Women's Health

Service lead: Dr Kelly Abraham-Smith
Email: whh-tr.chp@nhs.net

Who is in the team?

Dr Kelly Abraham-Smith - Clinical Psychologist and Service Lead
Dr Catrin Cooper - Clinical Psychologist
Trainee Clinical and Counselling Psychologists

Who do we provide services for?

We are a specialist psychological support service for patients and couples under the care of Whittington Health, who are experiencing distress during pregnancy, fertility treatment, gynaecological treatment or following a traumatic birth.

How can I get referred?

This service accepts self-referrals only from individuals and couples under the care of Whittington Health.

If you would like to refer yourself to our service, please read the relevant self-referral form and follow the instructions on the front cover:

Perinatal Referral Form

Birth Trauma Referral Form

Fertility and Gynaecology Referral Form

Please be aware that if you are currently pregnant and would like to self-refer, we can only accept referrals for individuals up to 32 weeks of pregnancy. If you are more than 32 weeks pregnant, we would be happy to discuss alternative services with you.

I am a healthcare professional and would like to refer someone to your service � how can I do this?

We only accept self-referrals into this service. If you think one of your patients could benefit from our service, please discuss this with them and provide them with a copy of the relevant self-referral form (see below). They must complete and email this to us so we can then process the referral.

Perinatal Referral Form

Birth Trauma Referral Form

Fertility and Gynaecology Referral Form

As noted above, if you are working with someone currently pregnant, please be aware we can only accept referrals for up to 32 weeks gestation.

What happens after you receive my referral form?

Once we have received your completed self-referral form by email, our team will triage your referral and then contact you to either book you in for an assessment, or let you know about other services which might better suit your needs.

In the assessment we will ask a bit more about your current difficulties, your life in general and a bit about any relevant history. We will then agree a plan with you based on what best suits your individual needs and hopes for any psychological therapy. If we think this service is best placed to help you then we will add you to our waiting list for therapy sessions. If we think another service would better suit your needs, we will discuss the options with you.

We offer between 6 to 8 therapy sessions with a psychologist or trainee psychologist in the team. Currently, we offer face to face and, where appropriate, virtual/phone sessions. Therapy sessions involve an integration of a range of therapeutic approaches that best meet your individual needs.

For those who are pregnant, we can offer psychological support up to 3 months postnatally. If at that point you require any further support, we can discuss options with you.

I�m not sure about referring - how can I find out more?

We understand it can feel difficult to ask for help sometimes. If you would like to know more about our service and what you can expect from your assessment or therapy sessions, please call us on 020 7527 1538 and ask to speak with a member of the women�s health psychology service, or email us at whh-tr.chp@nhs.net (please note: all members of our team work part-time and so it may take a few days for us to get back to you).

Please also find more information about our service in the Women�s Health Psychology Service leaflet