Self Help Access in Routine Primary Care - the SHARP project

NICE guidance recommends guided self-help approaches for anxiety and depression, provided in a stepped care service model. These interventions are provided within IAPT services and to compliment this, the SHARP (Self-help Access in Routine Primary Care) project was designed to enable primary care practitioners to support patients with mild to moderate anxiety and/or depression to access CBT based self-help information. The project consists of a training course, website and brief self-help leaflets. The SHARP training course enables practitioners to: understand the 5 areas CBT model and how it is used in the self-help leaflets; identify patients who are suitable; engage patients in the guided self-help approach; identify appropriate self-help leaflets; support patients to make use of the leaflets. The leaflets are based on the 5 areas model and provide information on understanding problems, the 5 Areas model and using it to manage problems. Some of the leaflets have been adapted from Chris Williams' books Overcoming Depression and Overcoming Anxiety. All leaflets are one or two pages long and more accessible 'lite' versions are available. The website (www.primarycare-selfhelp.co.uk) is being used to support the training, enable the provision of guided self-help in routine primary care and to allow public access to the leaflets. It also includes links to other self help resources. Training resources and an online forum are also available for practitioners who register. The progress of the project will be described, most recently a 'train the trainers' phase, and examples given of its implementation in practice in the Yorkshire and the Humber Region.