Therapy teams find brief interventions make a difference
Psychological therapy teams at CPFT have shared promising results of new approaches to help people manage anxiety and distress.
The Cambridge Adult Locality Teams (CALTs) recently published two papers from projects evaluating the Brief Psychological Interventions (BPIs) they have developed for adult mental health services. These approaches provide key elements of psychological therapies over fewer sessions, which can be delivered by staff with less specialised training to provide effective short-term mental health support.
The team found that cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) based BPIs for anxiety and depression are helpful for people with mild to moderate mental health problems. They also reviewed an intervention to treat distress and saw significant improvements in participants’ distress tolerance, mood, anxiety and wellbeing.
These initial evaluations with small cohorts over a few years highlight the potential of this new way of working, supporting more staff in care teams to deliver psychological therapies.
Maggie Page, service manager for CPFT’s Cambridge Adult Locality Teams (North and South) said: “We are really proud of the teams and commend their dedication to improving mental health therapy services during challenging times. These projects really are a fantastic team effort, with clinical and support staff working together to find evidence for best practice. Delivering brief interventions offers great development and experience for our support workers, while increasing access to timely and effective therapies for more people with common mental health problems in our community.”
CALTs are CPFT’s powerhouse for developing and evaluating brief psychological therapies, building the evidence base for effective interventions and training staff in these innovative approaches.
In 2019, they impressed delegates at the World Congress of Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies (WCBCT) in Berlin, showcasing nine of their projects in the poster exhibition.
CPFT staff worked with researchers at the University of East Anglia on these service evaluation projects. Access the papers online through Cambridge University Press:
- Brief psychological interventions for anxiety and depression in a secondary care adult mental health service: an evaluation
- Brief psychological intervention for distress tolerance in an adult secondary care community mental health service: an evaluation
Photos: 1) Presenting a poster at the 2018 BABCP conference in Glasgow, from left to right - clinical psychologists Dr Kate Roberts, Dr Emma Travers-Hill, Dr Youngsuk Kim, Dr Isobel Wright, Dr Lindsey Ridgeon, assistant psychologists Stephanie Casey and Rachel Elliott, and Support Time and Recovery worker (STR)/assistant psychologist Katherine Parkin.
2) CALT at the 2019 WCBCT in Berlin, from left to right - STR worker Ben Wood, assistant psychologist Rachel Elliott, clinical psychologists Dr Emma Travers-Hill and Dr Youngsuk Kim, STR worker Leanne Mackay, assistant psychologist Katherine Parkin, STR worker Rachel Mccaig, and assistant psychologist Stephanie Casey.
