Harrogate-based Just ‘B’, part of North Yorkshire Hospice Care, has joined with other charities to help provide the national Our People NHS Staff Support initiative launched this week.
This initiative is designed to help health service workers cope with the challenges of working during the Coronavirus crisis.
It includes a helpline, a text alternative and various online resources to support staff to access help with grief, trauma, relationship and financial issues.
The phone number to ring to access this service is 0300 131 7000 or staff can text FRONTLINE to 85258. The phone line will be open between 07:00 and 23:00 every day, while the text service will be available around the clock.
Just ‘B’s role in the new national NHS Staff Support line is to give NHS staff a dedicated space to discuss and process any trauma, anxiety or emotional issues as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Chief executive of Harrogate-based Just ‘B’ Tony Collins said:
We know NHS staff and all health and social care sector staff across the country, including our own teams, are dealing with some of most challenging situations imaginable.
So they fully deserve our support in return and this is a meaningful and real way we can do this by sharing our skills and resources on a national level, to enable NHS teams to carry on helping others.
Just ‘B’ has been contracted through Hospice UK to provide this service for NHS England. Just ‘B’ is made up of a team of trained and qualified volunteers and staff, from backgrounds, such as counselling, health care, social work and education, who are ready to help.
Tracey Bleakley from Hospice UK said:
We know how hard staff are working to provide care for patients both in the NHS and in our hospices across the country. We are delighted to have been asked by NHSE/I to help set up a service to provide grief and trauma counselling to people working in the NHS. We want to do all we can to help clinical and other staff working hard to beat the coronavirus. This helpline allows us to bring our expertise to care for people who are doing an incredible job.
The helpline coordinates over 1,500 volunteers, with staff routed to the relevant support they need. Other organisations providing support include Samaritans, Citizen’s Advice, Silver Cloud, NHS Practitioner Health, Sandhurst Military Academy and NHS Leadership Academy.
Hello, I’d like to volunteer some time to the Just B service. I’d love to be able to help front line staff in some way. I recently completed a conversion masters in psychology, have done various coaching and counselling courses and have been a life coaching in the past. I’m currently on maternity leave, live in Harrogate, but if I can be helpful in some capacity I’d love to be able to help.