A unique pilot programme which aims to improve the support available to people who present to emergency services in distress recently helped its 1000th person.

The Distress Brief Intervention programme has brought frontline emergency department staff, police officers, primary care and Scottish Ambulance Service paramedics together to improve the frontline service response to distress.

DBI photo

IHW researchers, led by Professor Rory O’Connor and Dr Jack Melson, developed the intervention and training programme which supports frontline services staff providing the intervention. The Distress Brief Intervention has two parts. First, trained front line emergency staff help ease any patient/individual who is in immediate and sometimes overwhelming emotional distress. If immediate medical assistance is not required then a referral is offered to receive immediate support beginning within 24 hours, which is provided by trained 3rd sector mental health support staff based within the community.

First published: 14 March 2018

<< September 2018