Primary Care Training
Mental Health & Patient Distress Training is designed to support healthcare professionals working in primary care to recognise, understand, and respond appropriately to individuals experiencing mental health difficulties. In busy GP and community settings, staff are often the first point of contact for patients in distress, making early recognition and compassionate response essential.
This training focuses on building confidence, improving understanding, and supporting safe, person-centred care for individuals experiencing mental health challenges, including self-harm, eating disorders, and emotional distress.
Mental health presentations are common in primary care, with many patients seeking support through GP practices, urgent care, and community services. Healthcare professionals must be able to respond appropriately, even when mental health is not the primary reason for the consultation.
Effective mental health awareness improves patient safety, supports earlier intervention, reduces escalation of risk, and ensures patients feel heard and supported. It also helps reduce stigma and improves access to appropriate care pathways.
In primary care environments, staff regularly encounter complex and time-sensitive situations, including:
This training helps staff respond confidently and appropriately in these situations while maintaining professional boundaries and patient safety.
Striding Edge has always striven to reduce the stigma often associated with poor mental health by working with primary care staff to develop everyone’s knowledge and understanding.
People experiencing mental health distress are often some of the least supported people in our communities, are more likely to experience social isolation, inequality, and additional health morbidity.
We aim through our work to support staff (non-clinical and clinical) to develop a deeper knowledge around mental health, so that your team feels more confident in communicating compassionately and non-judgementally, and understands the importance of early escalation.
This training is designed for both clinical and non-clinical staff working in UK primary care settings, including GP practices, Primary Care Networks (PCNs), and wider NHS community services. It is suitable for anyone who may come into contact with patients experiencing mental health difficulties as part of their role.
Yes. Our courses are specifically designed to support everyone in primary care, helping them build confidence in patient communication, care navigation, systems use, and core administrative processes.
Yes. Training can be delivered for individuals, small teams, whole GP practices, or across Primary Care Networks, depending on your requirements and goals.
Yes. We regularly design bespoke training programmes for GP practices and PCNs, focusing on specific challenges such as patient access, reception workflows, system confidence, or communication skills. We may charge a small fee depending on the work required.
Training can be delivered in person, online, or through a blended approach depending on what works best for your team and operational requirements.
We work with individual GP practices, health boards, ICBs, PCNs, and wider primary care organisations to deliver training that reflects the realities of modern general practice.
Explore our practical mental health and patient distress training courses for NHS and primary care teams, or contact us to discuss tailored training for your organisation.
