Mental Health Resources & Supporting Your Pharmacy Team

PLEASE SEE THE PRINTABLE GUIDE HERE – Mental Health Support for Pharmacy Teams

Reaching Out for Support

Looking after our pharmacy teams is important. Pharmacy teams are facing increasing pressures; alongside struggles they may be experiencing within their personal lives. This includes growing workload, workforce shortages, medicines supply problems and, at times, abuse or challenging behaviour from patients or the public.

We recognise that this can affect your wellbeing and you may need support. This document outlines the confidential help and resources available to you and how you can access them.

Please ensure, if you have immediate concerns about someone’s mental health, please dial 999. A mental health emergency should be treated the same as a physical one.

Services and Support Available Locally

Sean’s Place – Sefton & Liverpool

Sean’s Place provides practical, proactive mental health support to men in Sefton
experiencing poor mental health and isolation. You can self-refer in to this service by accessing the website.

Cheshire and Merseyside “Kind to your Mind”

Offering exclusive advice, support & signposting for people in Cheshire & Merseyside with their mental health and wellbeing. Includes signposting to support for those with suicidal feelings and much more. Access the website here.

NHS Sefton Talking Therapies

NHS Sefton Talking Therapies is a free, confidential service designed to help anyone aged over 16 in the South Sefton, Southport, and Formby areas to deal with common mental health difficulties. These may include depression, anxiety, panic, phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), or post-traumatic stress disorder.

You can self-refer via the website linked. You must be registered with a GP in Sefton to access this service.

Wider Available Services and Support

Samaritans
If you, a patient or member of your team need immediate support please call 116 123. This number is free to call and available 24/7 to support anybody in crisis.

NHS Frontline
If you need someone to talk to, the NHS have introduced a confidential text support service. You can access support by texting SHOUT to 85258 for support 24/7. This service is available to all our NHS colleagues who have had a tough day, who are feeling worried or overwhelmed, or who have a lot on their mind and need to talk it through.

NHS Health and wellbeing programmes
The NHS People Plan and the NHS People Promise outlines a number of key programmes that are in place to assist organisations to develop culture of wellbeing, in which their workforce feel supported and well at work.

Bereavement support line – Hospice UK
A team of fully qualified and trained bereavement specialists are available to support you with bereavement and wellbeing issues relating to loss experienced through your work. Please call 0300 303 4434 to speak confidentially to a trained specialist. This is free to access from 8:00am – 8:00pm, seven days a week.

Zero Suicide Alliance (ZSA): suicide awareness training:
Offering exclusive advice, support & signposting for people in Cheshire & Merseyside with their mental health and wellbeing. Includes signposting to support for those with suicidal feelings and much more This website also provides links to specific Local Authority websites and programmes relevant to patients in your area.

Pharmacist Support
Pharmacist Support is a well-established, independent and trusted charity supporting pharmacists and their families, former pharmacists, trainee pharmacists and pharmacy students. Providing a wide variety of free and confidential support services, including Information and Enquiries, Specialist Advice, Financial Assistance, Addiction Support, Counselling and Peer Support, and the Wardley Wellbeing Service.