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Closing mental health centre will improve services overall
• I WANTED to respond to your letters (Wake up and protect mental health centre, Oct 26) and to explain to your readers the decision that we have taken to improve the provision of mental health services in Camden.
At the executive meeting on October 11, I asked my fellow executive members to agree to invest in new services, including specialist Support Time and Recovery (STaR) workers to work with people with mental health problems.
The STaR workers aim to help people cope and live more independently within the wider community and access the vocational training and other mainstream services on offer in Camden.
We took this decision after a series of reports that looked at the care the council provides for residents with mental health problems and the support those residents need.
The reports included a review of the care needs of over 1,300 people assessed through the national Care Programme Approach (CPA). That found a shortage of one-to-one and vocational support and an excess of day centre places.
Of the five mental health day centres the council currently runs, the Jamestown Centre faced the highest costs to improve the building and make it accessible and it is close to another alternative day centre.
All the centre's users will be offered support through their current workers over a six-month transition period to help them access other support services, including another day centre.
This plan will deliver the modern and inclusive support and care services that so many people with mental health problems desperately need.
Many people want and need a helping hand to deal with the problems they face and give them the confidence to achieve their goals in life. Whether that's to return to work or training or something else it's important that they can do that as part of the community in which they live.
We currently rely too heavily on day centres. Although they provide a valuable service to the people that use them, they are not used by many younger people with mental health problems or those who want a more individual and personalised service.
The STaR workers will enable these people to access the other activities that the council provides that many of us take for granted, such as sports, leisure and education.
Jamestown day centre users are understandably concerned about the decision we've taken. I want to reassure them that there will be the help and support they need.
Over the coming months we want to work with the people that use our day centres to ensure we give them the best support possible and help them to take advantage of all the other opportunities that exist in Camden.
The council is improving the services provided at the remaining four day centres. We will work with current day centre users so we can meet their needs and involve them in managing and delivering services.
These may include peer support, advocacy, access to community and training services, more flexible opening hours and help for people with mental health problems who do not currently qualify for a formal programme of support.
Cllr MARTIN DAVIES
Executive member for Adult Social Care and Health
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