Guide to setting up and delivering guided self help CBT

There is considerable interest both at government and practitoner level about the ways in which mental health services need to adapt and modernise if they are meet the needs of the UK population. Partnership working between sectors and increasing access to psychological therapy is widely hailed as the way forward for dealing with depression and anxiety disorders.

The CBT approach is to seek to change behaviour by focusing on beliefs and attitudes as a way of dealing with emotional problems. Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) - promises a new workforce of 3,600 therapists delivering both high- and low-intensity interventions with a budget rising to £170m a year by 2010-11. There is general acclaim for the scheme, which is being funded by the Treasury on the basis that it will keep people in employment and off costly incapacity and other welfare benefits however questions have emerged about aspects of service delivery.

This guide to setting up and delivering guided self help CBT is the product of an inter-disciplinary working group, comprising of staff from Mind in Bexley, Bexley Care Trust and Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust. The step-by-step guide to setting up and delivering guided self-help CBT is intended to share our experience of researching the delivery of guided self help CBT to residents in the London Borough of Bexley suffering from mild to moderate depression as it has been developed both in the third sector and other settings.  The guide also draws heavily on setting up and providing guided self help CBT to residents of North Bexley and Clocktower as part of the Bexley Counselling service.
We hope that the lessons learned in a local context and pulling together all these elements in one guide will assist those working across sectors in mental health and care provision and those providing guided self help CBT in their day to day work.  

David Palmer, Director Mind in Bexley

Copies of the guide are available on request from Mind in Bexley for a fee of £10. (e) gholmes@mindinbexley.org.uk

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