Barnet IAPT

What is the IAPT Service?

Meridian Wellbeing is a partner of the Multilingual Wellbeing Service (MWS) consortium and is working in partnership to provide IAPT Services in Barnet.

IAPT stands for Improving Access to Psychological Therapies. It provides short term psychological therapies to provide support for people who are suffering with stress, low mood, anxiety and other mild to moderate mental ill-health. Treatments are based on a talking therapy technique known as cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT). You may hear it being referred to as a ‘modality’. The provided range of psychological therapies helps people to regain their wellbeing, helping clients to change their thinking and behaviour to cope with current life events.

The IAPT service provides evidenced-based psychological therapies. This means that the techniques and tools that an IAPT therapist may employ are vigorously tried and tested for their safety and effectiveness to improve people’s wellbeing.

The service employs routine outcome monitoring. This means that the person undergoing therapy is provided routing ‘checkpoints’ through the use of clinical tools that enable the clinician to have up to date information about how the person is progressing.

Within all steps of the service, the therapist will receive regular outcome focused supervision. This helps to ensure the person undergoing therapy is getting the best possible care that IAPT offers, and that the therapist is working in a way to be most beneficial to your needs.

Meridian Wellbeing are contracted to provide Step 2 & Step 3 interventions and psychoeducation workshops. Being part of the local IAPT service, the IAPT service is delivered under NHS NICE guidelines which means that they are delivered under the same guidance and standards as any NHS service. You can be safe in the knowledge that you’ll be receiving therapy from a fully qualified therapist and your case is overseen to the same high standards as you would expect from the NHS.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is it for?

The IAPT service is for working-age adults aged 16-65 who are experiencing low mood, anxiety and other common mental health issues. If you’re not of working-age and would still like to access the service, please get in touch with us and we’ll connect you with the right service for you.

Is it confidential?

The IAPT service follows strict NHS confidentiality guidelines. What you share with your therapist is strictly confidential and no information is shared to any third party. The exception to this rule is around situations to ensure the safety of yourself and others. For more information on this please get in touch with us.

Are the sessions face to face or by telephone?

This is up to you, IAPT can be delivered face to face or by telephone, whichever way you prefer.

Where will I be seen?

The IAPT service is a national service and is based on the location of your GP. There are different settings where IAPT is offered including hospital settings as well as community based services.

English is not my first language. Can I get an interpreter?

If English is not your first language, please let us know. IAPT may be delivered by a wide range of therapists from all backgrounds and cultures. We’ll do our best to assign a suitable therapist based on your needs and requests.

Is it ok if I prefer to be seen by a male/female therapist?

That is absolutely fine. Your mental health and wellbeing needs are at the heart of the service. If you have a particular request please let us know and we’ll do our best to manage and accommodate your personal care needs.

I would like to have an assessment, but I’m not sure if IAPT is right for me.

Throughout the therapy, you are always in the driving seat. You can have an assessment, consider the therapist’s recommendations and then decide if you’d like to have therapy or not.

If you feel you are doing better, you can let your therapist know and you don’t need to continue with the sessions. Your clinician will be pleased that you’ve made good progress. At any stage, the choice is yours.

How can I access the IAPT service? Can my GP refer me?

You can be referred by your GP, support worker or health professional, or you can even self-refer to the service. At Meridian Wellbeing, we can discuss the service in more detail with you. Simply get in touch with us and we’ll link you in with a member of the team at the Barnet Wellbeing Hub to help provide you with more information.

I know someone that I think will benefit from your service. Can I refer them?

It’s important that the person in receipt of therapy is ready and willing to work on their wellbeing and engage with their therapist. Please ask or support them to refer themselves to the service, to Meridian Wellbeing, or for them to speak to their GP about IAPT. Allowing the individual to make the choice themselves is a great first step to begin the path to improve their wellbeing and improve the chances of lasting positive outcomes from the therapy.

How does it work?

Following a referral to the service, your referral will be screened to make sure that the IAPT service is the right service for you. Once screened, you will be assigned to a trained therapist who will arrange an appointment with you to conduct an assessment. This is to better understand the issues you are going through and help to gauge what area of IAPT or other services will be the most beneficial for you.

Once the assessment is conducted, your case will be reviewed to determine which area of IAPT is most suitable for your needs. Depending on your needs, you will then be assigned to the waiting list for:

Step 2: Treatment - A course of up to 8 sessions lasting around 30mins each of Guided Self-help.

Step 3: Counselling – A course of up to 10 sessions lasting around 50mins

Signposted elsewhere – Your therapist may feel that IAPT at this time is not the right service for you. They will discuss this with you and share the most appropriate service they feel will help you.

Throughout your sessions, you will be asked to complete regular questionnaires that help your therapist gain a better understanding of your issues. This will help to monitor your progress. Your therapist will also introduce to you relevant tools and techniques to help you better manage your wellbeing. Through working with your therapist, the more you put in the more you will get out of the therapy.

Refer yourself to IAPT

You can self refer to our IAPT services by clicking on the top green button to the right of this text. This will take you to a registration form. 

Any information shared will be held according to NICE clinical guidelines. 

Once you have completed the form, we will contact you to discuss how we can support you. 

If you need support completing the form, or require the registration form in a different format or language, please email [email protected]

Meet Our Therapists

At Meridian Wellbeing, all our therapists are qualified, experienced professionals who are there to listen, understand, and support your wellbeing. They are overseen by our clinical lead who provides regular supervision to make sure you are getting the most appropriate therapy.

All aspects of the service are fully compliant with the same NICE clinical guidelines as the IAPT services based at your local NHS service, providing a comfortable, safe and confidential environment for you to share and explore ways to improve your wellbeing.

You can view the videos below to learn a bit more from some of our qualified therapists.