NHS75: An interview with our Head of Service

NHS75 is the chance to celebrate our colleagues, both past and present, for the fantastic service they have given over the past 75 years.

We spoke to TALKWORKS Head of Service, Jonny Wilkins, about this landmark event. In the interview below, he shares why he joined the NHS and what makes it a great place to work. He then looks ahead to the future of TALKWORKS and how he hopes the service can grow even further to support adults across Devon in improving their mental and physical wellbeing.

How long have you been working in the NHS and for TALKWORKS?

I started working for the NHS as an admin temp in 2003, moving into a formal non-clinical role in an NHS training department 2004. At that point my plan was to gain experience and then apply for the graduate management scheme, however I was able to spend some time shadowing frontline mental health clinicians and realised I wanted to follow a clinical pathway. I was fortunate enough to be sponsored to undertake mental health nurse training by my NHS employer in North Yorkshire, and have never looked back since. Nursing led me into Cognitive behavioural Therapy, and then into the NHS Talking Therapies programme, which I joined as a trainee therapist in North Yorkshire in 2010. I moved down to Devon in 2014 to join the then Depression and Anxiety Service, and have then been fortunate enough to move into a number of leadership roles since then. Moving to Devon was one of the best decisions I have even made and I don’t see myself ever leaving.

What does NHS75 mean to you, and how do you feel about being a part of the NHS as we celebrate its 75^th Birthday?

I decided I wanted to work in the NHS after completing my first degree. Most of my family have worked, or still do work for the NHS, and although my first degree was not health related I came to the conclusion that the NHS aligned completely with my values and was where I wanted to build a career. I am so very proud to be a bearer of the NHS blue badge and everything that it stands for. The NHS is unique across the world, one of the greatest achievements of our country, and also given its importance within my own family, there is nowhere else I would want to work.

What do you think are some of the key achievements of the NHS over the past 75 years?

There are too many really to describe, but given my own area of work, the NHS Talking Therapies programme (previously known as Improving Access to Psychological Therapies) has been a huge success story. Millions of people have been able access treatment since it began in 2008, and it is a model that has garnered international recognition and is being widely copied and rolled out in many countries across the world.

Why do you think the NHS is a great place to work?

No one would deny the challenges that the NHS faces every day, in trying to deliver the best care we can with limited resources and a very busy workforce, but I truly believe the NHS is where you will find some of the very best, most committed, most hard working and most value led people in our society. The NHS is it’s people, and it is my colleagues here in DPT and within wider organisation that make this such a special place to work.

The coronavirus pandemic was obviously a very challenging time for the NHS. What learnings have yourself and TALKWORKS as a service taken from this?

I think there are two main areas of learning for us from the pandemic. The first are the specific things we realised we could do effectively that we didn’t know before – such as remote therapy being a significant part of our offer, and that it is both desirable and more convenient for a lot of people and equally as effective as face to face therapy. We now offer a mix of both so people can choose what they think will work best for them.

However I think equally important is the more general learning that this is grounded in – that we should always be willing to question our assumptions about how things should be done, and never be closed to new ideas or ways of thinking about or delivering services. It shouldn’t have taken a pandemic, which took a great toll on the NHS and the country, for us to have discovered that remote and hybrid working could be so helpful. However, as a result, I think we are more mindful of exploring new ways of working, and questioning why we do things the way we always have. Hopefully we can uncover even better ways to deliver services without needing a pandemic to prompt us!

Looking ahead, how do you think TALKWORKS will continue to grow within the NHS?

There are two main things that we try to do in TALKWORKS to improve our service every day. Firstly, we want to reach out to even more people, and particularly to people who are underrepresented in our service, such as older people, men, and people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds. We hope to be able of offer the service to as many people as possible and will continue to think about how we can reach out and encourage more people to come and see us.

Secondly, we want to improve even further the quality of the work we do, and the kinds of things we can help with. We have recently introduced a new treatment for people with Prolonged Grief Disorder, we are part of a trial of a new adapted therapy for people with depression, and in the new year we will begin a trial of a new group programme for pregnant women struggling with anxiety, delivered in conjunction with maternity clinicians. We will continue to try and improve what we do and develop new treatments and adaptations, to even better help the people of Devon.  

You can learn more about TALKWORKS and the mental health support we can offer to adults across Devon here or by calling 0300 555 3344. If you are interested in starting a career within the NHS or would like to work in mental health within Devon Partnership NHS Trust, please visit the DPT Jobs website to view the vacancies available.