HBDCA provides:
- Counselling for individuals
- Counselling in a group setting (if appropriate) i.e. for Mums of newly diagnosed children, for people with an inhibitor, or for bereaved family members of someone lost through contaminated blood
- Wellbeing work-shops on issues important to the bleeding disorder community such as Life-empowerment for young men, Pain Management, or Women with Bleeding Disorders, with a focus on mental wellbeing and the provision of coping strategies
- Training for existing counsellors and for new counsellors wishing to enter the bleeding disorder arena
HBDCA provides you, your family and caregivers with expert, psychological support that will enhance the medical care you receive. Our counsellors and therapists have deep insight into the issues you and your family may experience and offer a safe and empathetic space in which to discuss them whilst also exploring with you useful coping tools.
HBDCA can provide this care through Wellbeing Workshops and with one to one counselling sessions. Initially these will mainly take place in London but we intend to expand this support to other hubs across the UK. All our services are free!
HBDCA aims to collaborate with haemophilia centres across the UK and their multi-disciplinary teams, to provide free psychological support as part of a holistic package of care to individuals affected by a bleeding disorder, their family members and caregivers.
As well as the provision of psychological services, HBDCA aims to become the natural home for all counsellors working in this field. HBDCA will develop a network of counsellors to implement this provision nationwide.
Although initially based in London, the intention is for HBDCA to have a presence at an additional location each year so that, in line with its Strategic Plan, it will achieve its aim of having four counselling hubs across the UK by 2023. HBDCA consultants will travel to these locations to enable people access to these services in their own locality.
Bleeding Disorder Community Needs
People affected by a bleeding disorder not only have physical issues that need to be managed by a team of healthcare professionals such as nurses, consultants and physiotherapists but in many cases, they require psychological support also. The reasons for this are many and complex but will often include at least one of the following: chronic pain, isolation, reduced quality of life and uncertainty and fear of the future, particularly for those with an inhibitor, even with the new treatments available.
For individuals and families affected by the Infected Blood issue, the impact on their mental wellbeing is magnified a thousand-fold. The different cohorts within the bleeding disorder community can experience all or some of these issues during their lives. For example: the parents of a newly diagnosed child, a teenager who has a long-standing inhibitor, an older person worried at the prospect of having to go into a care home, a young woman whose partner has left her at the prospect of having a child with a bleeding disorder. The bereaved partner of someone lost through Infected Blood, or someone living with the complex challenges, both physical and mental, of Infected Blood, whether with HIV, Hepatitis C or co-infected with both.
