Positive Mental Training and Depression in Primary Care - The Edinburgh Roll Out

February 2006 – Medicines Agency funded pilot under the prescribing initiative to introduce Positive Mental Training in Primary Care in NE Edinburgh .  Altogether 22/65 GPs attended the familiarisation sessions along with CPNs, Psychologists Health Visitors and Practice Nurses. Establishment of ‘libraries’ of the programme in General Practices for lending to patients free of charge. Very positive feedback from doctors and patients.

October 2006 – Following on the success of the pilot project, Edinburgh NHS Community Health Partnership in partnership with The Pfizer Foundation funding secured for the expansion of the programme into 3 other sectors Edinburgh to commence in December 2006.

October 2006/July 2007 - Positive Mental training rolled out in South East, South West and South Central Edinburgh.

The Pfizer Foundation award is in recognition of the potential contribution Positive Mental Training may make in helping alleviate depression in areas of social deprivation.

February 2007-  Positive Mental Training used to teach GP registrars how to manage mental health issues in General Practice in South East Scotland.

March 2007-  Positive Mental Training approved by NHS EDucation Scotland for teaching to GP Registrars.

August 2007- Positive Mental training rolled out in Eden Valley Cumbria, currently under evaluation.

August 2007 - An anonymous study of GPs using Positive Mental Training in North East Edinburgh reveals that most have reduced their anti-depressant prescribing, and most are finding it easier to deal with their mental health patients, and with their general working practice.

December 2007/ February 2008 - Positive Mental training taught to GP Registrars in South East and South West Scotland.

February 2008 - Positive Mental training rolled out in North West Edinburgh. Estimated 10,000 people have been given the programme by Doctors CPNs and Psychologists in the last 2 years.

2008/2009 Positive Mental training established in Eden Valley Cumbria, pilot in place in Dundee.  Due to start 4th March in St Helens in England

December 2009 Establishment of the Foundation for Positive Mental Health as a Scottish Charity

The Future - Further efficacy study of Positive Mental Training planned with Edinburgh University department of Neuroscience for Positive Mental Training. Mental Training for Seniors is under development and showing great promise. Research programme planned.

The program has been a great success in all Edinburgh, with all GP practices calling for more CDs and very positive feedback.  There have been no reports of problems.

Positive Mental Training is not just a set of CDs it is a theoretical and an educational package based on the principles of the Optimum Performance State derived from Olympic sports training. We admire those who can win Gold Medals but even more of an achievement is overcoming the obstacles of everyday life.  To live happily we all need to be able to perform emotional Olympic feats.

Implementing Positive Mental Training

  There are a number of models and we are happy to negotiate with any group for a package to facilitate the introduction of PMT in their area.  This could include licensing you to produce the package which could be combined with training a number of champions for areas, and use by PMT by many diverse groups, not just doctors but Community Psychiatric Nurses (CPNs) Psychologists, Mental Health workers, Social Workers, Occupational Health & Counsellors, Prison Staff or rehabilitation.

Positive Mental Training is very cost effective and simple to implement and use.  Contact us for further details and costings.

Alastair Dobbin is a GP with 25 years experience of working full time in General practice and in research firmly grounded in primary care with a passion for research and neuroscience; Sheila Ross is a Health Promotion specialist and Clinical Hypnotherapist.  We believe that people have the capacity to find their own solutions and create better lives for themselves, give people the tools and they will sort their own problems out.

We offer training to support the integration of Positive Mental Training into a number of different working environments, from healthcare delivery to business performance. We will help you to develop a strategy for implementing rapid and widespread implementation of the programme throughout you organisation, whether for management, all staff, or clients. We are particularly interested in the development of Positive Mental Training for promoting mental health and treating mental health problems, eg in Primary Care.

Positive Mental Training is effective as a personal development tool for corporate management training and has been used in many Swedish Companies from Volvo to IKEA. The unique thing about Positive Mental Training is that, not only is it effective for enhancing peak performance, but also is an effective treatment for depression and anxiety, therefore it is useful for employees with ‘burnout’.

Positive Mental Training is an effective self directed programme which needs minimal supervision and is therefore a very cost efficient way of promoting a healthy working environment.

Contact us for more information.

Email: >info@positiverewards.co.uk or phone Sheila on 07799768879

Stopping Smoking Programmes

We can deliver Smoking cessation programmes in your workplace.  We have extensive experience in this field and can design a programme, incorporating hypnosis and Neurolinguistic (NLP) techniques, to fit your needs.