Traumatic Stress Service

This service is for people over the age of 18 year (there is no upper age limit) who live, or have a GP, in Sutton, Merton, Wandsworth, Kingston or Richmond.

You can find out more about the eligibility criteria here.

Our opening hours

Monday - Friday: 09.00 - 17.00

Our core team is made up of clinical and counselling psychologists and a team administrator. We also have an assistant psychologist who works part-time on our research and training projects.

Our core team is:

• Team Administrator: Bartholomew Tenerowicz
• Consultant Clinical Psychologist: Dr Sharif El-Leithy
• Principal Clinical Psychologist: Dr Eleanor Cross
• Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist: Dr Abigail Pain
• Highly Specialist Counselling Psychologist: Dr Jenny Rahemtulla
• Assistant Psychologist: Elizabeth Hardcastle

Once your referral is accepted we will write to you to offer you an assessment appointment.   We ask you to confirm by phone or in writing that you can attend. 

Assessments take place at the clinic at Springfield Hospital, Tooting, with a Psychologist. This will usually take 2-3 sessions of 1-1.5 hours.  The assessment involves finding out about you and your experiences, and asking you some questions about the problems you are having. They might ask you a little bit about your current living situation and any treatment you have had in the past.

It is not usually important in the assessment to go into a lot of detail about the traumatic events but they might ask you to briefly tell them as much as you feel comfortable to say.

At the end of the assessment, the psychologist will discuss your case with the team, and then arrange to meet again and give you feedback about your diagnosis and treatment options.  This is a chance for you to ask any questions and for the psychologist to explain to you about what treatment may involve, so you can decide if it is something you would like to try.

After the assessment we write a letter back to your GP and your referrer, telling them about the assessment and about what our plan for treatment was. If it was agreed that treatment in our service would be suitable for you, your name will then be placed on our waiting list for treatment.

If, when you come for an assessment, you need any special arrangements made, e.g. an interpreter, or you would prefer to see either a male or female therapist, please let us know prior to the assessment and we can organise it. 

Read our leaflet

Access to the TSS is via written referral, and should include an assessment letter from the referrer that includes background and personal history, trauma history and current mental state.

The service accepts referrals from Community Mental Health Teams (CMHTs) and Improving Access to Psychological Therapy (IAPT) services within the Trust. Referrals from outside our Trust catchment area are also accepted where funding is agreed.

More information on our referrals process

Useful links

NICE Guidelines for PTSD

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg26

Mind: Understanding PTSD

http://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/

Royal College of Psychiatrists: PTSD Leaflet

http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/healthadvice/problemsdisorders/posttraumaticstressdisorder.aspx

Help Guide

http://www.helpguide.org/articles/ptsd-trauma/post-traumatic-stress-disorder.htm

Combat Stress

http://www.combatstress.org.uk/

Rape Crisis

http://rapecrisis.org.uk/

Women’s Aid – Domestic Abuse

http://www.womensaid.org.uk/

Refuge – Domestic Violence

http://www.refuge.org.uk/