Complementary therapists save NHS staff and healthcare workers from Coronavirus mental health trauma: is EFT the answer for COVID stress?

When friends and family on the NHS frontline began suffering severely with COVID-related stress and trauma earlier in the year, a group of over 30 professional complementary practitioners came together to set up FAST (Frontline Assistance for Stress and Trauma).

This voluntary team have worked selflessly through lockdown and now beyond into the second wave, providing a free, online support service to help all UK based healthcare and emergency workers overcome pandemic stress. Their confidential service uses EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) ‘tapping’ therapy – a powerful, cutting edge tool you can use anywhere, at any time.

For many of the healthcare workers, it was the first time they had tried any complementary therapy, but the results with EFT have been transformative (and eye-opening for many of the nurses and doctors). So far, FAST has provided over 300 sessions across the UK, with wholly positive results.

Up to now the FAST team have volunteered their time, skills, and expertise, raising simply for their basic set up and ongoing running costs. However, now FAST needs to fundraise so they can continue to offer their free service to every UK healthcare worker who needs their support.

As an anonymous hospital GP explains,

“Before my FAST experience I was off the rating out of 10. It was 1000. In my first session I saw a change down to 3/10 and it has not gone back up. I find the techniques very functional, with real life relevance and applicable, which results in a positive impact in my ability to cope. I wanted to thank you for your incredible compassion and professionalism with me. All of you are so kind to donate your time and expertise to people like us and of course we can never thank you enough for this”.

EFT is not offered on the NHS – yet. Once considered a fringe therapy, EFT now has an impressive amount of scientific research to back it up. FAST believes it’s a matter of time until EFT is NICE recognised, but until then the team is committed to making EFT accessible by continuing to offer their service free of charge to our selfless front-liners for as long as they need to reach out to access support.

“We are now seeing evidence of ongoing mental health challenges, including emerging signs of PTSD amongst NHS workers, and demand for our FAST service is growing. With the predicted second wave upon us, the impact of COVID on our brilliant healthcare workers is only going to increase” says Wendy Power Stoten, founder of FAST.

“For 6 months FAST has proven its super efficiency, EFTs incredible effectiveness, and we, the voluntary FAST team, have grown our expertise in Covid-19 related issues”, continues Wendy.

FAST needs to be here for as long as the devastation and destruction to mental health that Covid-19 has created remains and has launched a fundraising campaign to raise £8000 to keep this vital service going.