What we do
We offer a range of services to meet the needs of people who are experiencing difficulties with their mental health and offer support to carers, friends and family. The experience of mental health difficulties can range from someone feeling depressed to someone who is having disordered thinking and agitation. Contact with our service allows us to gain an understanding of how these difficulties are affecting you and how together we can help to manage your mental health problems and assist in maintaining your quality of life.
How to access our service
If you have concerns about your own mental health, or about the mental health of somebody close to you, the first contact should usually be with your GP. Your GP should have immediate access to your health records. Following a consultation your GP may decide to refer you on to one of our Primary Care link-workers. These are trained mental health staff who provide a link between your local doctor and specialist mental health services. They will have the specific knowledge and skills to decide if you would benefit from short-term involvement with their team or whether you may require access to more specialist services.
Your GP may feel your difficulties are so severe that you require admission into our in-patient facilities. Your GP's contact with our service would ordinarily receive a response from the Crisis Resolution Home Treatment team. This team provides intensive support for people in their own homes until either the crisis is resolved or hospital admission is arranged.
Why do we do it like this?
Our service is designed to offer the most effective intervention at the earliest opportunity. Most people who experience mental health difficulties are successfully treated and supported by their GP. However, if more specialist help is required we have a Primary Care Mental Health Service which can respond quickly and can potentially offer short-term therapeutic input to alleviate symptoms.
If the need for support is urgent it could result in contact with our Crisis Resolution Home Treatment service. This provides prompt home treatment in order to prevent hospital admission if possible.
Within the specialist secondary mental health service we offer a range of services consistent with the Department of Health’s National Service Framework.
How we do it
Each service offers a combination of interventions/treatments including medication and talking therapies, applying National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines. These interventions are agreed with the service user and are regularly reviewed to make sure that they continue to offer the best form of treatment.
Each of our services is staffed by a number of different professionals. Nurses, occupational therapists and social workers all help to ensure that the service offers a broad range of knowledge and skills. The Trust works to a 'whole life' philosophy that understands the person within the context of their family and community and doesn’t just focus on their mental health difficulties.
We work on a ‘strengths model’ which focuses on what someone can do rather than what they can't do. We believe in being open and honest, not patronising or paternalistic, so that people have an improved chance of social recovery.
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