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GPimhs
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If you are concerned about your mental health, you can get access to extra support from your GP. Working with a team of mental health specialists, known as the GP Integrated Mental Health Service team (GPimhs), your GP can give you access to specialist mental health advice and support if you are 18+ with significant mental health concerns.
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What is GPimhs?
We all experience difficulties in life. Sometimes we need more help in understanding and coping with these difficulties, especially when they begin to affect our general wellbeing, level of everyday activity and personal relationships.
GPimhs brings expert advice and guidance for people experiencing a wide, and potentially complex, range of mental health and emotional wellbeing issues into your GP practice, working to understand your needs and connect you with services to provide the support you need in the community.
Patients can explore the situation affecting their wellbeing – whether that is an ongoing mental or physical health issue, loneliness, debt, or other issues. They can then be guided to appropriate resources that may help, including talking therapies, benefits advice, or an introduction to a local community group or community-based wellbeing support such as our Community Connections service.
The mental health advice and support service we provide has been established in partnership with Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Surrey County Council Social and Housing Services, Catalyst, Mary Frances Trust, and Richmond Fellowship.
For more information about how GPimhs work, please watch the GPimhs video below (you’ll be directed to the Surrey Heartlands YouTube channel).
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Who can use the service?
GPimhs is for any adult over 18 registered with a GP in any of the areas in Surrey listed below.
The GP Integrated Mental Health Service is open to people who are experiencing mental health difficulties which impact on their life, whether they:
- are dealing with mental health challenges for the first time,
- have been receiving support from their GP for a while, or
- have completed a period of intensive specialist mental health care and are now in recovery.
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Where can you access GPimhs?
Mary Frances Trust delivers GPimhs services in the following Primary Care Networks (PCN) and Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) in Surrey:
- Banstead (including the following GP practices: Tattenham Health Centre, Tadworth Medical Centre, Heathcote Medical Practice, Nork Clinic and The Longcroft Clinic)
- Dorking (Medwyn, Leith Hill and Brockwood surgeries)
- Epsom (including the following GP practices: St Stephens House Surgery, Shadbolt Park House, Ashley Centre Practice, Fountain Practice, The Derby Medical Centre, Spring Street Surgery and Stoneleigh Surgery.)
- Ewell (part of the Epsom ICP which includes the following GP practices: Old Cottage Hospital, Fitznells Manor Surgery, Cox Lane Surgery and Stoneleigh Medical Centre)
- Leatherhead (including the following GP practices: Ashlea Health Centre, Cobham Health Centre, Eastwick Park Medical Practice, Fairfield Medical Practice, Molebridge Practice and Oxshot Medical Practice)
- East Elmbridge (including the following GP practices: Glenlyn Medical Centre, Esher Green Surgery, Capelfield Surgery, Vine Medical Centre, Thorkhill Surgery, Littleton Surgery and The Grove)
For more information about where else you can find other GPimhs teams in Surrey, visit the Catalyst Support website, our Community Connections Surrey partner.
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What can YOU expect?
The GP Integrated Mental Health Service is quick and easy to access. You don’t have to have a formal diagnosis of a mental illness to receive support.
What will happen
- When you talk to your GP or Practice Nurse about your mental health concerns, they may suggest a referral to GPimhs, or you can ask them if you can be referred.
- Once referred to the GP Integrated Mental Health Service you will be offered an appointment with a member of the team within 28 days of receipt of your referral.
- A practitioner will work with you to develop a personalised plan to improve your mental
health and wellbeing.
Face-to-face, telephone or online appointments generally last for around 30 minutes and we may offer you more than one session. Each appointment is an opportunity for you to talk about what is happening in your life and how this is making you feel. We can then help you to make sense of that and support you to make a plan to address the things that matter to you.
This plan won’t just cover your mental health and physical health but will include supporting you with things that may be impacting your life and mental health such as finding a job, getting out of debt, managing relationships or ensuring you are linked to the appropriate housing advice services.
You will be linked with different specialists in the service team as part of your personalised, mental health and wellbeing plan. This may include access to:
- specialist mental health interventions
- medication advice, and
- mental health professionals including those with expertise managing emotions and eating disorders.
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How We Help
We can provide support in the following areas, which will be agreed in discussion with you:
- Information and guidance around emotional and physical wellbeing
- More time to help make sense of difficulties
- Practical support to access community resources
- Brief interventions around ways of coping with stress and anxiety
- Access to mental health pharmacist
- Links to other mental health services and providers of therapy
- An ongoing plan that is shared with your GP
The GP Integrated Mental Health Service team can link you with a wide range of organisations and individuals to help you deal with issues impacting on your mental health, including:
- finding a job
- housing issues
- money worries
- concerns about your relationships
- drug and alcohol dependency, and
- overcoming loneliness and isolation.
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Lived Experience Practitioners
GPimhs consists of a team of Community Connectors and Mental Health Practitioners from different NHS and community backgrounds who are experienced in helping people with their mental health and emotional wellbeing.
We are also lucky to have Lived Experience Practitioners who are there to share their wisdom from their personal experience to inspire hope and belief that recovery is possible.
Our Lived Experience Practitioners provide formalised peer support and practical assistance to people using the service in order for them to regain control over their lives and their own unique recovery journey.
In particular, the Lived Experience Practitioners support the smooth transition of people using the service to other Mental Health services, by helping them to complete recovery and crisis plans for example. Within a relationship of mutuality and information sharing, they will promote choice, self-determination and opportunities for people accessing the service. Access to one of our Lived Experience Practitioners will be offered to you if we feel you could benefit from their support.
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How to access the service
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You will be referred to GPimhs by your GP or Practice Nurse if they are part of our participating GP practices (scroll up to see full list). You cannot refer yourself to the service but you can talk to your GP about accessing the service if you feel it would be beneficial.
