We all feel stressed, worried or down from time to time. But if it goes on too long, or you feel like you can’t cope, we can help.
Bikur Cholim’s expert Emotional Health Service offers confidential and sensitive advice and support. We can help you find ways to manage your thoughts and feelings and make changes, so you can live life to the full. Our service combines the professional expertise of qualified therapists with warmth, sensitivity and support. Our team of male and female Heimishe therapists adhere strictly to Halacha and are registered with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.
Our Crisis Intervention and Trauma Response Service is staffed by volunteers who provide immediate practical and emotional support in response to traumatic incidents. These interventions seek to support individuals, families, schools and communities in the aftermath of trauma by providing psycho-educational advice and information, giving people affected by trauma the supportive tools necessary to focus on their own inner strengths and resources in order to cope. These interventions are usually provided intensely for short periods of weeks or months reducing the longer term impact of trauma.
To access this service, please call 020 8800 7878
This service is available 24/7
We work with adults, carers and families experiencing a wide range of emotional difficulties. Even though many of these problems are very common, they can become overwhelming, distressing and make day-to-day life difficult. For example:
Low mood – including low self-esteem, depression, feeling down after a stressful life event such as bereavement or because of worries about relationships or work.
Anxiety – including feeling hopeless about the future, unable to cope, anxiety about social situations, feelings of panic or OCD.
We offer a wide range of tried and tested ‘talking therapies. These involve talking with a trained professional to help you work out how to deal with negative thoughts and feelings and make positive changes. We have high rates of recovery that are well above the national average.
After an initial assessment, we’ll be able to suggest the support that’s right for you, based on your individual needs and the changes you want to make.
You will have the opportunity to reflect on what is troubling you and to explore your present circumstances in a personal and meaningful way. We will help you to learn new ways of coping, to alleviate stress and promote your inner strengths.
Our team of therapists see people for regular one-to-one appointments. The number and frequency of sessions will depend on your individual circumstances and personal progress.
If you need to cancel an appointment, we will require 24 hours’ notice.
Our trained advisers can help with any questions or concerns about your own or someone else’s mental health. We can also provide guidance on other help and support available, both from Bikur Cholim and elsewhere. If you prefer to remain anonymous, you don’t need to give us your contact details.
020 8809 8400
I had an excellent experience with my therapist. The goals we made were very clear and the techniques used were tailor-made for me.
This is the first time I have felt success in therapy. I think that’s because Bikur Cholim is an organisation that understands the life of the community.
My therapist has helped me tremendously with such care. She has restored my trust in therapy.
When I started, I was overwhelmed by my worries, but I have been taught helpful techniques of how to deal with them. I am much calmer now and don’t feel so stuck when I don’t feel good. Thank you very much. I really appreciate all you have done for me.
It was an amazing service. I felt cared for, understood and treated with extreme devotion. I am happy to have experienced it, Thank you.
Five small changes can make a big difference. These simple things have been shown to improve mental health and wellbeing.
1 Connect – With people at home, at work, school or in your local community. Building connections with others can ease our troubles and help us see things in a different way.
2 Be active – Walking, cycling, gardening – find an activity that suits you. Exercise can improve sleep, relieve tension, improve energy levels and help you think clearly.
3 Keep learning – Try new things, like a cooking course or learning an instrument. Developing new skills keeps your mind active, is fun and can increase confidence.
4 Give – Volunteer, join a community group. We all have something to offer. Giving your time can be very rewarding, boosting mood and connecting with new people.
5 Take notice – Be curious. Savour the moment. Take time to remember the little things that make you happy.
To find out more or to arrange an appointment with the Emotional Health Service, please call: 020 8800 7575
You can also arrange an appointment by emailing: [email protected]
Covid and its chllenges – the worries, pressure and responsibilities:
H Schlesinger – #1
C Sterling – #2
Thoughts-the traps, triggers and tricks:
H Schlesinger – #3
Covid-birth and post birth trauma:
H Schlesinger – #4
Covid and understanding bereavement:
H Schlesinger – #5
How to create a true Simchas Yom Tov
H Schlesinger – #6
Help I cant stop worrying
A Sturgess – #7
Eating Disorders
Dr Erica Cini & Georgia Meisels – #8
Dementia
Dr E Teper –
Video: https://us06web.zoom.us/rec/share/7c10iYoylhfJHhtrvPdOVM5CCKIJIMYC3R47ZT33NyOytknaFCMzT4Rm8u4KyTxX.RI4HvIIatDYE42t2
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We want everyone who supports us, or who comes to us for support, to feel confident and comfortable with how any personal information you share with us will be looked after. This Privacy Policy sets out how when the Bikur Cholim Therapy Service collect, use and store your personal information (this means any information that identifies or could identify you).
We are committed to protecting your personal information and making every effort to
ensure that your personal information is processed in a fair, open and transparent manner. We are a “data controller” for the purposes of Data Protection Act / General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of 2018.This means that we are responsible for, and control the processing of, your personal information.
Last updated May 2022
When you interact with us directly: This could be if you ask us about our activities, register with us for training or an event, make a donation to us, ask a question about emotional health, complete a survey providing feedback on our services, apply for a job or volunteering opportunity or otherwise provide us with your personal information. This includes when you phone or email us or get in touch through the post, or in person.
Personal information we collect includes details such as your name, date of birth, email address, postal address, telephone number and credit/debit card details (if you are making a donation or other payment), as well as information you provide in any communications between us.
- To process your donations or other payments
- To provide the services or goods that you have requested
- To update you with important administrative messages about your donation, an event or services or goods you have requested
- To keep a record of your relationship with us
- Where you volunteer with us, to administer the volunteering arrangement
If you do not provide this information, we will not be able to process your donation, sign you up for a particular event or provide goods and services you have requested.
We may also use your personal information:
- To contact you about our work
- To invite you to participate in surveys or research.
If you share your personal experience or the experiences of a friend or relative, we may also collect this health information. If you provide us with any Sensitive Personal Information by telephone, email or by other means, we will treat that information with extra care and confidentiality and always in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
You can of course decide if you want to remain anonymous, if you are happy to
share your personal details with staff members or if you would like us to share your story with the media or other parties as part of our work telling people’s personal stories about emotional health.
Data Protection Law recognises that some categories of personal information are more sensitive. Sensitive Personal Information can include information about a person’s health, race, ethnic origin, political opinions, gender or religious beliefs.
We will only use this information:
- For the purposes of dealing with your enquiry, training, and quality monitoring or evaluating the services we provide.
- We will not pass on your details to anyone else without your explicit consent
except in exceptional circumstances. Examples of this might include anyone
reporting serious self-harm or posing a threat to others. - Where you have given us your explicit consent or otherwise clearly indicated to us that you are happy for us to share your story.
The personal information we collect about you will mainly be used by our staff (and volunteers) so that they can support you. We will never sell or share your personal information with organisations so that they can contact you for any marketing activities. We may however share your information with other involved professionals, e.g. your GP and our trusted partners/funders who work with us on to deliver our services, but processing of this information is always carried out under our instruction and with your consent. We make sure that the data is kept securely, delete it when they no longer need it and never use it for any other purposes.
Occasionally there are circumstances in which we have to disclose information and when we do not necessarily need to obtain client consent.
The three main justifications for this are:
- where there are concerns about the safety of a child or vulnerable adult.
- when it is in the wider public interest to do so, for example, in the case of a serious crime.
- when disclosure is required by law, for example when we are ordered by a court to do so.
We take looking after your information very seriously. We’ve implemented appropriate physical, technical and organisational measures to protect the personal information we have under our control, both on and off-line, from improper access, use, alteration, destruction and loss.
Bikur Cholim Ltd is assured by a common law duty of confidence and by the Data Protection Act / General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of 2018 to protect personal information. We also have contractual responsibilities and professional codes of conduct, which we must abide by. We receive regular training to make sure we understand our legal responsibilities to keep your personal information safe and to know in what circumstances we may have to share confidential information. We have procedures and policies in place to make sure that your personal confidential information is secure and that access to your record is strictly controlled and, on a need, to know basis.
We only keep it as long as is reasonable and necessary for the relevant activity, which may be to fulfil statutory obligations or to comply with BACP requirements, contractual obligations etc. More information can be found in our Data Protection Procedure.
You have various rights in respect of the personal information we hold about you – these are set out in more detail below. If you wish to exercise any of these rights or make a complaint, you can do so by contacting team at
Bikur Cholim Ltd, Ground Floor, 2a Northfield Road, London N16 5RN,
By email at [email protected]
By phone on 020 8800 7575.
Should you be unable to resolve the matter with us you can make a complaint to the data protection supervisory authority, the Information Commissioner’s Office, https://ico.org.uk/
- Access to your personal information: You have the right to request access to a copy of the personal information that we hold about you, along with information on what personal information we use, why we use it, who we share it with, how long we keep it for and whether it has been used for any automated decision making. You can make a request for access free of charge. Please make all requests for access in writing and provide us with evidence of your identity.
- Right to object: You can object to our processing of your personal information where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal information for direct marketing purposes. Please contact us as noted above, providing details of your objection.
- Consent: If you have given us your consent to use personal information (for example, for marketing), you can withdraw your consent at any time.
- Rectification: You can ask us to change or complete any inaccurate or incomplete personal information held about you.
- Erasure: You can ask us to delete your personal information where it is no longer necessary for us to use it, or you have withdrawn consent, or where we have no lawful basis for keeping it.
- Portability: You can ask us to provide you or a third party with some of the personal information that we hold about you in a structured, commonly used, electronic form, so it can be easily transferred.
- Restriction: You can ask us to restrict the personal information we use about you where you have asked for it to be erased or where you have objected to our use of it.
- No automated-decision making: Automated decision-making takes place when an electronic system uses personal information to make a decision without human intervention. You have the right not to be subject to automated decisions that will create legal effects or have a similar significant impact on you, unless you have given us your consent, it is necessary for a contract between you and us or is otherwise permitted by law. You also have certain rights to challenge decisions made about you. We do not currently carry out any automated decision-making.
- Opt out – In March 2020, the National Opt – Out Policy became a legal requirement for all NHS and Social Care providers. This allows you to consent /opt out of your personal confidential data being used for purposes beyond your direct care. You can find out more about this here https://digital.nhs.uk/services/national-data-opt-out
Please note, some of these rights only apply in certain circumstances, where one of your rights does not apply, we will communicate the reason to you.