NHS Oldham Talking Therapies - Oldham

Sophie Pinkerton

After waiting two and a half months since my initial referral, I had my assessment appointment on Thursday. I was told to expect a callback on Friday, the day after, with an update on what the service can provide. It's now Tuesday, I've tried to call them, but no one is picking up. It's honestly ridiculous.

Ursula McGillick

First of all, I'd like to thank Abida for helping me through a very difficult time in my life. Not only did I have my intensive therapy, but it also helped me grieve for my dad.
I feel completing therapy and going every week has changed my mindset and helped me massively.
Completing all the homework and using the strategies Abida gave me and even after our last session today knowing that I still have all my work completed which is still available to me that if I have a blip I can fall back on the strategies we have worked on and completed.
Abida was professional, understanding and empathetic towards me, kept me informed every week through email and sent me my homework after every session.
Thank you Abida.

Annette Thomas

I was very doubtful when I first started my high intensity therapy due to having past bad experiences.
My therapist Abida has been absolutely amazing and listened to me and what I want and do not want in relation to wording of things. This was from the very start so this enabled us to begin this journey with knowing what to expect from each other.
I am not going to lie and say it was plain sailing because it was far from it reliving and revealing hidden memories but with the help of Abida and her compassion and empathy I am now in a much better place and have the tools to be able to keep going in my therapeutic journey.
Never once did I feel judged or patronised whilst in my sessions like before. Abida has been my absolute rock throughout this painful and traumatic experience and I am so so appreciative of the help, support and guidance that I have received. I understand not all therapists are the same but set boundaries and ground rules for you both at the beginning and please listen to your therapist they know what they are doing, and as tough as it gets please do NOT give up it's worth it in the end I promise. I have just finished my 20 session and a quote from me that I have made in relation to my experience is
"You cannot heal, if you cannot feel "
Thank you Abida and good luck to everyone else who is thinking of starting this journey, is in this journey good luck or who has finished this journey well done be proud of yourself because I know I am.
Thank you Abida ❤️

Elizabeth

I have recently completed a course of High Intensity CBT for OCD with Abida Akhtar - High-Intensity Cognitive Behavioural Therapist, and I cannot thank this service enough! Having struggled for 20+ years with OCD I finally decided to try talking therapy and it was the BEST DECISION I have ever made for myself. The Oldham Talking Therapies Service was amazing from my first contact with their Admin Team, to my initial assessment in which I was listened to and felt understood, to then being put on the wait list for High Intensity CBT (during that time I was given access to SilverCloud while waiting to be seen). After a short wait I started weekly video CBT sessions with Abida and she has changed my life for the better with her kindness, understanding and knowledge of how to help me help myself with OCD. You have to be ready to engage with talking therapy; because you will be asked to feel uncomfortable confronting your OCD and doing the opposite of what it wants you to do (and what I had done for 20+ years), but with Abida’s encouragement every week I did it, and am now for the first time in my life in control of my OCD - it is not ruining my life every day. I cannot say THANK YOU enough for literally giving me life back. I wish I had sought help sooner. To anyone reading this being indecisive, please try it because you will be surprised at how easy and comforting it is when you are speaking to someone who genuinely understands your problem and wants to help you. This service is a lifesaver. And, if you are indecisive and reading the negative comments, let me say this; YOU have to be ready to ENGAGE with talking therapies. It is not a quick fix; they cannot fix your problems FOR you. They teach you the skills and knowledge, which YOU have to implement each week –yes its hard and emotive because you are literally being asked to face your fears (for OCD), but if you trust them and do what is asked, you will feel SO MUCH BETTER AND IN CONTROL at the end! Unfortunately not everyone is ready to engage so they blame the service, which is not fair and is not reflective of the important and amazing work Oldham Talking Therapies CAN do if you are ready to accept their knowledge, support, compassion and help. I will now always recommend this service to anyone who potentially could be helped by talking therapies (or is aware of the service themselves but is unsure), especially for OCD, as this service has not only helped me become in control of my OCD, but given me the courage to now speak out about the devastating effects of OCD to people around me who either view it as a ‘quirky trait’ to have or ‘weird’ (as unfortunately in today’s society people do not appreciate how life destroying OCD can be). Thank you Oldham Talking Therapies for helping me, and also giving me the confidence to now help others by recommending your service by sharing my experience with them. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

Vicky Hughes

Absolutely useless. Told me they couldn’t speak to me because I only had 30 minutes booked in not 40 minutes. I have a young baby that needed a nap and nowhere did I receive any information to say the appointment would be longer than half an hour. The person then discharged me, I declined rebooking because I don’t need help now or in 2 weeks (this is how long I had to wait for an appointment) I need help now. If you’re really struggling these people aren’t very compassionate and not helpful one bit.

Patsy

Now that I have completed my treatment via talking therapies, I thought it only right to update my review to reflect my experience as a whole.

I contacted healthy minds/talking therapies almost a year ago where I was referred for CBT after a lengthy discussion with a lovely lady called Charlotte, who sought to understand what I was struggling with to ensure I got the correct support.

Since September last year I have attended 12 sessions with Sahana. I have nothing but positive things to say about my experience and can honestly say I have made significant progress versus where I was going into the treatment 6 months ago. Sahana has been extremely professional throughout - supportive, empathetic & extremely knowledgable always. I am extremely grateful for the support I have received and can confidently say I wouldn’t have been able to make this level of progress, without the support of talking therapies.

I can only speak of my own experience and not that of others but please don’t be put off by the other reviews. If you need support, please reach out to talking therapies and hopefully you have an experience that mirrors mine.

M 438

If you have a family member or a friend you trust talking to, you already have access to more than this service provides.
(tl;dr at the bottom).

After 2 group introductions, and a difficult phone assessment where I requested face-to-face therapy, I heard nothing. Out of the blue 8 months later, I get a letter dictating my first session is in 3 days time, inconveniently at 10am on a weekday, and is phone appointment only. Oh well, least I might speak to a warm and friendly person and get some life advice and encouragement, right?

It's only during this call I learn that they have no advice to give you, it's literaly a "talk yourself healthy" service, practically impossible for somebody with autism (a social disability that makes telephone conversation extremely difficult). After the checklist and scripted introduction, the therapist made no attempt to break the ice, no attempt to initiate dialogue or offer assistance when I struggled, it may as well have been an automated robot. And after all that, they only offered 6, 50 minute telephone sessions. There was no "run plan", no strategy, no guidence. It was cold, awkward, and left me bitterly disappointed. I volutarily withdrew from the service after 25 minutes.

tl;dr -
Look; it's a free service, and I have huge gratitude for that. If you've read this considering this service, what have you got to lose? All I recommend is, don't build your hopes up. It might work for you, it might not; but at least trying to get better mentally is always worth it. Don't give up.

Habib-Ur

Really poor service - had a initial assessment early August, the person who did the assessment was nice but did not give a straight answer re waiting times and i was led to believe they were not a issue. A couple of weeks later i called up and i found out i had been put on the low level CBT 30 minutes every two weeks! WHAT! and that asking for the more intensive CBT would be a 12month wait, and even then i would have to go through the low level on first (again this was not made clear during the initial assessment)

I chased the referral up and was i told im still on the list, i chased again a couple of weeks later and was told indirectly that some people who had their assessments in June were still waiting.

I got my GP to chase the referral up and also Mind Oldham and Mind Oldham were informed that the wait times are several months!

Why did they not tell me this at the start? I could have made other plans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A friend even offered to help me pay for therapy, which i could have taken up.

I have been placed in the care of Talking Therapies and they have a duty of care and safe guarding which they have failed in, they have not kept me updated or even made any contact with me at all since my initial assessment, even if it was to ask how i am, what did they think i would just go away when they call me in 2025

I also don't get the Criteria, i have crippling Intrusive Thoughts but not physical OCD but because of this i scored low to not warrant any help from Talking Therapies for months/years and even then 30minutes every two weeks? (only enough time for writing my name down and saying Hello).Even my GP thinks i am very sever and will be writing to them , i mention this because someone i know got into higher level CBT within 6 weeks, who are not as bad as me.