Company background
Outlook South West LLP (OSW) was initially formed in 1998 by a team of Clinical Psychologists with previous experience of working within a range of NHS settings. After a recent contract award we are now the provider of primary care mental health provider throughout Cornwall currently providing services in each and every of the 70 GP practices in the county and employing over 90 psychological therapists.
In the 10 years to date OSW have:
Developed innovative primary care services for people with common mental health problems in Cornwall
Provided education and support for therapists, GPs and other health workers in the primary care domain
Offered services to local businesses for workplace stress counselling and training
Responded to requests for senior management performance coaching by local industries
Arranged locally based accessible training events by nationally acclaimed specialists in cognitive behaviour therapy and other psychological approaches
Sourced and integrated the skills and expertise of other local practitioners to complete the inclusive meeting of needs presented to the partnership
Developed a comprehensive package of experts who can provide medico-legal assessments and therapies for local solicitors
These successes have resulted in OSW being awarded the contract to provide a “Stepped Care” model of primary care mental health throughout Cornwall as part of the Government’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) initiative.
What is IAPT?
The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme is an initiative backed by new national government funding to try and ensure that people with common mental health problems benefit from having access to talking therapies both from within their GP practice and beyond. The IAPT programme is built on the provision of evidence-based psychological therapies, provided by the NHS close to people’s homes. The ability to demonstrate that these therapies have a positive impact on people’s health and wellbeing and social inclusion has been paramount to the programme’s success. Many people are able to benefit from being able to access helpful, effective talking and self-help therapy before their problems become too overwhelming. Demand for services is high, as over six million adults suffer from depression and/or anxiety disorders in England, yet currently only about a quarter receive treatment of any kind. The service is divided into Low intensity and High intensity interventions and these approaches are briefly highlighted below – For further information on the IAPT initiative go to http://www.iapt.nhs.uk/
Low intensity mental health workers
• Work with all types of common mental health problems
• Working one to one, in groups or over the phone where appropriate
• LI staff also help individuals with self-help and computerised treatment methods
High intensity therapists
• Work with common and more complex mental health problems
• Work over a number of sessions with individuals or groups
• Supervise the work of other therapists