Children, young people and families will be able to access state-of-the-art mental health services at a purpose-built facility near York this summer.
The Retreat on Heslington Road, one of the oldest mental health providers in the world, has this week unveiled details of the services it will be providing at its fully refurbished therapy and neurodevelopmental centre for children and young people at Charles Court in Strensall.
The news comes in the middle of Children’s Mental Health Week and follows publication of a survey by charity YoungMinds that found 80% of respondents said the coronavirus pandemic had made their mental health worse.
Dr Kim Bevan, chief officer, clinical services at the Retreat said: “We know that there is going to be a real sting in the tail from the current crisis when it comes to mental health in general, and particularly that of children and young people.
“That’s why we’re so pleased to be able to offer a wider range of services from the summer, in surroundings specifically designed for younger clients.”
The new centre in Strensall will enable The Retreat to provide psychological therapy services tailored to the requirements of specific conditions such as autism and ADHD in the future.
Individual needs
The Charles Court centre will include occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, psychotherapists and psychologists all working together under one roof as a multi-disciplinary team.
“We believe that every child and young person has the capacity to recover from the impact of challenging or negative life experiences – to grow, develop and achieve their full potential,” said Dr Bevan.
“But often that requires bespoke therapeutic packages based on the individual needs of each child and young person, which is what the Strensall facility will enable us to provide.”
The re-purposed building will boast a range of specialist areas such as therapy rooms and high-tech equipped sensory spaces. These can create the right environment for children and young people to change the way in which their brains react to different stimulation from their senses.
Further information about The Retreat’s children and young people’s services can be found here.