Mental health service success

Broadacres’ mental health supported housing service and mental health outreach support go hand in hand, and we are pleased to share two recent success stories.

The first concerns our newest support housing service in Scarborough. After only six months of running the service we’re already preparing for our first resident to move on to independent living in the area, having achieved their rehabilitation and recovery goals.

We’re now in the process of filling the vacancy so someone can else can benefit from our support.

We are delivering this service to people living in six flats in the centre of the town. Like our other mental health supported housing schemes in Leyburn and Northallerton, a multi-agency approach is being used to deliver short-term (up to 2 years), support services with Broadacres staff working closely with the Community Mental Health Team, Consultants, General Practitioners and other support providers.

During their time with us, we are supporting our customers to manage their tenancies, with help and advice being given in areas such as financial planning and budgeting, personal administration and health and well-being.

Sarah Beniams, Broadacres’ Mental Health Scheme Manager, said: “We’re delighted to already see one of the first residents in Scarborough move on to independent living in the community and we wish them the very best for the future.

“Since starting work in Scarborough we have established good links with local providers and the service is having a positive impact on local people with mental health issues.

“We have also just received funding to provide an outdoor gym at the scheme in Scarborough, along with our schemes in Leyburn and Northallerton, so we are looking forward to installing these in time for the summer as they will play an important part in our residents’ mental and physical wellbeing.”

Broadacres’ team also offers packages of outreach support to individuals within their own homes and within the local community enabling them to live as fulfilled and independent a life as possible. The support sessions are flexible and responsive to individual needs.

The team, along with our normal housing team, was recently credited with saving the life of a man with mental health problems who believed he no longer had anything to live for.

Ryan Saunders crushed up 200 tablets and mixed them into a bottle of blackcurrant intending to drink the ‘cocktail’ which would end his life.

He believes he would have gone ahead with his suicide had it not been for an email read by a Broadacres housing officer, Laura Wright, who recognised there was something wrong in the language he used that didn’t seem right to her and immediately put him in touch with Simon Grundy, who is part of Broadacres’ mental health support team.

Delays in moving into his new home in Northallerton had affected Ryan’s already fragile mental health and he recalls one of the first words he said to Simon was “help”. Within minutes Simon had reached out to the mental health crisis team and Ryan was admitted to hospital that same day.

Ryan then received the support he needed and speaking months later about the events which led to him almost taking his own life, he is full of praise for those who helped to bring him back from the brink.

He says: “If Laura hadn’t recognised the stress in my email and had Simon not then answered my call, I don’t think I would be here to share my story.”

“You can never say that life is great because things do go wrong and everybody suffers with their mental health in one form or another.

“It’s about recognising the triggers that can tip the balance and coming up with coping strategies that can help you when you get low and knowing there are great organisations like Broadacres who are here to help.”