Clinicians mental health and wellbeing during COVID-19

Episode 1: Improving clinicians mental health and wellbeing during COVID-19, what can we do?

The first episode of the Mental health, wellbeing and primary care; current concerns and contemporary responses three-part webinar series will see Professor Neil Greenberg, Professor of Defence Mental Health, King’s College London, UK, and Dr Paquita de Zulueta, Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer, Imperial College London, UK, discuss cutting edge research on how the coronavirus pandemic has affected the wellbeing of healthcare staff, and how to support healthcare workers in times of local and national crisis.

Join us to understand the current challenges and future responses in mental health and wellbeing as well as mental health first aid – brief interventions. This episode will have two 15-minute expert briefings followed by Q&A, and post-presentation reflections for each session.

This webinar will be available for registered delegates 30 days after on Zoom. The link will be sent 24 hours after the webinar takes place.

Topics to be discussed include:

• Explore how people of all ages have support for mental health and wellbeing
• Develop consultation skills on how individuals with mental health conditions are understood and voiced in consultations, but also voiced locally and nationally
• Recognise resources available to collectively create environments where practitioners, service users and their families can flourish safely

Speakers Biographies:

Professor Neil Greenberg is a consultant academic, occupational and forensic psychiatrist based at King’s College London. Neil served in the United Kingdom Armed Forces for more than 23 years and has deployed, as a psychiatrist and researcher, to a number of hostile environments including Afghanistan and Iraq. At King’s, Neil leads on a number of military mental health projects and is a principal investigator within a nationally funded Health Protection Research unit. He also chairs the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCP) Special Interest Group in Occupational Psychiatry.

Neil has published more than 300 scientific papers and book chapters and has been the Secretary of the European Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, the President of the UK Psychological Trauma Society and Specialist Advisor to the House of Commons Defence Select Committee.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Neil has worked closely with NHSEI, PHE and has published widely on psychological support for healthcare, and other key workers.

Dr Paquita de Zulueta worked for 35 years as a London-based GP until 2020 and has a special interest in mental health, migrant health, medical education, clinical ethics and professional wellbeing. She worked for 10 years as a clinical volunteer for Doctors of the World’s London Clinic and was GP lead for the NHS Grenfell outreach team for three months 2017-18. She has provided private and pro-bono CBT and compassion-focused therapy since 2007 and more recently EMDR therapy for a variety of clients, including health professionals, as well as mentoring and coaching for GPs and hospital doctors on the frontline since 2000.

She runs seminars and workshops on resilience and compassion in healthcare, prolonged (complex) grief, clinical ethics and disaster response. She is trained in team coaching as well as in appreciative inquiry.

She is a Schwartz Round facilitator for Imperial College NHS Trust since 2015 and was chosen for the Point of Care Foundation’s Shining Star award this year, in particular for her role in developing Rounds for medical students and facilitating rounds for GP’s and hospital workers after the Grenfell disaster. One of her current interests is in the role of touch in clinical practice and for general wellbeing.