Ethos

Our service is designed to ensure we are offering timely and effective psychological support that is specialised by design for those accessing the Occupational Health and Wellbeing Service.

To help you to decide whether our service will benefit you and your needs, we have provided the following criteria which is here to help to ensure you reach the right intervention for you at the right time by the right clinician.

In considering your referral, we will ensure:

• We deem our model of care (working towards a met goal of up to 8 sessions for CBT or EMDR, or 6 sessions counselling) would be safe and effective to intervene
• There is a SMART therapy goal orientated and focussed intervention in mind
• A client has not accessed PTS service within last 6 months for the same issue or problem, so we reach as many Mersey Care colleagues as possible
• A client has identified a targeted one issue or area for focussed intervention
• The intervention required is time-limited and would be appropriate (achievable within timeframe) to meet the client’s needs
• The intervention will involve some form of early intervention, prevention, solution-focused, for a targeted or focussed need - that has an impact on their workplace performance or functioning
• A client is mentally, socially and physically motivated to be able to engage in a psychological intervention
• A client has identified any workplace / occupational / personal barriers and is able to remove or adjust them to be able to engage in weekly sessions at the same time
• There is no current psychological therapy taking place or a client is not under a mental health service or similar elsewhere
• There is no crisis or urgent care need identified
• A client understands their agreement to work in a collaborative and structured way with their therapist
• A client’s clinical priority of need and goal is psychologically driven
• A client’s level and type of need is appropriate for model of care and service remit
• A client is open to a remote mode of therapy if needed

Please note this list is not exhaustive and is open to clinician discretion at all times.

Case management

If a client is accepted into our in-house team and we offer a discrete number of sessions but unfortunately upon completing those the outcomes are not in line with expectations, their pathway will be an onwards external referral or signposting elsewhere.

Case management and supervision will be continuously utilised as part of providing safe and effective in-house interventions. If there is indication that an intervention is not having the desired clinical outcomes during this process, the case will be taken back to our weekly meeting for a PTS multi-disciplinary team (MDT) decision on a client’s pathway. For example, if a client has received up to 4 sessions of EMDR but during monitoring it shows the clinical outcomes are not as expected, the case will be taken back to our PTS MDT meeting for a decision on a client’s pathway. NB changing the intervention or discharging and onwards referral or signposting will be on case-by-case basis.

We are unable to provide continuous, ongoing or longer-term support via Occupational Health and Welbeing’s Service provision as our objective is to improve as many Mersey Care lives as possible. We strive to refer to the right intervention at the right time with the right clinician at all times.

Our PTS team includes:

• In-house NHS qualified therapists and professionals
• Mental health practitioners such as Clinical Psychologist, Senior Psychotherapists, Cognitive Behavioural Therapists (CBT) & Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners (PWP)
• Clinicians experienced in supporting a wide range of people in the workplace
• Regulated, screened and supervised qualified professionals and relevant professional bodies
• We have access to an external Counselling and online self-guided CBT provider called Health Hero.

To access the service, you should be:

• A person currently employed by Mersey Care
• Not having accessed our Psychological Therapies Team within the last 6 months for the same problem or issue
• Aged 18 years or over
• Feeling that your biggest current need is to be proactive and seek psychological intervention to manage your wellbeing at work, including mental wellbeing due to the impact it is having on you within the workplace
• Mentally, physically and socially able to engage in the process
• Feeling that your usual daily functioning is being affected by your mental wellbeing and your performance at work or for work is being impacted
• Expressing or describing some form of symptoms or issues that are impacting your mental wellbeing such as worry, low mood, or stress
• Struggling to cope or being impacted in some way as to finding things in life are becoming increasingly problematic or challenging

You should not be accessing our service if you are:

• Receiving therapy, or similar help or support elsewhere for mental health needs
• Serving a notice of employment at Mersey Care (unless therapy is able to be completed before leaving)
• Currently in hospital as an inpatient or accessing outpatient mental health services
• Unable to commit to and engage in regular weekly appointments at a scheduled set time
• Under 18 years of age
• Unable to meet our criteria
• In crisis which includes having active suicidal thoughts. If you are in crisis, we will not be able to get help to you immediately using this service. Instead, please Help in a crisis

If you are unsure if this service is appropriate for you or would like to talk to someone about the service, please contact our OHWB Team on 01925 664010.

How do I refer?

There are two ways to access our PTS Team.

From 18 August 2025 you can complete a PTS online triage referral form using OPAS at your convenience, and it will be sent securely and directly to our PTS Team who will review it at our weekly multi-disciplinary in-house meeting. Please note that the online form will need to be completed and submitted in one go otherwise you will need to restart the process. 

Alternatively, you are able to book a telephone triage by emailing our Admin Team at OHWB@merseycare.nhs.uk or calling 01925 664 010.

What happens when I have referred myself?

Once you refer via the online form into the service from 18 August 2025, the PTS Team will receive the referral, and it will be reviewed at our weekly PTS Team meeting. You will then be either sent an email with an outcome, sent booked appointments for our in-house team, or we will give you a call to discuss it.

If you prefer to access a telephone triage by emailing our Admin Team at OHWB@merseycare.nhs.uk or calling 01925 664 010, you will receive an invite to a triage appointment with the PTS Team via email. This email will contain questionnaires, a client contract and a goal setting document for you to complete and discuss at your triage appointment.

One of our PTS Team will complete your triage and during this conversation will give a provisional recommendation or onwards signposting. If you are given a provisional recommendation for intervention, this will be taken to a weekly Psychological Therapies Team meeting and a decision will be made as to whether we can help you as discussed, or with an alternative intervention, or need to signpost onwards. If we can support you in our service, you will receive a set of booked appointments which where possible will take into account your availability.

What is the PTS telephone triage process?

You will be sent some brief questionnaires, a client contract and a goal setting document to complete before the triage takes place which will help the practitioner to assess your needs. These will be discussed at your triage so please send them back via the instructions sent in your email as soon as possible before your appointment. Before your appointment, you will receive a text reminder so you can ensure you attend for your triage, and on time.

Our PTS team will conduct a triage to better understand what support may be beneficial for you. This will involve someone contacting you to complete the triage during a call. The triage will take up to 45 minutes to complete. Please ensure you are in a private space and not driving when you speak to the practitioner to allow the call to proceed. If you have any questions about this triage, you can contact our OHWB Service on 01925 664010 who will speak to the PTS Team or feel free to mention these questions at your triage.

What happens after my PTS telephone triage?

Once the practitioner has obtained all the relevant information to proceed with a provisional recommendation, they will discuss your referral at our PTS weekly meeting.

This could mean one of the following: up to 8 sessions of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) or Trauma-Informed CBT, up to 8 sessions of Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing, up to 6 sessions of CBT informed intervention, online CBT and signposting or an onwards referral to Counselling via Health Hero, our Wellbeing Team, your NHS GP, an NHS Talking Therapies Service or other external services as required.

If it is an in-house recommendation and you are accepted by our service, you would receive the sessions of booked appointments via email. All this will be explained at your triage appointment, so you have the opportunity to ask any questions.

What is the PTS attendance and discharge policy?

Please note any appointment not attended or ‘non-attendance’ where the OHWB Administration Team (01925 664 010 or OHWB@merseycare.nhs.uk) have not been advised within 2 working days or more, will count as a session. This includes both not attending as described below and not attending an appointment by a late cancellation. ‘Late cancellations’ are those within 2 working days' notice of a scheduled appointment.

Due to the impact on an intervention outcome, two consecutive or non-consecutive cancellations/non-attended appointments during an intervention will result in closing a referral with our team and discharge.

If there is non-attendance at an intervention appointment, this will be taken off the total number of allocated sessions.

If a client is more than ten minutes late for an appointment, the appointment may not go ahead and may also be classed as not attended.

If a client has to cancel up to two or more sessions for a specific reason, such as a planned medical procedure or holiday, we will ask the client to postpone and re-refer to our team when they are eligible and able to engage in the sessions on a regular basis.

Please be aware it is important that a client has a confidential and safe space for remote appointments where they can engage fully in the conversation. In any instance where this is not possible, for example, if a client is driving or is unable to engage fully due to the routine care of children, unfortunately the appointment will be terminated or cancelled. This appointment will be classed as a non-attended session.

If a client does not attend their telephone triage or initial intervention appointment, their case will be closed, and they will be discharged from our team.

In any of these eventualities when an appointment is not attended, a client will receive written notification via email which outlines our attendance and discharge policy, so they are kept informed.   

A revised clinical staffing infrastructure is in place with a Professional Lead who is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist. As part of a service refresh to be able to offer early intervention and respond to waiting list pressures, we have transformed our approach to look at how we can support Mersey Care colleagues more effectively and efficiently.

We are always seeking to continuously improve. The Mersey Care values, and strategic objectives are at the front and centre of our service decision making and strategic planning.

That being said, a key focus for our team is to reach as many Mersey Care colleagues as possible in a safe, effective and efficient way to support our People Plan objectives. For us, this means we strive to offer the most efficient access to our team so you can get back to what you do best, and to feel at your best, whatever that may be.

Evidence suggests improved outcomes can be driven by areas of practice changes which can be adjusted to optimise care. The number of sessions and length of treatment can be offset against timely intervention within our PTS Team. In an empirically driven way, timely help, with frequent and targeted sessions over a condensed period of time is what we commit to delivering in a consistent way.

Highly engaged clients who are striving to function at their optimal best both at home and in work are those we are keen to support. By offering timely and time-limited clinical interventions, we are there to support our colleagues to be well, get well or stay well in an occupational health sense. Goal orientated, targeted and focused interventions will benefit and allow colleagues to function at their best or help them to return to work and continue optimally in their lives. We endeavour to work collaboratively with you to meet your needs and bring effective improvements to your working lives.

For those clients who have other needs, preferences or circumstances, there are services designed for this within the NHS which are free and readily available to access.

Your Occupational Health & Wellbeing (OHWB) Service has partnered with HealthHero to provide you with access to:

•  ‘In-the-moment’ advice to staff outside of the usual OHWB opening hours. This includes signposting to urgent care where needed but excludes direct therapeutic interventions. HealthHero Assist 24/7 support line: 0141 271 7595

•  Counselling appointments via phone, video, live chat, messaging (please self-refer by contacting the OHWB department on: 01925 664010 or OHWB@merseycare.nhs.uk.

•  Free and unlimited access to award-winning online Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) knows as “Living Life To The Full”. NOTE: “Living Life To The Full” is located via the landing page when you log into the HealthHero Wellbeing hub, not the drop-down menu to the left of the screen.

Much more information is available relating to mental health and health and wellbeing on the HealthHero YourSpace page.

Maximus deliver the Access to Work Mental Health Support Service, funded by the Department for Work and Pensions. They have already helped more than 39,000 people with anxiety, depression and stress. They provide confidential, personalised support to help people with mental health symptoms to stay in or return to work. This service is easy to access, confidential – and comes at no cost. 

Support includes:

A personalised wellbeing support plan

Ideas for workplace adjustments

Nine months of practical advice and guidance.

Please note there is eligibility criteria for this service and common reasons for declined referral are:

1. Unable to contact after three attempts
2. Employee is expecting a counselling service
3. Individual does not wish to be supported for a period of nine months
4. Employee does not have a mental health condition
5. Employee has a mental health condition but is not affecting performance at work.

Nafsiyat offer confidential, one to one intercultural therapy session for colleagues from minority ethnic communities. This can be offered in a range of languages. You can self refer to Nafsiyat or your manager or colleague can complete the form.

How to access

Staff who would like to access these sessions will need to complete the self referral form. Completed forms should be sent direct to referrals@nafsiyat.org.uk.

You do not need to copy anyone into the email, but you may need to speak to your line manager to support your time out of team duties.

If needed, a friend, team leader, or colleague can submit the referral for you, however, you must give consent for them to do this. 

All referrals will be triaged within one week and you will receive your first appointment within four weeks.  All communication will be sent to you directly from Nafsiyat. 

Let’s talk about race and racism: a culturally safe reflective space

You can access a range of self-help guides at any time- Mersey Care Self Help Guides.