A Havant based scheme offering out-of-hours support to adults facing a mental health crisis is reaching out to help more people during lockdown.
The Adults’ Safe Haven at The Hub (the Havant and East Hants Mind Wellbeing Centre), in Leigh Park, was initially set up in January 2020 for over 18s in the Havant & Waterlooville area – but will not turn people away based on where they live.
In just over a year since its pilot launch, the service has supported approximately 200 new referrals and had 650 contacts with Safe Haven clients – about 75% of which were by phone because of the impact of Covid-19 and anxieties from clients about attending face-to-face.
Fran Blackburn, Contract Lead (Adult & Children and Young People for Havant and East Hants Mind, said: “National lockdowns, and even the easing of these restrictions after so long continue to have a huge impact on people's mental wellbeing.
“Now, more than ever it is important to provide a clear and easy pathway, we are an open access service and will not turn clients away based on area. We continue to offer our services, as we have throughout the national lockdowns.
“We encourage people to attend from anywhere and no appointment or referral is necessary.
“We are seeing the impact of this lockdown on people from their early adulthood to their elderly years and supporting people with a breadth of mental health challenges at this time.
“We have a freephone Crisis line which was instigated off the back of the Covid-19 pandemic but is now hugely helpful for people that cannot make it in physically or are from further afield.
“Clients do not need to be referred in by professionals - they can self-refer. And no appointment is necessary. Just contact, or turn up, obviously wearing a mask and obviously not if unwell.”
The service, funded by NHS South Eastern Hampshire and Fareham and Gosport Clinical Commissioning Groups, is open 365 days a year from 6pm-10pm. It:
- Remains open for face to face support, and has a dedicated freephone number during these opening hours for people unable to attend in person - 03003031560.
- No referral is needed
- Clients will receive immediate access to safe and confidential one-to-one emotional support from staff on shift which consist of a Havant and East Hants Mind crisis worker, a mental health practitioner from Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, and a drug and alcohol support worker from Inclusion
- Clients can remain anonymous if they wish.