Our Work
Mental Health
This year, we saw the impact of the pandemic continue to exacerbate the issues our clients face.
Between the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis, we found that many of our clients were living in a heightened state of distress and their needs were growing increasingly complex.
The lack of capacity in clinical systems also meant early intervention was not taking place.
As a result, we adapted to ensure that appropriate mental health support was woven through each of our services.
Our Oxfordshire-based Mental Health Floating Support Service is delivered as part of the Oxfordshire Mental Health Partnership, and we focus on providing support around housing, benefits and social inclusion to enable clients to live more independently. This year, we put provisions in place to work with 92 new clients with severe and enduring mental health issues, and we successfully empowered 62 people to feel confident enough to move on from the service.
"This year, we put provisions in place to work with 92 new clients with severe and enduring mental health issues, and we successfully empowered 62 people to feel confident enough to move on from the service."
Across Oxfordshire, we also continued to deliver our Mental Health Housing Intensive Support Service, which launched as a pilot last year. This service worked with a small number of entrenched rough sleepers with acute mental health needs who had no other option, as every other service was unequipped to support them. All the clients we helped had, at some point in their lives, been hospitalised due to their mental health, with some deemed at risk of death if they spent another winter outdoors.
These clients had a history of finding it difficult to trust people or engage with services. We provided them with a furnished flat and were able to support them with paying their bills through their housing benefit and a service charge, thus avoiding going into arrears.
Entrenched addiction or physical health issues left these clients ill-equipped for life indoors, and so our Support Workers provided additional time and support to help them adapt to their new life and navigate these issues. This enabled our clients to maintain their tenancies, which would have been unlikely without our intervention.
Last financial year, we launched our Out of Hospital Service in Oxfordshire. The service aims to help clients with complex needs avoid repeat admissions to mental health wards. This year, this service has gone from strength to strength and has effectively sustained engagement with clients whose needs have often meant they were unwilling to engage with other mental health services across Oxfordshire. After seeing a reduction in costs incurred due to fewer hospital admissions, Oxford City Council (the managing partner of the service) successfully secured extension funding, affirming the need for such a service.
In Milton Keynes, our partnership work with acute mental health wards continued, and we supported close to 100 people throughout the year. By providing clients who had been discharged from hospital with support that empowered them to reintegrate into their community and sustain their tenancy, our Acute Hospital Discharge Service prevented hospital readmissions in over 98% of cases. Our Acute Admissions Avoidance Service supports clients with enduring mental health issues to prevent them from being admitted to a mental health ward.
"Over the year, we helped 431 clients develop the confidence to leave the service by connecting them with social groups."
In Buckinghamshire, our SafeHaven+ service provides alternative support to help clients avoid crises and prevent admission to hospital by improving their overall mental health and wellbeing. Our Mental Health Housing Support Workers provide intensive housing support to people in crisis, often with complex mental health needs, to enable them to build a better life and live independently in the community.
This year, we successfully supported 60 clients - none of whom needed to access A&E for emergency support which is a direct aim of the service. We had some clients referred to the service whilst awaiting discharge from a local mental health facility to ensure ongoing support was provided in the community. This not only helped clients avoid readmission, but it also improved bed flow within the facility.
Through our Buckinghamshire-based Prevention Matters service, we continued to support clients over 18 who are at risk of social isolation due to difficulty leaving the house, feelings of anxiety, isolation or loneliness, or recovery from an illness.
Over the year, we helped 431 clients develop the confidence to leave the service by connecting them with social groups, encouraging them to engage with their communities and linking them with other services for advice and support.
Case Study
Naomi* – On the inside, life isn’t that simple
On the outside, Naomi is a young, capable single mum to a four-year-old boy. She lives in a quiet, well-maintained flat and will often go about her day as usual; she’ll take her son to nursery and then go to work. But on the inside, life is not that simple.
Diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, complex post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression, and now undergoing an assessment for autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Naomi is determined to lead a ‘normal’ life with her son. But cries for help are not uncommon, and they often come accompanied by self-harm.
Naomi accessed our Oxfordshire Mental Health Support Service, where she met Kevin - one of our Case Workers. Together, they identified what personalised support was needed to improve her situation, settling on financial support as an excellent place to start. With Kevin’s encouragement and guidance, Naomi completed most of the PIP form herself despite finding one of the questions quite triggering, making it challenging to finish. Kevin was able to help Naomi overcome these feelings by incorporating distraction techniques, enabling her to complete the form over three sessions. Unfortunately, Naomi was not awarded PIP, so Kevin supported her to begin the appeal process.
The next few months were difficult, and Naomi decided that moving out of Oxford was the best choice for her. The area reminded her of her most recent trauma, making it difficult for her to recover. As well as receiving help from Connection Support, Naomi worked with a Mental Health Support Worker through her GP. This individual was later promoted, making Naomi feel like she was losing “a great positive help” in her life. If that wasn’t enough, Naomi discovered that she would no longer be eligible for the rent top-up she was receiving if she moved.
Knowing how vital moving was for Naomi, Kevin devised a plan. He advised her to apply for the local housing register and contact her Housing Coach – two weeks later, Naomi was bidding and was in the top 20 on three properties! Kevin wrote Naomi a supporting letter and provided her with a report (which outlined their time together) so that both could be used as evidence to support her case. Almost immediately, Naomi was told that she’d been referred to the Health and Housing team, and after a visit with them, she was moved from Band D to Band B – the highest band we could expect.
Although Naomi was still waiting for a suitable house to bid on at the time of writing, Kevin’s continued support empowered her to make changes that would drastically improve her life. Through Kevin’s continued support, Naomi developed the independence to address her challenges head on.
* Clients name has been changed to protect their identity.