Northampton Chronicle News Professor Alex O’Neil-Kerr offers NHS workers 50 percent discount on ‘game changer’ mental health treatment

“I cannot wait to help patients and show them how different their mental health can be”

Article in the Northampton Chronicle by Logan MacLeod

A mental health clinic in Northampton is offering NHS workers a 50 percent discount on their first consultation for an alternative mental health treatment during July.

Professor Alex O’Neill Kerr, previously an NHS doctor, is offering the discount for transcranial magnetic stimulation treatment (TMS) at his Northampton clinic – Transforming Minds Solution – on the Billing Road.

TMS is a form of neuromodulation, a non-invasive technique which stimulates brain tissue and offers fewer side effects than more widely available treatments, such as ECT or antidepressants, according to experts.

The professor, who has 30 years’ experience as an adult consultant psychiatrist, said that over the past eighteen months cases of PTSD, depression and anxiety have been rising in NHS workers amid the pandemic, which prompted him to help.

He said: “TMS is the future of mental health and is a game changer for people with depression. I cannot wait to help patients, especially those fighting covid on the front line, and show them how different their mental health can be with just a few sessions of TMS treatment.

“Some of my patients have likened coming out of depression with TMS treatment like going from darkness to light and colour, which is the most rewarding part of my job.”

The process involves placing an electromagnetic coil on the head to deliver a short powerful burst of magnetic energy through the scalp to induce electric current in the brain.

Lead practitioner of Transforming Mind Solutions, Richard Williams, added: “Following my breakdown in 2015, I decided to start my studies with the Institute of Counsellors to give a more holistic approach to mental health treatments and to give back to the mental health services which helped me so much.

“TMS profoundly changed my life and now all I want to do now is help people rediscover themselves through this ground-breaking technology, especially during these difficult times.”

To claim the 50 percent discount on their first consultation, NHS workers need only email a picture of their ID card to [email protected] between July 1 and 31 to arrange an appointment.