GUIDED SELF-HELP: WHAT TO EXPECT AND HOW TO BOOK

Guided Self-Help (GSH) is a structured form of mental health support designed to help people who feel:

• anxious or worried about things

• sad, flat, or unmotivated

It can sometimes be helpful to people who are struggling with feelings of low self-esteem, anger, and with some phobias too.

GSH supports people to better understand how they are feeling and what might be keeping those feelings going. It offers ways to manage and improve this.

GSH focuses on the present (what’s going on for you now) and uses a manual/ workbook to introduce you to practical tips and strategies to use in your day-to-day life.

GSH is most effective when these strategies are practiced outside of sessions, for example completing a mood diary, practicing relaxation exercises, or testing out a planned activity.

You will be supported by a Wellbeing Practitioner who will encourage you to set goals for what you want to achieve, in the areas that feel most important to you. Together you will create a plan to reach those goals, and it is your Wellbeing Practitioner’s job to help you get there!

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We offer an initial guided self-help session which is a chance for us to explain more to you about this type of support, and explore how it could support your needs and goals. We can then offer one to eight further sessions, usually depending on what the focus of the support is. These sessions take place at the same time each week. After your initial session, your Wellbeing Practitioner will decide with you how many more sessions there will be.

When you book a timeslot on our booking page, you will be booking an initial session followed by up to eight further sessions, and you will need to be available to attend at the same time each week. Please book at a time where you would be able to attend up to nine consecutive weeks.

All appointment requests are initially provisional bookings. You will be reserving the next available appointments on your chosen day and time. Although we aim to start your guided self-help as close to the selected date as possible, in some instances you may be invited to start earlier, or the start of your sessions may need to be delayed.

Please allow up to 50 minutes for the Guided self-help sessions.

For remote appointments (over Zoom - cameras optional), please try to ensure that you are in a quiet, private space to take the calls. Please let us know if this may be difficult for you.

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You will be sent a booking link by text or email. The link will take you to our booking page where you will be able to see all our available appointments. You can select whether you would like in-person or remote sessions.

New appointments are added as they become available, so please check again if you can’t find a suitable appointment immediately. If you would prefer to book your appointments over the phone, please call us on 0333 414 1809.

Please note: Our online communication and booking systems generate a different phone number each time a message is sent. For this reason, you may receive messages from Centre 33, from multiple numbers.

If, after a week, you have not made a booking, we will send you a second invitation to book. If we still haven’t heard from you after three weeks of sending this initial booking message, we will have to assume that you no longer require our support, and the current referral will be closed. You would be welcome to get back in touch with Centre 33 in the future.

Please let us know as early as possible if you are unable to attend a session. We will then be able to replace your cancelled session. We ask for no more than two sessions to be cancelled within your set of guided self-help sessions. You can let us know by:

• Replying to the automatic session reminder text/email

• Emailing hello@centre33.org.uk

• Calling the Centre 33 helpline number (0333 4141 809 – Mon-Fri 12-5pm, Sat 10-1pm) – the message will then be passed onto your Wellbeing Practitioner.

If you do not arrive at the session time (whether in-person or on Zoom), we will send you a text to check if you are still able to attend that day. If we still don’t hear from you then this session is counted as a ‘non-attendance’, and we will be unable to replace this session.

Please note - if two sessions in a row are missed and we have not heard from you, then we may have to assume that now is not the best time for you to access guided self-help, and cancel your remaining sessions. You are still welcome to contact Centre 33 again for support in the future.

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The details of the session content are private to you and your Wellbeing Practitioner, and we would not discuss your concerns with anyone else outside Centre 33. The Wellbeing Practitioner may however discuss your case with other workers within Centre 33 to support the therapeutic process.

In some cases, we may have to share information with individuals outside Centre 33. Common reasons are if we are concerned about your or somebody else’s safety, or if we explore other support services for you. We will always try to speak with you first about the reasons for doing so.

If, for example, we are concerned about a risk of serious harm to you, we may discuss with you who is best to share this information with to support you to keep yourself safe. This may be your GP, or a parent or carer, and we will discuss ways of how they can support you to feel safe.

We commit to ensuring any information stored on our data base is secure (see our privacy notice for more information).

At the end of your initial session your Practitioner will talk to you about next steps, this might be continuing with GSH, but they can also help you to think about other options. If you continue with GSH, your Wellbeing Practitioner will agree with you the number of sessions. Sessions would then take place in the same timeslot each week.

It is okay to be unsure or change your mind! You might feel unsure or change your mind about:

• Wanting to access any support right now

• Guided Self-Help feeling like the right approach for you

• The Wellbeing Practitioner you are working with

If you no longer want to access support, you can let us know by replying ‘NO’ to the booking text.

If you have changed your mind about something else and want help to think this through, you could speak to your Wellbeing Practitioner, or to someone else at Centre 33 by email/text/phone or at a drop-in. See our contact details here.

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