Mental Health Team

Cambridge Cyrenians Mental Health Team was set up in 1991.

Services Aims

The primary aims of the service are:

To improve access to properly developed mainstream services for, and to assist those services in accessibility to, people who have a mental illness, or a dual diagnosis of which mental illness is a component, and who have problems of homelessness, either as a transient, or recurring feature of their lives. Mental Illness does not have to be formally diagnosed to justify involvement with the service.

Priority may be given to those who:

Are vulnerable, but are reluctant to engage with the statutory psychiatric services.
Are unable to access statutory psychiatric services due to drug and alcohol use.
Have a diagnosis for which no treatment is available.
Are repeatedly banned from other services (statutory and voluntary) due to their behaviour.
Are rough sleeping.

The Team

There are three members of the team, two Mental Health Worker's and a part-time Co-ordinator. All team members have a wide range of experience in homelessness and related fields. Their formal qualifications include Social work and Mental Health Nursing degrees, Registered General Nurse and a Diploma in Social work. Ray[1]

Availability

Ordinarily the service operates between the hours of 9am-5pm. However specific situations may warrant work outside these hours. These decisions are made on an individual and day-to-day basis. Events which are thought to require crisis intervention of a mental health or medical type will be directed towards the appropriate service no matter what time of day.

Referrals

Referrals are accepted from any source, including self-referrals. Non-self referrals require the completion of a referral form and risk assessment. However, it is advisable to make an initial contact via telephone in order to establish if a new referral can be taken on. Please refer to caseload section below.

Caseloads

Referrals can only be taken if our caseloads permit it in terms of volume of work. The team on a weekly basis will take decisions on the acceptance of new referrals. If it is not possible to refer to this service, information on other services will be provided.

The Approach

We aim to be flexible in our responses, creative in our problem solving and persistent and assertive in our contact. We offer respect, courtesy and unconditional positive regard. We also offer a repertoire of communication skills that are utilised to establish a rapport and constructive working relationship with each specific individual.

Post discharge from this service each client is reassured that with regard to any future problems. We operate an open door policy and clients are encouraged to contact this service sooner rather than later as a preventative measure.

The Assessment

The assessment process is part of a case management system. It is an ongoing process whilst an individual is being worked with. The areas focused on may include:

Mental/Physical Health
Addiction/Dependency
Housing
Daily Living Skills
Employment Training/Education
Finance
Interests
Legal Issues
Miscellaneous Issues
Social Networks

Clients are encouraged to affirm which specific issues they would like assistance with. The level of input with regard to any issue is dictated by the client's ability to deal with any given situation at that moment in time. Any responsibilities taken on by the service will be handed back to the client as soon as they are able to manage that particular aspect of their life.

Partnership

Input from other agencies is encouraged in terms of information sharing, service provision or simply ideas.

For the purpose of information sharing we will be able to provide consent for releasing information from the individual concerned to meet the demands of the Data Protection Act 1998.

Service provision will be accessed via the appropriate route of each agency concerned and we would be grateful for any referral forms and process instruction sent to our office address.

The sharing of ideas concerning solution construction, best practice, service options and research specific to individual client will be embraced and reviewed. Case conferencing will be utilised to facilitate such ideas and to promote constructive relations with other agencies and services.