Member Spotlight – Sandra Thompson SCT Therapy (With You in Mind)

Member Spotlight – Sandra Thompson SCT Therapy (With You in Mind)

SCT Therapy – What Services Are Offered?

I’m excited to be in the member’s spotlight for NTBF and share my business story with you.

 

Where to start?

I’m Sandra Thompson, and for most of my career, I worked as a Civil Servant in HR (people development) and project management, roles I thoroughly enjoyed.  I thought I’d work at DWP forever, blissfully unaware and untouched by mental health issues.  However, life had other ideas for me and 7 years ago I found myself in the unplanned/unforeseen position of changing careers.

 

About me

With 2 adopted children, aged 10 and 15, who came home as babies and have substantial trauma issues, I’ve spent the past 7 years learning about and helping with their extreme and complex difficulties.  In the process of doing this I received EMDR (eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing) treatment for secondary trauma.  At the risk of sounding dramatic, EMDR quite literally saved my life and helped me to deal with the continual challenges faced as an adoptive mam.  A friend, suffering considerable difficulties of her own, needed help, and this is when I made my life changing decision to retrain as a psychotherapeutic therapist.  I trained in (and now provide) Clinical Neuro-Linguistic Hypnotherapy, EMDR (including EMDR Flash Technique), IEMT (Integral Eye Movement Therapy), Coaching and more recently in Mental Health First Aid and Counselling.

 

Working harder than ever before, I travelled around the country to ensure I was trained by the best.  I built my experience working with FACT (Fighting all Cancers Together), an incredible charity providing counselling for children and adults affected by cancer.  I then went on to set up my business, SCT Therapy (With You in Mind) a few years ago and offer therapy services to children, young people, adults, groups, and now business.  I provide voluntary support to other charities.

I have never enjoyed work as much as now and I’m living proof of how these therapies can be successful, as well as having the immense pleasure and satisfaction of assisting others to heal and improve their lives.  I recently took a leap of faith, leaving a job with an Adoption Therapy Service provider, to focus solely on my clients and business.

 

So, welcome to SCT Therapy, where I offer/provide two therapy services:

 

  1. Therapy Service

 

As a person-centred, integrative therapist, working within the North East, I have a calm and relaxing therapy room based in Sanctuary House, North Shields and another in Whitley Bay.  This is where changes are made, and goals are achieved.

 

I am honoured and committed to help people who face low mood, stress, anxiety, grief, addiction and many other issues, or simply wish to improve/change their life, to find the strength and resilience needed to overcome and get through the challenges life throws our way.  Seeing my clients recover, overcome, improve, and reach their goals is job satisfaction at its best.

 

I specialise in: Trauma, attachment & dissociation; low mood, self-esteem & confidence issues; grief, bereavement & loss; anxiety, stress management, depression & panic attacks; phobias & compulsive disorders; sleep management, performance management & pain management; addiction, smoking cessation, eating disorders & weight management; mental health first aid; various workshops (including mindfulness & relaxation); coaching and some counselling

 

  1. Mental Health First Aid Service

 

Background

I recently experienced working in a toxic environment, an experience I never wish to repeat!  As a trained Mental Health First Aid practitioner, I offer a service to support employers looking to embrace providing a positive working environment for their employees.

 

With a strongly developed knowledge and understanding of how organisation’s run better not only with good leadership, but also with overarching wellbeing strategies in place, my aim is to support the business in establishing and adopting such strategies.  Employees will perform and develop better when valued and supported by their employer.  It enables them to work in an environment where they can build more positive relationships, cope better with workloads, and work more effectively/productively, developing pride in their work and confidence.  Underpinning my service offer is helping organisation’s realise: better employee morale and engagement; a healthier and more inclusive culture; lower sickness absence and improve retention rate.

 

I think we all recognise that being part of a thriving workforce will quickly escalate an organisation to an employer of choice.

 

Training mental health first aiders is a good step in the right direction for organisation’s, as they act as the first point of contact for colleagues with mental health issues.  Problems may arise when the trained mental health first aider must deal with someone who has significant mental ill health?

 

Research suggests that training staff to become mental health first aiders doesn’t provide full compliance with the legal and duty of care requirements to employees.

 

What do I offer?

I offer a mental health first aid and therapy support service to businesses to:

  • Support them in meeting their legal and duty of care responsibilities toward employee mental health, and improve overall wellbeing
  • Support in developing a successful mental health work plan
  • Support employees in understanding the role they play in meeting their own mental health needs whilst at work

 

How do I do this?

I work closely with the leadership team to support them in providing a positive working environment, where employees can realise their abilities, cope with normal stresses (at work and maintain a healthy work/life balance), work productively and fruitfully and contribute to the working community.

I can provide: Stress Management, Weight management and eating habits, Confidence and self-esteem, Addictions and smoking cessation and Relaxation, wellbeing, and wellness workshops.

 

Why will this help?

Employers are under constant pressure to learn about and implement new work schemes, e.g., mandatory Pension Schemes and GDPR, which impacts on business productivity.

Most recently there’s significant talk of, ramping up, training up of and implementation of mental health first aiders within the workplace.  Compliance of the many and various Mental Health Laws (including: The Mental Health Act 1983 (updated in 2007), and The Equality Act 2010) and guidelines can be a minefield for employers and employees alike.

 

What are the benefits of this service?

One in four people worldwide will experience a mental health problem at some point in their lives and there are several risk factors (inside and outside of work) that can increase the risk of a person experiencing mental ill health.  My service offers the organisation:

  • a supportive collaboration working towards reducing mental health stigma
  • strategies aimed at helping employees remain at work, including:
    • preventing absences
    • reducing long-term absences
    • support for those who need to take time off
    • adjustments (risk assessments) required in the workplace.

 

Key to this is reminding and supporting employees in recognising the role they need to play in meeting their own mental health needs and aiming towards the healthy end of the mental health continuum whenever possible.  The World Health Organisation say that “work is good for mental health, but a negative working environment can lead to physical and mental health problems”. 

 

So, this is me, Sandra Thompson, SCT Therapy (With You in Mind).  A huge thank you to NTBF and The Business Factory for supporting me and my business and thank you so much to you for reading my story.  Please contact me if you’d like to know more, meet up for a chat, or if you’d like to use one of my services.  More information on the therapies and techniques I provide are on my website, or please contact me for further information, or an informal chat.

 

W: https://scttherapy.com

E: [email protected]

T: 07976 723875

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Let us introduce Chris Wilson, a strong force representing Square and Compass Bar

With a diverse background covering operational, sales, marketing, international, and general management roles, Chris brings a lot of knowledge and a solid business network.

His extensive experience is ready to help the NTBF management team and nuture collaborative growth.

Business:

Square and Compass Bar

Wider Business Groups:

North East England Chamber of Commerce