A round-the-clock mental health hub will open in York after the city secured £2.48 million in funding.
This hub will be open 24/7 to residents aged 18 and above needing mental health support – with no need for a referral.
Qualified and experienced staff will be able to offer help to anyone in distress, guiding them to access crisis services and wider support when needed.
During the hub’s core daytime hours, it will be run by a multi-disciplinary team of statutory NHS and voluntary sector staff, including clinicians, social workers, social prescribers and peer support workers.
The new hub is likely to be developed in Acomb to support people in the west of the city.
It will be co-developed in collaboration with people with lived experience, local residents, carers and those with community connections. The exact location will be confirmed soon.
York’s Mental Health Partnership is behind the plans. It is their second such hub, with another already being developed for the north of the city.
The aim is to create a third hub in the east of the city to ensure enhanced community mental health support is available to residents across the whole of York.
Inspired by Italy
The York hub model is strongly influenced by services in Trieste in northern Italy and has been developed as part of the Community Mental Health Transformation Programme, which aims to transform the way people with mental health needs are supported in their local community.
Ros Savege, carer and York resident, said: “I visited Trieste with a party from York seven years ago. We were all struck by the easily accessible, holistic care that was offered throughout the whole of a person’s mental health journey.
“York is now one step nearer to becoming a city where people – such as my relative – can be confident that care will be available in a familiar place from a trusted team whenever they need it.
“The York Mental Health Partnership is a meeting of equals, the constant drive to do the right thing for York has been inspiring, though the route has not always been straightforward. Our determination is now paying off.”
Professor Lynne Gabriel from York St John University co-chairs the partnership. She said: “Through the determined work of the Connecting Our City project and programme team, as well as York Mental Health Partnership colleagues and collaborators, we’ve delivered a daytime co-designed and co-produced community venue and service that provides compassionate person-centred care.
“Having successfully secured the NHSE funding, we now can extend that offer into a 24/7 community mental health hub – an exciting and much-needed innovation.”