'We do more than put out fires'
Chartered psychologist and NHS Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing hub lead Joanne Jordan explains how the NHS Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing hubs respond to emergencies and model meaningful prevention.
02 June 2023
Being responsive to health and social care staff's immediate mental health needs is fundamental to the service provided by the NHS Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing Hubs across England. But the meaningful prevention and outreach work the hubs also deliver is vital. Chartered psychologist and hub lead Joanne Jordan explains more.
The Fire Service is the ultimate insurance policy. Thankfully most of us don't need to engage with it on a regular basis, if at all. But we're reassured that on the other end of a 999 call, there is a group of trained professionals who can deal with emergencies. We know they will be there for us quickly in our hour of need, when we're at our most vulnerable.
I see the NHS Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing Hubs as being similar. As health and care staff, we may not need to access help, but if and when we do, we understand the hub's offer: proactive, confidential, accessible, and timely access to mental health support, by trained professionals, when we most need it.
When a fire has started, quick, external, and responsive access to help is fundamental, and sometimes life-saving. Similarly, if you have admitted to yourself that you're struggling emotionally - your fire is burning - it needs immediate attention and you need support to extinguish the flames. You know you can reach out t to your local hub to get the help you urgently need.
Moreover, the fire service will also likely leave your emergency having shared important advice and support about how to prevent the fire from happening again. Likewise, psychological support, when you need it, allows a development and understanding of what happened, how and why the incident occurred, and how you can realistically buffer against it in the future.
When a fire has started, quick, external, and responsive access to help is fundamental, and sometimes life-saving. Similarly, if you have admitted to yourself that you're struggling emotionally - your fire is burning - it needs immediate attention and you need support to extinguish the flames. You know you can reach out t to your local hub to get the help you urgently need.
Outreach and prevention
The Fire Service also engages in proactive outreach, supporting and promoting fire safety in the community. Fire prevention is at the forefront. Have you a fire extinguisher? Are smoke alarms fitted? Does everyone know the fire drill? Who is in charge in an emergency?
In a similar vein, the hubs model meaningful prevention. They provide extensive proactive psychological outreach, promoting positive mental health messages, embedding pathways to support, and engaging with the community and stakeholders to explore psychological safety.
By proactively outreaching and providing teaching and training, reflective practice and creating supportive supervision networks, to embedding psychologically informed standard operating procedures, such as trauma informed care and compassionate leadership, organisations commit to positive cultural change.
Ultimately, allowing individuals to feel supported and valued helps them thrive in their working environments, and positively and systematically mitigates as much as possible against inevitable negative events.
However, we know some fires are out of our control, and we always need access to a service which immediately supports our needs.
Dedicated local services
While we know there are many psychological support mechanisms out there for health and social care staff, none are uniquely tailored to such an extensive and important group of individuals as the hubs.
Health and care staff support our national infrastructure, without them the wheels simply do not turn. Across the diverse spectrum of their roles, they all need equal access to appropriate support.
Interestingly many current support mechanisms offer services to doctors or professionals above certain pay bands. However, we certainly wouldn't want to be told the fire service wouldn't come out to our burning mid-terrace, as the stately home down the road was on fire and more deserved.
Crucially, many existing psychological services, through no fault of their own, do not have the capacity to offer support in a timely manner. They are managing the general population and/or their supply of fire extinguishers is dangerously low.
The dedicated support offered by the hubs means we can be there for staff when other services cannot, helping staff remain in their jobs, or return to work, at a time when staff recruitment and retention is in crisis.
Existing staff support mechanisms, while of significant value, are not sufficient to support the extensive mental health experience of health and care staff. Covid-19 (the ultimate forest fire) whilst put out, has left devastation. Organisations and staff are burnt, needing recovery, far beyond the trajectory of the virus itself. It is naive to think otherwise.
The need for the hubs extends beyond the pandemic, and the hubs have evolved to support staff with a wide range of mental health challenges, giving them the quick and confidential support they need that they simply wouldn't receive through other services.
Interestingly many current support mechanisms offer services to doctors or professionals above certain pay bands. However, we certainly wouldn't want to be told the fire service wouldn't come out to our burning mid-terrace, as the stately home down the road was on fire and more deserved.
Support the #FundNHSHubs campaign
I urge my colleagues and fellow BPS members to support our campaign to protect the NHS Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing Hubs by writing to your MP.
Together we can make a difference.