Online adult counselling

Qwell removes the stigma that many people associate with mental health because it offers free and confidential access to a range of counselling and support services that operate online. Many people find it much easier to talk online than face-to-face or even via the telephone. Qwell is a service provided via the GP and clients will enter the system online using an access code given to GPs and PCTs. Clients will complete an assessment, with the support of an assessment worker. The aim is to gather information such as presenting issues and symptoms, GP's details, the client's name and address, risk and past risk, onset of problems, and impact. Qwell will offer guided self help material, counselling on a one-to-one basis, support and guidance on topics. Publicity and marketing materials are produced by us and distributed to surgeries and clinics.

Qwell is available to any adult over 18 who is suffering from mental health or emotional health problems. It is suitable for adults who present with mixed anxiety and depression, OCD, panic disorder, agoraphobia and low self esteem. Mixed anxiety & depression is the most common mental disorder in Britain, with almost 9% of people meeting criteria for diagnosis. Between 8-12% of the population experience depression in any year (The Office for National Statistics Psychiatric Morbidity report (2001). Qwell is a clinically appropriate service for adults who are dealing with longer term issues - about half of people with common mental health problems are no longer affected after 18 months. However, the less well off, the long-term sick and unemployed people are more likely to be still affected than the general population (Better Or Worse: A Longitudinal Study Of The Mental Health Of Adults In Great Britain, National Statistics (2003). Qwell is also a service of choice for adults facing their first onset of emotional and mental health issues and our interventions are targeted to provide the correct solutions.

Our teams are specially trained to work online, are professionally qualified and clinically supervised to deliver evidence-based interventions. All counsellors are line-managed and have regular meetings, training and assessments. Our teams use a range of different modalities from CBT, Relational psychotherapy, Interpersonal psychotherapy, person-centred counselling, solution focused and DBT. We have therapists who are also trained in psychiatric nursing and others who come from a social work background or family therapy background. We prioritise training and professional development of our staff. We collect outcome measures using a range of clinically accepted tools and patient satisfaction feedback is regularly conducted. Our in house IT team create robust reports on site activity, booked chats and outcomes - in this way, the service commissioners are buying can be constantly measured and evaluated for its effectiveness.