If you have been referred for treatment as part of a legal case or insurance settlement you will probably have already met with a Clinician for the purpose of assessment. The assessment report will have made a recommendation for Psychological Therapy to help you with the difficulties you have been experiencing. There may also have been recommendations for other types of treatment too but Mind Professionals won’t be involved in these aspects of your treatment. Once your assessment report has been received by Mind Professionals we allocate your treatment case to one of our highly experienced and professional Clinicians. All of our Clinicians have completed a thorough screening to ensure that they have the necessary qualifications, work in accordance with professional guidelines and data protection (GDPR) requirements, and are appropriately supervised.

If you have not had an assessment of your Psychological needs at the point you are referred to us we will gather some information about your difficulties in our initial contact with you or the person referring you. This information allows us to triage your referral and allocate you to the most appropriate Clinician who will meet with you for an assessment.

We endeavour to offer you a Clinician that can meet with you near where you live and at a time that is convenient to you. We try to offer you a Clinician that meets any other specific requirements that you may have. Please let us know if you are unhappy with these arrangements.

What is the first step? 

Your allocated Clinician will make contact with you to introduce themselves and arrange a convenient day and time for an initial appointment. The details of this appointment will be sent to you in a confirmation letter along with contact details for your Clinician.

Once an appointment has been arranged, you will be asked to complete some pre-treatment forms and questionnaires. We will ask you to complete these again once your treatment is underway and once again at the end of your treatment. Where possible we will invite you to complete these electronically. Your answers to these questionnaires will help your Clinician to understand your particular difficulties and also help to track whether treatment is working for you. Your Clinician will have been provided a copy of any assessment reports relating to your case prior to their contact with you. 

Your work with your allocated Clinician will begin with an assessment meeting usually lasting approximately 60 minutes. Your assessment appointment may be longer or take place over more than one meeting if you have not already had a comprehensive Psychological assessment. Although you may already have had an assessment, it is important that your allocated Clinician carries out their own assessment at your first meeting together. This is to establish whether your difficulties remain the same as when you were originally assessed and to help ensure that your treatment with Mind Professionals is undertaken in accordance with our own processes which are designed to offer you a high quality service. At your assessment appointment your Clinician will be interested in asking you about the difficulties you have been experiencing, how they have been affecting you and what changes you hope to make during treatment. Your Clinician will use this information to develop a treatment plan with you. 

In most cases, the funding agreement for your treatment will come with a stipulation about how many sessions your Clinician can offer you. This will be taken into consideration when establishing the goals and plan for your treatment. We will inform you of your specific treatment funding agreement and any matters you need to be aware of in relation to this. For example, the implications for missed treatment sessions.

What happens if I am not able to attend my assessment or treatment appointment? 

In order to get the most of out your treatment it is important that you attend your appointments regularly. However, if an occasion arises where you are not able to make an appointment please contact your Clinician as soon as possible. If you are not able to cancel your appointment with more than 24 hours’ notice this session may not be replaced and as a result you will not receive your full treatment course

What happens in Psychological treatment? 

If, following your assessment, you and your Clinician agree to proceed with Psychological treatment your sessions are likely to take place on a weekly basis for approximately 50 minutes. Your allocated Clinician will confirm this with you and your treatment appointments should begin quickly after your assessment appointment. The aim of Psychological treatment is to empower you with the appropriate knowledge; psychological tools and strategies that will enable you manage your difficulties in effective ways and improve your wellbeing. The content and structure of your treatment sessions will dependent on the therapeutic approach deemed most appropriate for your treating your difficulties (e.g. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, CBT; Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing, EMDR; Mindfulness etc.). Your first few treatment sessions will focus on developing a deeper understanding of your difficulties and using the appropriate psychological treatment methods to help you work through your difficulties effectively in order progress towards achieving your goals for your treatment. This could include developing strategies to deal with troublesome emotions and/or thoughts, working on difficult memories, or developing ideas about how you could trial new ways of behaving or being in relationships with others. Psychological treatment sometimes involves more active processes such as making records or notes in between meetings to collect information about yourself, or learning new strategies within treatment sessions and trialling these between sessions. Your Clinician will work collaboratively with you throughtout treatment to review the treatment plan and ensure you are happy with the pace and style of treatment.

What happens at the end of Psychological treatment?

You and your Clinician will agree the end date of therapy together. As your treatment draws to a close your Clinician will spend time reflecting with you on your treatment journey, assessing your progress on your treatment goals, and developing a plan with you for consolidating and progressing your changes as well as how to manage any setbacks that may arise in the future. If you have any difficulties that have not been improved by Psychological treatment your Clinician may suggest other services that may help you move forward with these. At the end of therapy your Clinician will ask you to complete the set of questionnaires that you completed before and during your treatment. Your scores on these questionnaires will be used in conjunction with the views of you and your Clinician to report back on your progress. In rare cases your treatment may not proceed as planned. For example, your Clinician would not continue to offer you treatment if it was not effective, if you were having lots of difficulty attending your appointments or using the treatment, or if your difficulties changed and your Clinician felt they needed to refer you on to a different professional. In such cases, your Clinician would talk with you about the need to draw your treatment to an early close. 

How confidential is the information I share with my Clinician?

Both your Clinician and the staff team at Mind Professionals work in accordance with data protection guidelines (GDPR). In most cases your Clinician will not need to share details discussed in your appointments with anyone other than their Clinical Supervisor and your Mind Professionals Case Manager/Clinical Lead. However, all information we gather (including notes taken by your Clinician at each appointment) will need to be passed to those involved in your legal case or insurance settlement, including the opposing party. The only other exception to the confidentiality of your information is, if your Clinician became concerned about your health or safety during your treatment, they may be required to share information about you with other professionals such as your GP. Wherever possible your Clinician would discuss this with you.

The Role of the Case Manager.

In order to ensure that you receive a high quality treatment, once we receive instruction to provide you with Psychological treatment your case will also be allocated to a Case Manager who will oversee the work between you and your allocated Clinician. The Case Manager will discuss your treatment approximately once a month with your Clinician. The frequency of these discussions can be increased if there are concerns about you or your treatment (e.g. if there were concerns about your health or safety being at risk). Discussions between your Clinician and Case Manager adhere to data protection law and to Clinician’s professional codes of conduct which include guidance on confidentiality of information about you. 

What happens if I am unhappy about my treatment?

We strive to provide a high quality service and hope that you are happy with your treatment. In the event that you do not feel happy or want to express concerns we encourage you to do this at an early stage because this stands the best chance of us being able to resolve the issue quickly and satisfactorily. You can raise concerns or complaints directly with your Clinician, your Case Manager or the Clinical Lead at Mind Professionals – we have a Complaints Policy which can be made available to you upon request. All our Clinicians are responsible and professionally accountable to their respective Governing Regulatory Bodies, for all aspects of the treatment that they deliver. If the nature of your complaint relates to the conduct or treatment delivered by one of our Clinicians, then you should contact their Governing Professional Regulatory Body directly, as they will need to follow their own Complaints Procedure. We would offer you guidance on how to do this if you wanted.

What happens at the end of my contact with Mind Professionals?

We are keen to ensure we are continually improving the service offered by Mind Professionals so at the end of your treatment we will ask you to complete a form giving us your feedback regarding your treatment, your clinician and your experience of our service. Please be assured that we regularly review feedback information and use this to support improvement of our service.