Depression therapy clinic officially opened in Tottenham (From Haringey Independent)

Depression therapy clinic officially opened in Tottenham

12:42pm Thursday 4th February 2010 in News By Elizabeth Pears

A THERAPY centre dedicated to treating Haringey residents with common mental health problems like depression officially opened in Tottenham on Wednesday.

The clinic in Landsdowne Road — the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) centre — runs as a direct response to a national health target to give patents better access to "talking therapies" which can successfully treat sufferers of anxiety and depression.

Of the 3,000 patients already seen, 40 per cent were successfully treated and 11.4 per cent received help to come off benefits and return to work.

Opening the centre, Professor David Clark, who works for the Institute of Psychiatry, said: "Haringey has been spearheading a revolution in the provision of evidence based psychological treatments for depression and anxiety disorders.

"In the past, these treatments have been available to only a few people. As one of the earlier adopters of the Government's improving access to psychological therapies initiative, Haringey has worked hard to change all of that. A new treatment service which reaches out to the local community and removes the traditional barriers to access has flourished."

The Landsdowne Road centre is the first of three IAPT centres to open with one in St Ann's and another set to open in Crouch End later this year.

Referrals to the service come from patients, GPs, other primary care or community health workers.

Maria Kane, chief executive of Barnet, Enfield & Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust, said: "I am delighted that we are a partner with NHS Haringey in delivering the improving access to psychological therapies service in Haringey.

"Co-operation and partnership are essential if our organisations are to deliver mental health services for Haringey in the 21st century. IAPT will vastly improve the availability of psychological help, at earlier stages of illness.

"This will help those who are experiencing the first symptoms of common mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety."