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Mental Health Awareness Week with Insight Healthcare

21st May, 2020 Read time: Two minutes

Futures has been working with Insight Healthcare in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire since January 2018 to provide an additional helping hand to those people referred by the NHS for support with their mental health.

Together we provide free NHS talking therapy services and a range of employee wellbeing programmes across the UK.

We wanted to mark Mental Health Awareness Week by exploring different ways Insight has supported people to tackle their mental health. We spoke to 3 advisers who have been working with people during Covid-19 to get them to a place where they feel confident and happy in the work place.

I’ve been working with a person who’s contract ended at a call centre. He found a new role at the beginning of March but then was told he was no longer needed. The company were needing to furlough people and because he started before the cut off he wasn’t able to be furloughed, and was let go.

As soon as I heard the Government had extended the scheme to include people who started new roles mid-March, I contacted him to explain the change. After a quick chat with the business he’s now on furlough, with 80% of his salary which has been back dated to the day he was originally let go.

He’s obviously thrilled and has hopes to be starting back with the business as soon as its safe to do so. I’m still providing support and was so happy to be able to help out.

I’ve also been working with someone who’s struggling with anxiety and PTSD, they've been keen to work in retail. They’ve been particularly worried over interview processes. Having visited a supermarket recently they saw theyere looking to recruit temporary sales assistant jobs. Because the pace of recruitment during the pandemic have sped up for supermarkets they’ve not had time to get wound up about the process and experience the anxiety they might have ordinarily. Needless to say, they’re now employed, absolutely loving the job and is experiencing new sense of confidence!Nat, Employment Adviser at Insight
“Sometimes our support isn’t about helping people back into work, but supporting them to make some difficult decisions. I’ve been working with someone who was on long term sick due to stress and anxiety and we’ve talked about ways they could prepare to return to their workplace. They started with thinking about what sort of changes they felt they’d need to take place at work, with a view of sharing these with their manager. We talked about how writing down your feelings about something can be really helpful, getting them out of their mind and onto paper.

Through this process theyrealised that the number of issues they faced and how long these had gone on for, that returning wasn’t the best thing to do and they made the decision to hand their notice in. They now feel a huge weight has been lifted and felt immediately more at ease. The client was also then discharged from therapy early as they didn’t feel the need for any more therapy sessions. As an older client, they have taken the decision to retire early instead of jumping into a new role.

We’ve arranged for me to get in touch in a month to check in and see if anything's changed. Ifthey’re keen to get back into work, I’ll be there to support this.” Sam, Employment Adviser at Insight Healthcare

 

Want to know more?

Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) is an NHS service established in 2008, and together we support people with mental health needs who are accessing talking therapies.

Futures' job is work with those who are experiencing employment-related difficulties. Our team of dedicated careers advisers work directly with Insight Healthcare, to allow them to provide as much support as they can at such a difficult time in their lives. From those signed off sick, unhappy in their current role, those who are unemployed or people who may be struggling with workplace bullying. If you'd like to find out more about Insight or access help, just click here.

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