Luton mental health service gets accreditation from national psychiatrists body

A free mental health service in Luton has been given accreditation from the national professional body for psychiatrists.

Total Wellbeing Luton is run by health and social care provider Turning Point and helps those in the town through workshops, digital support and both one-to-one and group sessions. It is one of a small number across the country to have achieved accreditation from the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

The free service supports people struggling with issues like anxiety, stress, obsessive compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, sleep problems, panic attacks, and body dysmorphia.

It helped Halima through trauma-based cognitive behavioural therapy after she was left “crippled with anxiety” after having three road traffic accidents in the space of three months.

She said: “I had daily thoughts of a foreshortened future and flashbacks. I struggled to find enjoyment in my life and couldn’t relax.

“The flashbacks and my thoughts made me feel as though the accidents, that happened one-and-a-half years ago, were happening in real time every day. I would feel physically hot, sweaty, palpitating, clenched jaws and shoulder pains.

Thanks to the ten sessions, Halima can think about her memories, without reliving them in real time.

Halima added: “Sonia, my therapist, helped me to process my thoughts clearly, whereby I no longer believe my life will be foreshortened and I no longer believe I’m unsafe in the car.

“I am now approximately three weeks post Total Wellbeing Luton therapy and am pleased to say I am no longer crippled with anxiety. I’m now driving confidently again, I have even started to slowly build up my confidence with dual carriage ways.”

To get the accreditation, the service submitted an extensive evidence portfolio including a review of patient outcomes, surveys and a review by external professionals.

Deana Kirkby, Turning Point national operations manager for Talking Therapies, said: “This recognition validates our ongoing commitment to deliver exceptional quality psychological therapies to our clients.”

Felicity Cox, Chief Executive of Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board, said: “This is an outstanding achievement for our Total Wellbeing Service and a testament to the great work that the team do every day for Luton people.

“It shows that Total Wellbeing Luton provides a caring, effective, well-led service that responds to people’s needs.”