FAQ's

Our service is completely free of charge. As a part of the NHS, there will never be any cost for our services and support.

We have lots of effective forms of support available to help with stress, anxiety and low mood, ranging from one off online workshops to one-to-one support. We also provide employment support for people whose employment situation causes them stress, anxiety or low mood.

If you need an emergency service dial 999.

If you feel you are in crisis, experiencing feelings of despair or are suicidal, contact the Samaritans on 116 123.

Or for urgent help, call NHS 111. First Response is a 24/7 service for people of all ages in Suffolk requiring mental health care, advice and support.

You can also call your GP.

You can ask your GP or any other health or social care professional to refer you to our service, or you can complete a self-referral via our self-referral form on this website or by calling us directly on 0300 123 1503 . Our phone lines are open 8am-6pm Monday to Friday.

To find out if our treatment and support is right for you, fill out the self-referral form and attend an initial assessment (Wellbeing Advice Session) with one of our trained clinicians, where we can decide if we are the best people to help you. If we are not best placed to help you, we will refer you for support with an alternative organisation better suited to your needs.

Alternatively you may wish to have a taster of our services by registering onto one of our free online workshops. You will find a list of them on this website on here.

At Wellbeing Suffolk we are committed to ensuring everyone can access the mental health care and support they need. We believe that everyone deserves equal access to care and support.

One way we do this is by offering reasonable adjustments to remove any barriers that might exist and make our services inclusive for people with a disability or impairment.

If there's something we can do to help you, a loved one or someone you care for, please speak to us.

We have some guidance about reasonable adjustments and how you can request changes to ensure your experience with Wellbeing Suffolk is as comfortable and supportive as possible on the below link:

Reasonable Adjustments Information

All the information you provide will help us in making sure that we are the right service for you.

As an NHS service we are legally required to share information about your care with other health and social care providers. We will always keep your GP informed about you accessing the service.

Outside of this, what we talk about is kept confidential and will not be shared with other parties without your consent, other than in exceptional circumstances such as if we identify a risk to yourself or someone else, or we are legally required to do so.

Sharing your Next of Kin (NOK) information helps us know who you would want us to contact if we ever needed to pass on important information about your care or wishes.

We would only contact your NOK in very rare and serious situations — for example, if we were legally required to notify someone in the event of your death.

Providing these details is completely optional, but it helps ensure we are able to follow your wishes should anything unexpected ever happen.

Your ICE contact is the person you would want us to reach out to if you became unwell or experienced a crisis while using our service — for example, if you became significantly distressed during a call, or had a medical episode such as a seizure.

If there was ever an immediate risk to your life, we would always call 999 first, but your ICE contact can help ensure someone you trust is aware of what’s happening and can support you afterwards.

Providing an ICE contact is optional, but it helps us support you more safely.

Yes - your NOK and ICE can be the same person or different people.

Some people prefer a family member as their NOK, but choose an ICE contact who lives nearby or who they feel most comfortable contacting in an urgent situation.

It’s entirely up to you.

We recommend choosing someone who:

• knows you well
• is comfortable being contacted in urgent situations, and
• could support you if needed

While not required, it can be helpful to let them know you have chosen them as your NOK or ICE so they’re aware.

No - it’s your choice.

You are welcome to select “No” on the referral form.

We simply offer the option because it helps us support you as safely and respectfully as possible.

You can call us to make a referral on 0300 123 1503.   Our phone lines are open 8am-6pm, Monday to Friday.

We have made a helpful video to explain this which you can view here: 

We will contact you either via text, email or telephone, according to your preferences.

Some iPhones have a feature called “Screen Unknown Callers”.  When this is turned on, your phone might:

• send our calls straight to voicemail
• play an automated message instead of connecting
• not ring at all

To make sure you receive important calls from us, please update your settings:

1. Go to Settings
2. Tap Phone (you may find this under Apps on some devices)
3. Screen Unknown Callers → choose Never (a blue tick will appear)

We will never leave sensitive information in a voicemail.

The Wellbeing Advice Session is a conversation with one of our wellbeing practitioners.  You will be asked questions about your current difficulties, the effect they have on your life, and will be able to think about your treatment goals and agree on the plan forward.

The Wellbeing Advice Session will take place over telephone, so it's important to arrange to be in an environment that is confidential and will allow you to concentrate on the appointment purpose (e.g. not driving, not in a public place, not looking after a child).

If you cannot use telephone please let us know so that we can plan an alternative for you.

Up to 45 minutes.

You will be speaking to a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner (PWP), they may be a qualified or a trainee Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner, who are specifically trained to carry out wellbeing advice sessions and to provide treatments for stress, anxiety and low mood.

The initial appointment will be over telephone, so it's important to arrange to be in an environment that is confidential and will allow you to concentrate on the appointment (e.g. not driving, not in a public place, not looking after a child).

If you cannot use telephone please let us know so that we can plan an alternative for you.

When working with Wellbeing Suffolk we send out web forms that we ask you to complete. The web forms will ask some questions about how you feel. The aim of the web form is to give us an idea of your levels of depression, anxiety and the impact that has on your day to day life.

These web forms are an important part of the work we do together. They help to gauge your progress and guide the direction of your support.

They are posted or emailed out to you 48 hours before each appointment.

Please complete them beforehand, to save time in your session, so that you and your therapist can focus on your treatment.

Your completed web forms will help us to decide what is the right treatment pathway for you, so it is important that you will have completed these before your appointment.

It would also be useful for you to think about what it is that you would like to get out of the contact with our service and to arrange to be in an environment that is confidential and will allow you to concentrate on the appointment (e.g. not driving, not in a public place, not looking after a child).

Please let us know in good time if you are not able to attend your appointment so that the appointment slot can then be offered to someone else. You can do this by calling us on 0300 123 1503 or emailing us at wellbeing.suffolk@nsft.nhs.uk

If you are cancelling your first treatment appointment we will place you back on our waiting list for the next available treatment appointment. If you are cancelling when your treatment has already started, your allocated therapist will be in touch to arrange a new appointment time. Please be aware that if you cancel 3 treatment appointments during your course of treatment we will have to discharge you because of the high demand for the service.

We understand that starting treatment is a big commitment and many things can get in the way of attending appointments, however missing appointments disrupts the treatment plan and delays other patients starting their treatment. Our policy is to discharge patients who repeatedly cancel or do not attend appointments:

- Patients who do not attend (DNA) their Wellbeing Advice Session (assessment appointment) will be discharged from the service as we will assume you are feeling better and no longer require support.

- Patients who do not attend (DNA) a treatment appointment on 2 occasions will be discharged following the second missed appointment.

- Patients who cancel 3 treatment appointments during their course of treatment will be discharged.

If you are finding it difficult to attend your appointments, please discuss this with your clinician.

If the plan is for you to attend a single session online workshop then you will be emailed a registration link for this and after you have attended, we will close your case in our service. You are welcome to register to other workshops in future without needing to go through the assessment process again.

If you are attending one of our longer online courses, we will email you the link for the sessions. After the course is completed we will contact you either by a text or an email to check if you need further input from our service and will arrange a review session to agree next steps.

If the plan is for you to have one-to-one support either by telephone or a video link (or face to face if this is the only way you can engage with us) we will place you on our waiting list for treatment. We will also recommend that you will attend at least one of our single session online workshops whilst waiting as these give you a good foundation for your treatment with us.

That is true, our service provides short term interventions for stress, anxiety and low mood. If your needs are greater than what our service is able to provide, we will help you to identify where your needs could be better met.

We will recommend that you watch one of our online workshops whilst waiting as these give you a good foundation for your treatment with us.

We've also put together a booklet with some helpful tips and resources to help you prepare and to start your journey towards positive wellbeing.

View or download the booklet here

Please let us know if you no longer need your appointment so that we can offer it to someone else. You can do this by calling us on 0300 123 1503 (8am - 6pm, Monday to Friday) or emailing us at wellbeing.suffolk@nsft.nhs.uk

You are always welcome to refer yourself to our service again in future.

Peer Mentors are members of staff that have been employed because of their own lived experience with mental health and recovery.

Using their experience and training, Peer Mentors are able to share what they have learnt and help you find the support that is right for you. The sessions are led by you and you don't have to share anything you don't want to.

You can find out more about Peer Mentors here

To discuss this support and if it is suitable for your needs please self refer using the online form or give us a call on 0300 123 1503 (8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday).