Intercultural Therapeutic Services at Goldsmiths

ITS@Goldsmiths is an intercultural and intersectional focused therapeutic provision; respecting and protecting the whole person by valuing culture, ethnicity, identity and spirituality as fundamental aspects of the person, mental health and therapeutic experience.

Our Aim is to support persons facing racialised segregation and religious minoritisation who are less likely to access psychological interventions in clinical settings, by providing a multilingual, culturally and spiritually inclusive service.

Discretely located within the campus of Goldsmiths, University of London in New Cross, services are delivered at no cost to members of the Lewisham community by Goldsmiths postgraduate diploma and masters therapies students on placement.

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Culturally inclusive therapeutic interventions

At ITS@Goldsmiths (Intercultural Therapeutic Services at Goldsmiths), CBT or Psychodynamic Psychotherapy is provided by closely supervised Goldsmiths therapies students on placement.

Therapy spaces are offered on a first come first served basis, targeting some of the most vulnerable racialised and religiously minoritised members of the Lewisham community aged 18 or over. Our target clientele includes, but is not limited to:

Unemployed or on a significantly low income
Refugees and asylum seekers (with or without recourse to public funds)
Persons experiencing or at risk of homelessness
Persons that wouldn't usually access mental health services due to cultural barriers, including faith-based misconceptions and stigma
Persons experiencing the effects of trauma and/or PTSD
Victims of domestic abuse / domestic violence
Unpaid carers

Please not that this list is not exhaustive. Additional languages therapy can be delivered in Farsi, Greek, German, Hindu, Persian, Turkish, Urdu.

Evidence based therapies include:

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)

CBT: explores how your thoughts and feelings influence your behaviour and helps you develop solution focused coping strategies to improve your quality of life

Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

Explores how your past affects your present, considers the impact of generational trauma and helps you to heal from emotional wounds that might hinder the success of your future.

Co-funded by NHS South East London and Lewisham Integrated Care Board, ITS@Goldsmiths is a pioneering initiative providing the most marginalised members of the Lewisham community free mid-to-longer-term culturally sensitive talking therapy.

In turn the Goldsmiths therapies students are offered the opportunity to develop vital intersectional focused skills within an intercultural framework, contributing to addressing the racial disparities and inequalities in mental health service delivery and outcomes. Students will be closely supervised and managed by qualified psychotherapists and supervisors.

How to access the service

Please complete an Initial Triage Form and we will be in touch to follow up

If you are attending a Be Well Hub affiliated with the Citizens UK Charity and South London Listens, you may be signposted to ITS@Goldsmiths by a Be Well Champion, who can also assist you with completing forms. Lewisham Be Well champions are located in various Lewisham based community projects and can provide you with an Initial Triage Form.

For assistance you can visit one of the following Be Well Hubs:

Lewisham Migrants and Refugee Network (LMRN)
Lewisham Islamic Centre
New Testament Church of God (NTCG Lee BeWell Hub)
Lucas Vale Primary School
Grinling Gibbons Primary School
Holistic Well Women

Various other Lewisham based projects and organisations are additional possible routes:

AFRIL (Action For Refugees In Lewisham)
The Bridge (Part of 999 Club)
SEL Mind (South East London Mind)
Together: For Mental Health (Lewisham Wellbeing Hub)

Eligibility

You might be eligible if you:

Have a Lewisham GP or a Lewisham address
Consider the Borough of Lewisham to be your primary base but do not have a stable address or GP

Number of sessions

Those eligible will be offered 20 therapy sessions on the basis that you can attend sessions on the same day at the same time.

How to access the service

Complete an Initial Triage Form and we will be in touch to follow up.

Contact

Tel: 020 7896 2136

Location: We are based at 19 Laurie Grove, SE14 6NH.

Opening times: We are open Monday, Wednesday, Thursday Friday 9am-5pm.

You will require a pre-booked appointment to access the service.