Mental Health Prevention & Personalisation Service

Lead service provider/commissioner

Name:

Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council

Type of knowledge

Type of knowledge:

Project evaluation

Type of evaluation:

Outcome evaluation; Survey; Interviews

Prevention service description

Established in 2012, the service is open to anyone who is or has been in secondary care and who has a planned discharge or is in out patient services (Moving on Pathway)- they are able to access the service by ’opting in.’ That is, people choose whether to join the service and how much they want to engage with it, after receiving a recommendation to join, rather than a referral. The service will not discharge anyone- people can discharge themselves or take breaks, and be reinstated if necessary. Importantly, people are also able to choose a fast-track option, whereby within 12 months of joining they PPS they are able to be referred back to their mental health team if they request it. However the goal of the PPS is not only to move people out of the specialist mental health services, but also prevent those facing long waits for therapy in primary care from going in (Prevention Pathway).

After the provision of initial emotional support, the PPS team will work with people to draw up a recovery ‘pathway’ plan, on an individual consultation basis, in a location of a person’s choosing (including their own homes) or via twice-weekly drop-in sessions held at a central Stockport location. Group friendships, peer support sessions and other advice services, including debt and housing, are also offered at this centre. The pathway plan is co-produced and asks people to identify, and prioritise things they want to achieve and that are important to them which come under particular areas, defined by the Social Inclusion Outcome Framework (SIOF). The plan will also involve identifying barriers preventing people from moving out of secondary care (e.g. medication or social isolation) and the steps needed to overcome these (which individuals can identify with or without support ). The PPS team can help people with these barriers in a variety of ways, including assigning personal budgets, challenging risk adverse professional practice, or helping them to access voluntary and third sector services.

Intervention/service type:

Befriending, mentoring and peer support; Information and advice; Community services

Target client group(s):

Adults with mental health problems