GPs are juggling a lot. In a fifteen-minute appointment, you’re managing blood pressure, screening for depression, coordinating care across three specialists, and trying to remember that Mrs. Jackson’s daughter just finished her degree. The mental health question often comes up last, or in the margins. And when it does, the referral decision sits somewhere in the middle of a long list of things that need to be right.

That’s why I built this tool. Not to tell you what to do, you know your patients, but to give your clinical judgment a framework it can move through quickly. A way to think through the decision without adding another thing to your cognitive load.

What it does

Over about five to eight minutes, it walks you through:

1. A structured assessment of the patient’s presenting concern, severity, duration, and risk profile

2. Questions about prior treatment response, treatment readiness, and patient motivation

3. A stepped-care clinical recommendation engine that identifies the most appropriate pathway (self-help, primary care psychology, specialist referral, or medication/dual pathway)

4. Specialist role clarity; not generic “referrals” but specific expertise descriptors (e.g., “anxiety specialist with OCD/ERP experience”)

5. An explicit assessment of suitability for referral to my own practice, with clear clinical reasoning

You leave with a concrete next step and an accountability check: Have I explained the rationale for this pathway to the patient?

Why this approach

Stepped-care mental health frameworks are evidence-backed. They improve outcomes, reduce unnecessary specialist waiting lists, and cost less. But they only work if GPs feel confident making the initial triage decision. This tool surfaces the reasoning so you can move through it in real time—or use it to inform a decision you’ve already started forming.

It’s designed to be your thinking partner, not your instruction manual.

What I hope you get from this

Clarity when you need it. A shared language with specialists about what “suitable for referral” actually means. And the reassurance that you’re using a framework that aligns with evidence-based practice, so you can explain the referral pathway to the patient with confidence.

A note on data

This tool stores nothing. There’s no data collection, no tracking, no backend. The patient’s responses never leave your screen or your clinic. Close the page and the session clears entirely. You control whether you use it, and you own whatever decision you make.