An award-winning range of mental health self-help guides covering a variety of issues such as stress, depression and anxiety have been re-launched containing updated health guidance.
The series of 22 guides are provided by the Patient Information Centre, which is part of Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (NTW), a provider of mental health and disability services.
Karen O’Rourke, Patient Information Centre Manager at NTW said: “With information so freely available online, it can be hard for people to find high quality, accurate and up to date information. Our guides are in line with the Information Standard Accreditation which is NHS England’s quality mark so people can have confidence in what they are reading”.
The guides have won acclaim from the British Medical Association Patient Information Awards and have been written with the help of NHS clinical psychologists, service users, carers and other NHS professionals.
They offer users the opportunity to find out more about the causes of mental health issues and provide tools to work through emotions and feelings using trusted health information.
Feedback about the guides has been very positive with comments including “Very helpful guide and has got me thinking and feeling in a more positive direction”. In the last five years the guides have been downloaded worldwide 1.6 million times.
The self-help guides are free to download and are available in accessible formats such as audio, video, British Sign Language and easy read. You can download the guides online .