Mental Wellbeing Support Service

Project Overview

Merthyr Primary Care Cluster has introduced a new service that is provided by your General Practice Support Officer (GPSO) and Valleys Steps. Many people find it challenging when it comes to attending large support groups. This can particularly be the case for those with higher levels of anxiety or low mood, so we are working with Valley Steps to host small group sessions for you. Your GPSO will spend time with you to identify what service can help you, whilst ensuring you are content to enrol onto a two-hour workshop.

The new service provides various workshops to support you. The workshops are delivered over two hours and topics include:

• Stress awareness and management
• Dealing with anxiety and panic
• Breaking free from fear
• Introduction to mindfulness
• Confidence and self-esteem
• 5 ways to wellbeing
• Anger management
• Managing difficult thoughts
• Sleep management

4-6 week programmes

When you have benefited from the shorter courses, the next option is for you or your family member to enrol on longer programmes to support with your needs. The programmes are delivered over a 4-6-week period and include:

• Stress Management Programme, 6 weeks – A course which teaches skills that can be used to help manage stress. It is based on a therapy called CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) and can be useful for people who want to learn more about issues such as low mood, anxiety, low self-confidence and other stress-related problems.
• Mindfulness for Everyday for Small Groups, 6 weeks – Mindfulness is about much more than meditation. Mindfulness is a way of being that can be developed.  It can help us relate differently to our experience and improve anxiety, depression and many other emotional and physical health concerns. It can increase our wellbeing through deepening our appreciation of our lives.
• Families 2gether 4 Wellbeing, 8 weeks – The course is aimed at young people aged 14-18 to attend with their parents/carers to learn a variety of skills and techniques that can help to improve wellbeing and reduce stress and anxiety in a caring and safe environment, as well as building resilience.
• Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy – 8 weeks – This course was specifically developed to help people who experience repeated bouts of depression to help prevent the depression from returning.

How does the service work?

Your GPSO will provide a helping hand to ensure you are ready to attend workshops and programmes. The sessions are currently operating online, but we’ll be delivering them in GP Practices and other community venues as soon as we are able to.

For more information, please contact your practice and speak to your GPSO.

To find out more about Valley Steps, visit their website.

You can also find out more about your GP Support Officer by watching our quick introduction here.