Post Covid Psychology Service
Why Psychological Therapy
We understand that living with long covid can be distressing and have an impact on our mood, relationships, work, and activities. Everyone’s experience of living with long covid is different and it might affect you in some of these ways:
- Feeling worried or frightened about being breathless (and getting more breathless when you feel worried).
- Feeling distressed, as if you can’t cope with it all.
- Feeling unhappy or frustrated about how your long covid has affected your life and the uncertainty of the condition.
- Interference with relationships with partners, family, friends, work or studies.
- Worrying or feeling hopeless about the future.
- Losing your self-confidence and giving up things you enjoy.
- Difficulties with managing your long covid or implementing the self-management strategies.
- Feeling isolated or that it is difficult for others to understand your experience.
How do we work
The Post Covid Psychology Service supports people to live alongside long covid. We help to build on people’s existing strengths and resources, explore ways of coping and to learn and practice new strategies.
We offer outpatient appointments with individuals. There is the option to invite a partner to your appointment as a way to involve them in your care. Appointments can be in person or via video call/telephone.
We strive to be an inclusive and respectful service in which everyone is welcome. Our psychology team have experience of working with individuals with a diverse range of life experiences, perspectives, and priorities. We commit to adapting our input to support our service users and to meet the needs of minoritized sections of our communities (e.g., ethnically minoritized groups, LGBTQ+ communities, people with mild/moderate learning disabilities).
How to get referred to the Post Covid Psychology Team
The post covid psychology service accepts referrals from any member of the Whittington Health community post-covid service. If they have not mentioned this, please do ask them and they will help you decide if now is the right time to start this work and/or if other services are needed at this point.
If you are not currently under the care of the Whittington Health community post-covid service, then please discuss your difficulties with your GP.
To find out more about the Community Post Covid Service and how to be referred please visit the Whittington Community Post Covid Service webpage.
Waiting times
On receipt of the referral form, we will contact people to 'opt in' to the next available appointment slot.
- We will contact people by phone or text (or if unable to get through then by letter) within the two to six weeks.
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After an initial conversation, where we can explain more about the service and answer any questions, we will arrange a further meeting if you would like this.
What about confidentiality?
We prioritise creating a safe confidential space for you to talk about what is important to you. You may want this to include exploring how your medical team can be updated on your health concerns and any questions you have for them.
We include a summary of our meeting on a Trust electronic notes system that can be accessed by other professionals involved in your care. If there is anything you do not wish us to include here - and do not want us to share with your health team- then please let us know and we will respect this. The only exception is if you tell us something that makes us concerned about your safety or the safety of someone else. In this case we would need to share these concerns but would discuss with you first where possible.
Further information
Last updated18 Nov 2024