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Our Approach to Mental Health Support
Recovery-Focused Practice
We apply recovery-focused models of care, including the Recovery Star and Wellness Recovery Action Planning (WRAP), within an open, transparent and trauma-informed culture. Recovery does not mean a cure, and it does not run to a commissioner’s timetable or a family’s hopes. It means a life with meaning in it, defined by the person living it — and our job is to help make that possible.
Mental Health Legislation Compliance
Supporting people with mental health needs requires rigorous compliance with specific legislation and guidance. Our service operates in full accordance with:
The Mental Health Act 1983 (as amended by the Mental Health Act 2007) and its Code of Practice — including obligations relating to service users subject to Community Treatment Orders, Section 117 aftercare and Guardianship arrangements.
The Mental Capacity Act 2005 and its Code of Practice — presuming capacity, supporting decision-making where capacity is impaired, and following the best interests framework where a person lacks capacity for a specific decision.
The Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS), with transition to the Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS) when implemented.
Our staff receive mandatory training in all of this legislation, and our policies and procedures are reviewed regularly against updates to NICE guidance, the NHS Long Term Plan for Mental Health, and the Community Mental Health Framework for Adults and Older Adults.
Crisis Management and Relapse Prevention
Crisis rarely arrives without warning. It gives signals — and the people who know a person best can usually see them coming. Our job is to notice them early and act.
Each person has a personalised crisis and contingency plan developed jointly with them, their care coordinator and — where they consent — their family or advocate. Plans identify:
- The person's relapse signatures and triggers
- Their protective factors and preferred coping strategies
- The agreed pathway of escalation, including contact details for the Community Mental Health Team, crisis resolution and home treatment teams, NHS 111 and emergency services
Staff are trained to recognise early warning signs of relapse and to respond proportionately, prioritising de-escalation, therapeutic engagement and liaison with mental health professionals before considering any restrictive intervention. Where a person expresses suicidal ideation or self-harm, staff follow our Suicide and Self-Harm Prevention Policy, aligned with National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health (NCISH) guidance. All incidents, near-misses and deteriorations are recorded, reviewed and used to update the person’s support plan.
For families: if your relative has a crisis plan with us, you can ask to know what is in it — subject to their consent. Knowing what the plan says, and what your role in it might be, is often the difference between feeling helpless and feeling useful.
Working with Health Professionals
We do not work in isolation, and we do not wait for a review to raise a concern. We make referrals to external organisations and professionals whenever we observe deterioration in a person’s mental health or wellbeing, including:
- Community Mental Health Teams (CMHTs)
- Community Psychiatric Nurses (CPNs) and psychiatrists
- Care coordinators
- Crisis resolution and home treatment teams
- Talking therapies / IAPT services
- GPs and social workers
Medicines Management
Our starting point is that medication belongs to the person. Everyone we support has the right to look after their own medicines, and wherever someone can do that — with a prompt, a reminder, or a bit of practical help — that is what we support. We only do more when a proper assessment says more is needed.
Our Medicines Management Policy reflects NICE guideline NG67 (Managing medicines for adults receiving social care in the community) and sets out three clear levels of support:
Prompting
A reminder, so the person takes their own medication in their own way.
Assisting
Practical help at the person’s request, such as opening packaging or reading a label.
Administering
Where assessment has established this is necessary, and it has been agreed and recorded in the support plan.
The level of support is assessed at the outset, recorded in the support plan and reviewed as things change — including stepping back down as someone regains confidence. Our policy also covers support with ordering, collection, safe storage and disposal at home; accurate recording; PRN protocols; noticing and reporting side effects and early signs of relapse; and a no-blame error-reporting culture with reporting to the Registered Manager, the prescriber, and CQC where notifiable. Staff complete accredited medicines training and annual competency assessment before they are permitted to administer any medication.
Clinical treatment stays with clinical professionals. Where someone receives depot injections, blood monitoring or other clinical interventions, these are delivered by their community mental health nurse, GP or clinic under their own arrangements. Our role is to support the person to attend, to keep those appointments on track, and to flag anything we notice — not to carry out clinical tasks.
Your Rights
We will always ensure that the people we support have:
- The right to independence.
- The right to have their dignity respected and to be treated as an individual.
- The right to care for themselves as far as they are able.
- The right to be called by the name of their choice.
- The right to receive an anti-discriminatory service which is responsive to their race, religion, culture, language, gender, sexuality, disability and age.
- The right of access to their own personal records and to information relating to decisions that affect their life — and, where necessary, to be assisted with this.
- The right of access to other agencies of their choice — GP, optician, chiropodist and others — and, where necessary, to be assisted with this.
- The right to personal privacy.
- The right to access a formal complaints procedure and to be represented by a friend, relative or advisor if necessary.
- The right to make personal life choices, such as what food they eat and what time they get up and go to bed.
- The right to look after their own medicines.
- The right to be involved in their care plan and in any formal reviews of their needs, which take place at regular intervals.
Equality, Diversity and Human Rights
We are committed to upholding the rights and dignity of every person we support and every member of staff, in accordance with the Equality Act 2010 and the Human Rights Act 1998. We recognise all nine protected characteristics and take proactive steps to prevent direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, harassment and victimisation.
We acknowledge that people living with mental health conditions face particular stigma and structural disadvantage, and we commit to challenging this through person-centred practice, accessible communication (including compliance with the Accessible Information Standard), and the active involvement of the people we support in decisions about their care. Reasonable adjustments are made for both staff and service users as required.
