Diabetes and Mental Health

Herefordshire and Worcestershire NHS Talking Therapies provide a range of free, confidential support to people aged 16 and over who have a GP across Herefordshire and Worcestershire. This includes groups and psychoeducational courses, online therapy, 1:1 support.

NHS Talking Therapies offers psychoeducational courses specifically aimed at people living with diabetes Type 1, Type 2, pre-diabetes and diabetes recently in remission who are feeling low in mood, depressed or stressed and anxious. This is a virtual course that is structured and based on the principles of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. It is educational in nature, with opportunities for discussion. All the courses are run remotely by Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners, who are fully trained in delivering guided self-help treatment based on CBT techniques and work closely with the Worcestershire Diabetes Team.

Computerised Cognitive Behavioural Therapy called SilverCloud is another treatment intervention suitable for people experiencing Depression, Anxiety, Stress, OCD, Panic, Social anxiety, mixed and comorbid presentations including diabetes, COPD, pain and heart disease.  SilverCloud can be used flexibly as it is accessible online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and does not have rigid appointment times, which may be more ideal for people who have work or childcare commitments. Patients can either decide to have online review sessions with a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner (guided) or access it on their own (unguided).

NHS Talking Therapies also offer Cognitive Behaviour Therapy appointments by telephone, video call and face to face for low intensity CBT (up to 6 sessions with a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner) and high intensity CBT (up to 12 sessions with a High Intensity Cognitive Behavioural Therapist). Other Talking Therapy options may be helpful such as counselling and therapy groups.

You can refer yourself to any of these options via the NHS Talking Therapies website: https://www.talkingtherapies.hwhct.nhs.uk/selfreferral or you can call to refer on 0300 013 5727. Alternatively, you can ask your GP or Diabetes nurse/dietitian to refer you to Talking Therapies instead. Once you have referred to NHS Talking Therapies service, you will then be booked in for an assessment with a practitioner to discuss your current difficulties.

IMPORTANT: When making your self-referral, please state that it is for the Long-Term Conditions team.