Shining the spotlight on the APTUK/CMHP Mental Health Branch.
28 October 2024
(Last updated: 14 Nov 2025 16:13)
For World Mental Health Day 2024 we would like to shine the spotlight on the APTUK/CMHP Mental Health Branch. The newly formed branch held their second branch meeting on 2nd October.
More than 25 pharmacy technicians joined the branch meeting for an educational session delivered by Caroline Lawrence MAPharmT BSc (hons) PGCert, Lead Pharmacy Technician at Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust. The session focused on anxiety disorders. Caroline highlighted how common anxiety is and how to recognise and support people whose anxiety impacts their quality of life. The session gave a really clear overview of the different types of anxiety and how they are diagnosed. Anxiety can present with a wide of variety of symptoms and this leads to challenges when diagnosing anxiety as many of the symptoms are initially associated with other physical and mental health conditions. Caroline explained the variety of psychological and pharmacological treatments available for anxiety, giving a really clear overview of the range of medications, their mechanisms of action and place in NICE guidelines. The session highlighted the importance of checking the indication for different medications, for example, SSRIs are often assumed to be prescribed for depression, but they are also a first line pharmacological treatment for some anxiety disorders. Caroline helped those in attendance understand the role of pharmacy technicians in the treatment of anxiety disorders including reviewing benzodiazepine use, working with other members of the multidisciplinary team to support correct diagnosis, signposting and referral, medication counselling and considering co-morbidities. Caroline closed the session with really helpful advice on how to support someone that is struggling with anxiety; this included support from organisations including the Samaritans, mental health crisis helplines and texting “SHOUT” to 85258 for support from the charity Mental Health Innovations.
The branch meeting closed with updates from APTUK and CMHP with a reminder that pre-registration pharmacy technicians can access free membership to both organisations for the duration of their training. Pharmacy Technicians are eligible to apply for CMHP bursaries and the next PsychPharmTechs event is scheduled to take place on 4th April 2025. It would also be fantastic to see more pharmacy technicians submitting posters and oral presentations at the APTUK and CMHP conferences. Attendees highlighted current challenges in their practice including medicines safety and implementation of EPMA, the meeting gave an excellent opportunity for people to network and share their experiences in these areas.
The branch committee are planning a festive social and the next full meeting is scheduled for Wednesday 8th January and will take place on Teams, the topic will be pharmacy technicians in community mental health teams, please contact mentalhealthbranch@aptuk.org if you would like to attend or present at future meetings or for any further information.