but you may be offered a different location to this for appointments.
North Derbyshire
- Chesterfield, Bayheath House
- Killamarsh, Killamarsh Clinic
- Bolsover and Claycross, The Old Vicarage
- High Peak, including Buxton, Corbar View
- North Dales, including Matlock, Ritz Building
South Derbyshire and Derby City
- Derby City teams, St Andrew’s House, London Road, Derby
- South Dales, St Oswald's Hospital, Ashbourne
- Amber Valley, Ripley Town Hall, Ripley
- Erewash, Ilkeston Resource Centre, Ilkeston
- South Derbyshire, Dale Bank View, Swadlincote
Full addresses and details for these locations can be found on our Getting to us: our locations page.
How to contact us, make comments, complaints or compliments
If you are currently receiving psychological therapy, you can speak with your psychologist or psychotherapist. If you are unable to do so for any reason, you can contact either of the service leads via our Psychology Admin Team on 01332 268468.
Or you can contact our Patient Experience Team:
- Mail: Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Kingsway Hospital, Derby, DE22 3LZ
- Telephone: 01332 623751 or 0800 027 2128
- Email: dhcft.patientexperience@nhs.net
Additional support
If you feel you need additional support, please view our help in a mental health crisis page.
Information for carers can be found on our Carers and Families Hub, on the Derbyshire County Council website and the Derby City Council website.
