GP & Professionals Referral Process
Our aim is to work hand in hand alongside Therapists, GPs, Psychiatrists, businesses and other referring professionals to design and supply appropriate and ongoing therapeutic support for both members of the public and professionals from all spheres. OTS works as part of a dynamic two way process to provide a broader therapeutic response environment for your patients/clients. We offer psycho-educational workshops, individual counselling and therapy, a low-cost counselling service, support groups and group therapy, which offers unique additional support for those suffering depression, anxiety, addiction, or interpersonal and personality disorders.
If you have a client or patient who you think may benefit from one of our workshops or groups or one-to-one counselling/pshcotherapy, you can either:
- Contact us by phone on 07977 126330 or email us to arrange a time discuss it.
- Ask them to complete the application form on the 'What To Do Next' page.
If you would like us to come and talk to your practice about how our organisation can support your patients, please email or phone Justin Smith on 07977 126330.
A Charity Focussed Organisation
The success of OTS and its vision will depend largely on two factors:
- firstly, on gathering committed, highly competent professionals to participate in this vision and contribute to it; and
- secondly, on generating sufficient income to develop the work of OTS.
Anyone who has any earnings from clients that OTS generates, pays 10% of fees into OTS funds. Ultimately our funds will be used to subsidise low cost work for the broad range of therapy groups we will set up.
A Learning and Development Environment
We are creating a learning and development environment for all professional members. We are doing this in several ways:
- 1. We hold bi-monthly meetings for our members. We are developing a real community with our meetings which are followed by a bring and share lunch. Meeting cover a range of areas including - organisational development, talks, and an emphasis on learning from each other across the modalities.
2. As an organisation, we recognise the importance of the different traditions in the therapeutic, psychological and development fields, and are committed to developing an organisation which both honours and challenges all these traditions. We want to offer as flexible and multi-modal approach as possible, developing an open and challenging cross-modality organisation.
3. We have a commitment to excellence, reflective practice and transparency. As part of our assessment process for professionals interested in joining OTS, our intention is to understand where you are in your development as a practitioner, and provide an organisational structure which supports you as individuals. For those members who offer individual counselling and psychotherapy for example, we will be offering group supervision as a requirement for trainees and newly developing practitioners. Depending on your stage of development you may be offered the opportunity of joining one of our supervision or development groups as part of our commitment to excellence.
Low-Cost Counselling Service
We will offer a low-cost counselling service provided by trainees on placement and newly qualified practitioners in group supervision with us. There are several placement services for trainees in the Oxfordshire area, but we could do with more. We offer one which is committed to the development of practitioners with fortnightly group supervision for trainees and monthly for developing qualified practitioners. This will allow us to offer a professional service with a range of low cost fees for clients unable to afford full fees.
Evaluation and Supervision
We are committed to an ongoing evaluation, feedback and supervision programme for all of our services, as part of our commitment to excellence. We recognise that with the challenging nature of the work we do there are inevitable experiences of relationship breakdown, disappointment and failure. It is often an area of our work where we get get to feel vulnerable, exposed and even shamed. However, one of the hallmarks of great therapy is being able to engage with the tensions and complications surrounding the inevitable ruptures and failures in our work, whether by seeking feedback from clients, or from colleagues.
To support this process, we will be seeking evaluation feedback from all OTS clients, in whatever way they have connected with us.
Joining OTS - as a member or associate trainer/facilitator
The initial launch of OTS is took place in January 2015. We have been busy since then forming our professional community of practitioners, and developing various activities to support our vision. You are invited to read the article A broader therapeutic response environment, and come to one of our monthly meetings, where you can meet us, and see if you want to be considered for membership. We meet on a monthly basis for 1/2 days and full days on Sundays in Witney. In order for this vision to be realised to its fullest potential, we need to gather practitioners who want to share in this vision.
