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Helix (Healing Experience of Loss and Trauma) Service
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Helix (Healing Experience of Loss and Trauma) Service is a specialist therapeutic service for women and birthing people who live in Bexley, Bromley or Greenwich who are experiencing emotional distress, or mental health difficulties following a perinatal loss.
We work with people who have experienced:
- Pregnancy loss (this may include early pregnancy loss, miscarriage, termination; including termination of pregnancy for foetal anomaly, or loss associated with fertility treatment).
- A stillbirth or death of a baby up to 12 months old.
- Being told your infant has a serious medical condition/disbility.
It doesn’t matter how long ago you experienced the loss – you can still access our service if you are currently experiencing difficulties related to a perinatal loss.
Please see our service leaflets below:
- Reception phone number: 07775 005721. Phones are answered Monday to Friday 9am to 12.30pm.
- Service hours: Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.
Our team
The Helix Service is made up of psychological therapy staff and a midwife. Our aim is to improve mental health and wellbeing for service users and their family.
Support may include:
- Evidence-based psychological therapy, including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR)
- Individual sessions or group sessions
- Links to organisations and groups in the community who might be helpful
- Liaising with other professionals who are providing care
- Working with partners and family members including links to other organisations or brief therapeutic support
- Working with interpreters to deliver culturally competent care
We encourage people to bring a family member or friend along to appointments if helpful.
How to access this service
Helix accepts referrals from any health professional (e.g. GP, midwife, health visitor or other mental health service). If you do not have regular contact with a health professional, you may be able to make a self-referral. Please feel free to contact the service for advice if you are unsure if Helix is the right service.
Referral forms can be requested from: Oxl-tr.Helix@nhs.net
We recommend that people are not referred within the first 4 weeks of a loss, to allow your body and mind some initial recovery time so we can support you at the appropriate time.
We are only able to offer a service to residents of Bexley, Bromley or Greenwich.
What happens once we receive a referral?
We may get in contact with the referred person or the person who made the referral to get more information if this is needed
If we think Helix can help, we will arrange to meet you within 4 weeks to schedule an initial appointment.
If we don’t think that Helix is the right service, we will make recommendations of other services that can help.
We aim to meet people for an initial appointment at a time and place which is convenient for them (this might be at one of our rooms in the community, hospital or virtually). This appointment can last up to 90 minutes.
At the end of the appointment, we will discuss support / therapy options with you and agree a plan.
Please see our referral and self-referrals forms below:
How to contact this service
Helix is based at Queen Mary's Hospital, Frognal Avenue, Sidcup, DA14 6LT
Please contact us via email at: Oxl-tr.Helix@nhs.net or call us Monday to Friday between 9am and 12.30pm on 07775 005721.
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