Everyone goes through difficult times; sometimes our problems affect our day-to-day lives and we feel that we can’t cope. If you are in this situation, you are not alone. We can help you if you are experiencing common issues such as:

• low mood
• depression
• anxiety
• stress
• panic
• anger
• trauma
• bereavement
• loss
• relationship difficulties
• family problems
• phobias

Talking Helps Newcastle is a free, confidential service available to anyone aged 16+ who is registered with a GP surgery in Newcastle.

The service offers a range of talking therapies, advice, information and support. Talking therapies can help you to understand and work through your difficult feelings and develop strategies for coping better. The best therapy will depend on your particular situation.

During your assessment

This will usually be a telephone appointment with a clinician and will take around 30 minutes. You will be asked to complete a short questionnaire. This questionnaire can be done before the assessment if you provide us with an email address when you book the appointment. The email will arrive the day before your assessment.

The other part of the assessment will involve the clinician asking you a series of questions so we can understand your reasons for getting in touch with us and the support you are looking for. The clinician will also ask you about the changes you are hoping to make. You and the clinician will come to an agreed understanding of what might be the most appropriate treatment.

After the assessment
There are several different outcomes following your assessment:

• If we are the most suitable service for you, we will talk about the specific treatments that may be helpful for you.
• If we are not the right service for you, we will aim to help you find a more appropriate service or organisation that will help you.
• If your difficulties are complicated, we may need more time to think about how best to help you, or we may need to arrange a further assessment. We will talk more about this with you if this is the case.
• Sometimes, changes in mood are natural and are likely to return to normal over time. It can be possible that therapy may interfere with these normal changes. If this is the case then we will help you think about developing your own coping strategies or taking more time before considering if a psychological intervention would be a helpful option.

If we agree with you that we will offer you treatment, we will send you a brief letter, summarising this plan. We will not write a detailed assessment report or offer a diagnosis. We will also send a copy of this letter to your GP.