Advocate - a person you can turn to for information, advice and other help to get the treatment and support you would like. Can attend meetings with you and help you to say what you want or can express your views for you. Many people could act as your advocate - friends, relatives or a member of staff like a nurse or social worker. However, it can be difficult to say some things to people who are close to you, like relatives, and sometimes people want to have the support of someone in addition to staff. For these reasons, many people prefer to use trained, independent advocates.
Approved Social Worker (ASW) - a social worker who has responsibility, with two doctors, for assessing you if you may need admitting to hospital.
Art, Drama and Music Therapist - helps you work through and recover from a mental health problem by using or releasing your creativity.
Care Coordinator - responsible for coordinating care, keeping in touch with you, ensuring that the care plan is delivered and making sure that the care plan is reviewed as required.
Carer Education Worker - organises information and training sessions for carers about mental health issues.
Carer Support Worker - offer emotional and practical support on an individual (one-to-one) basis or through peer support within carer groups for carers of people with mental health difficulties who are receiving support from secondary mental health services.
Community Psychiatric Nurse - works with people who live in the community and are going through mental health problems.
Consultant Psychiatrist / Psychiatrist - A consultant psychiatrist can be called in by colleagues for advice. A psychiatrist may diagnose illness, prescribe medication and other forms of appropriate treatment, and decide when to admit you to and discharge you from hospital.
Counsellor - aims to enable you be more in control of your own life by exploring emotional difficulties and helping you to understand yourself and your relationships with others.
Gateway Worker - works with urgent mental health problems and crises as they arise in primary care.
General Practitioner - (‘GP’ or ‘family doctor’). Usually the first professional to be involved if you have a mental health problem. Can refer to other more specialised services.
Graduate Mental Health Worker - works within a GP practice to provide you with information about mild to moderate common mental health issues. (Works in the same team as the Mental Health Practitioner.)
Housing Support Worker - helps someone with mental health problems with their housing and support needs.
Keyworker - a term commonly used for a member of staff with specific responsibility towards an individual service user.
Mental Health Act Manager - an independent member of a panel responsible for hearing your application to be discharged from hospital, and for ensuring the 1983 Mental Health Act is used appropriately.
Mental Health Practitioner - usually based with a group of GP practices, has a short term counselling role for people with common mental health problems, and promotes mental health within the community.
Occupational Therapist - works with you to help you learn or relearn skills after a period of mental distress.
Psychologist - helps you in coping with emotional and behavioural problems, and life crises.
Psychotherapist - aims to help you to be more in control of your own life by exploring emotional difficulties and helping you to understand yourself and your relationships with others. Provides consultation and treatment and can work either short-term or over a longer period. Can work on a one-to-one basis, or in groups.
Service user development worker - has personal experience of mental distress, often employed on a ward or in a community setting. The worker can help you get involved in deciding on your own treatment and care and focuses on how to improve services so that they are service-user focused.
Social Worker - has a responsibility to help individuals, families, groups and communities through provision and operation of appropriate services and by contributing to social planning. They can work with you to help you deal with personal and social difficulties including mental ill health and obtain the services and resources you need for your recovery.
Support Time and Recovery Worker - helps you to have an ordinary life assisting you in everyday, practical needs in whatever setting you find yourself to facilitate recovery. They do not offer therapeutic counseling or care coordination under the CPA / care management. They do not provide clinical or medical treatment or monitor or administer medication. what do the professionals do?