A new Community Wellbeing Service was launched on 1 June 2017 in Brighton & Hove.
At the end of 2016 YMCA DownsLink Group went into partnership with Here (formerly Brighton Integrated Care Services), Sussex Foundation Partnership NHS Trust and Brighton & Hove Mind to tender for the delivery of a new ‘All Ages’ Community Wellbeing Service (CWS).
The partnership led by Here were notified of their success in securing the contract in February 2017. Since then we have been busy working together to design and develop the new service.
This contract replaces the existing community and online counselling delivered by Dialogue and Young People’s Centre (YPC). The new service will bring referral systems together for children, young people and adult’s mental health provision to provide a more integrated and joined up wellbeing offer.
The new service has been designed based on the feedback from professionals, children, young people and their parent / carers. It aims to put in place a new mental health pathway that joins together Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), Adult Mental Health Service (AMHS), Mind and the YMCA to ensure that people can find out information and can seek help early, referring into one ‘front door’ in order to get the appropriate response and level of support as soon as possible.
So what will change?
From 1 June all referrals for counselling will go through a centralised triage hub staffed by all the partners. People working with children and young people can complete a simple form to refer into the service. Young people can also self-refer. The partners will triage every day to speed up referral processes and ensure that people get into the system as quickly as possible.
This means that you will not be able to ring up Dialogue or YPC to book appointments directly. However, there are more resources going into the CWS to create a wellbeing menu of interventions which includes access to IAPT (Improved Access to Psychological Therapies) for those aged 18+, as well as complementing and joining up activity undertaken by the Primary Mental Health Service in Schools..
The new number to call is 0300 002 0060 or you can email [email protected]
