Touchstone is one of a number of partners that makes up Leeds Mental Wellbeing Service (LMWS). LMWS is a clinical NHS-led service supporting anyone registered with a Leeds GP, who is experiencing mental health difficulties.
LMWS Services
LMWS provides a variety of services depending on what you need, including:
- Primary Care Practitioners working within GP surgeries to give brief support and advice.
- Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners (PWPs) offering different forms of support, including:
- Group sessions for people with mild mental health difficulties, such as sleep, stress and depression, as well as offering options for online support through Silvercloud, which is an online therapy platform.
- Guided Self Help, which is a form of support recommended as a treatment for depression, anxiety and panic disorder.
- For some people, working 1-to-1 with a high intensity therapist is the best option. We offer Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT), Exploratory Therapies (such as counselling for depression) and Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR).
- We also offer self directed online support via the website.
Touchstone in LMWS
Touchstone also employs Mental Health Support Workers in the Primary Care Mental Health Teams (PCMH), and Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners, Mental Health Practitioners and Cognitive Behavioural Therapists in the Therapies Teams, as well as Employment Advisors and Peer Support Workers.
Touchstone staff strive to influence LMWS with our 7 core Touchstone values. We also use our wealth of experience in supporting people experiencing mental health difficulties through a social model. This means we aim to address and reduce the barriers and stigma people face in society that contribute to them experiencing mental health difficulties and/or make it difficult for them to access support. We work to integrate this experience and values into our practice and to be Person-Centred and Trauma Informed with the people we support.
LMWS Inclusion Team
Touchstone also hosts the LMWS Inclusion team. This team is dedicated to supporting the service to reduce barriers and address health inequalities for the people of Leeds.
The LMWS Inclusion Team is made up of people with their own experiences of mental health difficulties. They use life experience as an asset to aid their work to break down barriers between professionals and service users and improve mental health services for everyone in Leeds.
As part of the Inclusion team, we have a team dedicated to supporting LMWS to use coproduction. This team works towards creating a service designed and delivered in equal partnership between service users, decision makers, staff, carers, and members of the community. The team brings these different groups together to influence positive change across LMWS.
How to Access LMWS
To access LMWS you can speak to your GP about a referral to PCMH or LMWS Therapies or if you would prefer to self-refer for therapy you can do that here.