64 | March• 2019
BETTER TOGETHER
Today, Jeanette,
Helen and Chris are
perched behind desks
in one of the practice’s
bright meeting rooms. They’re among
a dozen or so people taking part in
a weekly Wellbeing group organised
by Mind, a mental health charity, for
people suffering from depression and
anxiety.
Membersofthegrouparegiven
practicaladviceonlookingafter
their mental and physical health, but
morethananythingthesessionsare
achancetogetoutofthehouse,meet
otherpeopleandshareproblems.
As Ruth, a Mind volunteer who
attendsthesessions,putsit,“Alotof
it is just the tea and cake. It’s coming
in and talking to people. There are
people who say to me, ‘These three
hours are the highlight of my week.’”was the services offered
by a large, centralised
headquarters that is
home not just to doctors
but also district nurses, health visitors
and other health practitioners, that
opened her eyes to new opportunities.
“We’ve created a system whereby
everytimesomeonecomesoutof
hospital,they’recontacted,andevery
timethere’sanopportunitytohave
aconversationwithsomebodyabout
whatwouldimprovetheirlife,weare
taking it,” she says.
“Doctors need to be person-
centred, to ask what’s important
totheindividualinfrontofthem,
andtotreatthemwithcompassion
rather than as a cluster of medical
illnesses,” she adds. “It’s about hav-
ingconversationsandnotimmedi-
ately resorting to a prescription pad.” PHOTOGRAPHED BY SAM FROST
Dr Helen Kingston
listens to one of her
patients. “Doctors
need to be person-
centred,” she says