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News article

York Mental Health Partnership wins £2.44m for new 24/7 mental health hub

Published: 29 August 2024

  •   Featured
  •   Community
A group of 6 people stood in front of a building

Members of the York Mental Health Partnership

York’s Mental Health Partnership (YMHP) has successfully secured £2,448,856 over two years to enhance mental health support available to York residents. 

YMHP and the Connecting our City project will use this funding to develop a new 24/7 community mental health hub in the west of the city. 

This hub will be open 24/7 to local adults (aged 18+) needing mental health support with no need for a referral. The compassionate, qualified and experienced staff running it will be able to support anyone in distress, helping them to access crisis services and wider support when needed.  

Lynne Gabriel OBE, Professor of Counselling and Mental Health at York St John University and Dr Stephen Wright, Clinical Lead with Humber and North Yorkshire MHLDA Collaborative are the independent co-chairs of the YMHP. 

Professor Gabriel 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!” 

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. They will offer access to mental health support in the local community in a calm and comfortable environment. 

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. To ensure the best approach and outcomes for local people, the Connecting our City project team and YMHP established a learning agreement and support between staff, service users and carers across both cities. 

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.” 

Brian Cranna, Director Care Group Director of Operations & Transformation at Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust (TEWV), added: “We are excited to be given this opportunity to continue to develop the changes we are making alongside our partners and local communities in transforming the way mental health support is being provided across the City of York.  

“This funding will allow us to deliver change more quickly and allow us to extend our provision and to provide support within the community hub 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We look forward to celebrating its success and the positive impact it will have in people's experience of care and support.” 

The Connecting our City project has been developing a community-based mental health hub model over the last two years, with a hub also under development to support residents in the north of the city. 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.  

In the future, YMHP aims 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. 

Find out more about the York Mental Health Partnership. 

York St John University offers undergraduate courses and postgraduate courses in counselling. 

Find out about the York St John Communities Centre which offers mental health, wellbeing, and community facing services, groups and projects for communities within York and North Yorkshire. 

 

Image shows (left to right): Alyson Scott, CEO York Mind; Lynne Gabriel, Co-Chair York Mental Health Partnership; Steve Wright, Co-Chair York Mental Health Partnership; Savanna Thompson, Community Mental Health Project Officer at City of York Council; Ros Savege, Carer and York Mental Health Partnership member; Kate Helme, Community Mental Health project Manager at City of York Council. 

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