TALKWORKS is an NHS talking therapies service with over 300 members of staff, operating across Devon (excluding Plymouth which is covered by Plymouth Options). We are made up of therapists, counsellors, mindfulness practitioners, employment specialists and local administrators, who work together to help people living in Devon to improve their mental and physical wellbeing.
We have team bases at various locations across Devon where we are able to see people locally in a wide range of settings, including our NHS buildings, GP surgeries, hospitals, community centres and children centres.
We are an inclusive service and welcome referrals from people experiencing a common mental health problem - including low mood, stress, depression and anxiety. As Devon's NHS Talking Therapies Service, our ethos is to work compassionately and empathetically with you to help you get back on track. As part of the NHS, everything available through our service is free of charge.
What we can help with:
We can offer help for a wide range of common mental health problems, including:
- Anxiety (including social anxiety) and panic attacks
- Depression (and low mood)
- Emotional eating (treatment for bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder)
- Living with a long term health condition
- Loneliness
- Menopause (managing physical and emotional side effects)
- Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
- Phobias
- Pregnancy and parenthood
- Prolonged grief (grieving)
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Sleep difficulties
- Support for carers
- Stress
- Veterans mental health
Our treatment and support includes:
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), available as one-to-one sessions with a therapist (face-to-face, over the phone or by video call)
- Supported, online self-help programmes (accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week)
- Wellbeing workshops and courses
- Counselling for Depression (CfD)
- Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR)
- Prolonged Grief Disorder Therapy (PGDT)
- Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)
- A dedicated Talking Health team, experienced in supporting adults with a long term health condition
- Specific treatment options for new and expectant parents
- Access to employment support for any employment related difficulties (this may include help with returning to work after a period of absence, reasonable adjustments within the workplace and/or support with work-based meetings after having time off unwell)
- Tailored treatment and support for those impacted by the menopause
If you are struggling, please don't go through this on your own. TALKWORKS is here to help you.
Our values
Respect and dignity
We value each person as an individual, respect their aspirations and commitments in life and seek to understand their priorities, needs, abilities and limits. We take what others have to say seriously. We are honest about our point of view and what we can and cannot do.
Commitment to quality of care
We earn the trust placed in us by insisting on quality and striving to get the basics right every time: safety, confidentiality, professional and managerial integrity, accountability, dependable service and good communication. We welcome feedback, learn from our mistakes and build on our successes.
Compassion
We respond with humanity and kindness to each person's pain, distress, anxiety or need. We search for the things we can do, however small, to give comfort and relieve suffering. We find time for those we serve and work alongside. We do not wait to be asked, because we care.
Working together for people who use our services
We put patients first in everything we do, by reaching out to staff, service users, carers, families, communities and professionals outside the NHS. We put the needs of service users and communities before organisational boundaries.
Everyone counts
We use our resources for the benefit of the whole community and make sure nobody is excluded or left behind. We accept that some people need more help, that difficult decisions have to be taken - and that when we waste resources, we waste others' opportunities. We recognise that we all have a part to play in making ourselves and our communities healthier.
Improving lives
We strive to improve health and wellbeing and people's experiences of the NHS. We cherish excellence and professionalism wherever we find it - in the everyday things that make people's lives better as much as in clinical practice, service improvements and innovation. We recognise that all have a part to play in making ourselves, patients and our communities healthier.