Welcome to CAST – the Centre for Anxiety, Stress and Trauma…
CAST is The Centre for Anxiety, Stress and Trauma. Our purpose is to bring together and disseminate extensive expertise in the knowledge and treatment of mental health difficulties that affect individuals and communities. In particular, we want to develop, with partners, innovative ways of helping people affected by traumatic events like disasters, war and displacement as well as tragic incidents that occur in local communities. See our various past and current projects below.
CAST started as part of the NHS with the aim of building on a large body of existing work by its principals to improve the care of those who have been the subject of psychologically traumatic events. It is now, by agreement, in the process of transitioning into an independent provider. This will give us the flexibility to take on and develop a wider range of projects and make it easier and speedier to form partnerships with voluntary and statutory sector partners.
We deliver training and consultancy, provide specialist services and support, and undertake research collaborations. We also provide support for refugees and displaced people and support the responses to major incidents and health emergencies.
CAST draws from NHS, clinical and academic expertise; meet our people here.
Dr John Green is the CAST Clinical & Academic Director
Dr Jai Adhyaru is the Lead and Operational Lead Psychologist
Training & Consultancy from CAST
- Training and consultancy: CAST offers training and consultancy to organisations and professionals working in health and care, the emergency services, and also the private sector. We tailor training to your needs and can cover subjects ranging across anxiety, stress, trauma, burnout, and staff wellbeing.
- Specialist supervision: For those working with people who have witnessed or experienced traumatic events, or those who routinely deal with distressing content as part of their job role, specialist supervision can be helpful in mitigating against the impact of vicarious trauma. Offered remotely and in-person and as individual or group supervision, CAST works with teams to consider what best supports the wellbeing of their staff.
- Trauma Awareness Workshops: Delivered by Dr Jai Shree Adhyaru to a wide audience including psychiatrists, nurses, and social workers, the half-day Trauma Awareness Workshop was developed in the context of crisis response in which many people from a range of services may need to work with those who experienced a traumatic event. The interactive workshop focuses on the concept and definition of trauma, the signs, symptoms and impact of trauma in adults and children, cultural understandings of trauma as well as how to engage in conversations with people impacted by trauma and the different treatments available for those experiencing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other conditions.
Services and Support Delivered by CAST
- Supporting the London Metropolitan Police to ensure staff wellbeing: CAST staff provided training for “Blue Light” emergency services in issues around trauma. CAST also provided screening for trauma spectrum disorders and, where appropriate, treatment after the Grenfell Tower fire. A letter of commendation from the Metropolitan Police was delivered to CAST in recognition of the employee trauma support that we have delivered.
- Supporting the Grenfell Inquiry: Giving and listening to evidence can have an emotional impact on those involved. CAST provided support for witnesses and members of the public attending, or giving evidence at, the public inquiry. People at public inquiries often hear distressing material which can have an adverse effect on their wellbeing. Provision of psychological support contributed to the effective delivery of the inquiry.
- Supporting School Staff following the death of a student: Our work has offered guidance to schools on how to communicate information and work with those most directly impacted, as well as the impact on the wider school system.
Support for refugees and displaced people
Refugee Nurse Support
CAST designed and delivered a Refugee Nurse Support programme to assist cohorts of trained nurses relocating to the UK from refugee settings and returning to practice. We helped to support their wellbeing with proactive screening, pastoral support, and confidential advice.
CAST worked in partnership with NHS England and educational and voluntary sector partners including Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), Reset, and Talent Beyond Boundaries to deliver the programme.
The wider programme provided assistance to refugee nurses in coming to the UK, getting employment with NHS hospitals and going through the necessary procedures to obtain registration. We know that integration of refugees into their host communities is a key factor in supporting their emotional and physical wellbeing and gaining meaningful employment is one key way to promote such integration.
The overall program was very successful bringing much-needed nurses, of a very high standard, into the UK health service; it was a program which benefits everyone. CAST is fortunate in having staff and associates with experience in international relocation work and some with personal experience as migrants, including some as refugees.
Five of the refugee nurses joined CNWL Trust in November 2021. Read more here.
CAST convened a team of outreach staff to undertake face-to-face screening and support for Afghan evacuees arriving in North West London and temporarily accommodated in ‘bridging’ hotels. The team sought to address the mental health and wellbeing needs of Afghan evacuees but also picked up more general issues around wellbeing and signposted evacuees to a range of other services which could help their quality of life and integration into British society.
The project was led by Dr Jai Adhyaru and was delivered in partnership with local authorities and a range of third sector providers. The outreach team worked to proactively engage with and speak to as many evacuees resident in hotels as possible (most evacuees arrived at hotels in Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster). We used a standardised interview schedule to ensure all relevant issues were covered and equipped the team with screening tools translated into relevant languages, in addition to involving interpreters in the team.
We are in the process of publishing the outcomes of the project. It was notable for reaching a lot of people, over 740, in a short period of time and at low cost. The key to the approach was partnerships across organisations and training and supervision of non-specialist staff to carry important parts of the programme. That allowed us to use first language staff with expertise in Afghan culture while putting in place mechanisms to provide or source specialist treatment for those who needed it.
This website contains translated materials for use with Afghans with trauma and other mental health problems, some developed by us, some sourced from a range of other providers which you are free to use.
You can read more about this project here
Also: https://www.cnwl.nhs.uk/news/cnwl-heathrow-airport-helping-refugees-afghanistan
Ukrainian Evacuee Response
CAST has collated a range of resources in key languages to support professionals in health and care and beyond with recognising and addressing the needs of people arriving in the UK from Ukraine. These include helpful information from authorities such as the Red Cross on the needs of people who have been through a traumatic event, as well as guides and advice, psychological screening tools for health professionals, and links to other useful resources.
Contact
If you have a question or would like to work with CAST email us at [email protected]
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