The South Inner City Drugs and Alcohol Task Force (SICDATF) is a voluntary, statutory and community services partnership, implementing the National Drug Strategy Reducing Harm; Supporting Recovery on a local level. Over the past few years, the SICDATF subgroup Strategic Support for Service Users and Services has been working on the Organisational Cultures of Quality Care concept. One of the work plan actions was to explore service user involvement mechanisms that are creative, interactive, respectful of personal autonomy, and allow for ongoing engagement with service users to be active stakeholders in their treatment journey. Parallel to this, services identify the increasing mental health needs of clients every year with a request for staff training to improve responses. The motivation for this work is to match appropriate staff training within the projects, to the areas identified by the service users, particularly in the area of mental health. By involving service users in every phase of this work, the outcomes have provided significant direction and guidance for services and staff training. 141 service users contributed to this project across five sites.

Findings

Living with mental health is a work in progress.

• Living with mental health issues is a work in progress, and for some, every day is a struggle. People are often afraid to talk about their mental health, and when people are in distress, they don’t often know how to ask for help.
• There is a stigma attached to living with mental health issues and a sense of being judged by others. Those who live with mental health issues do not always have a good relationship with their family, which poses additional challenges.
• There is an energy and willingness amongst people who have lived experience of mental health to build awareness and understanding of the impact of mental health on people. Having a safe place and regular mental health ‘check-ins.’
• It is very important to have a person to go to that you can trust, feel safe and not judged. It would also help to have regular mental health check-ins with service users.
• People will be at different stages in understanding their mental health issues, and so services need to adapt their response based on each assessment.
• There needs to be an improved response for young adolescents and people in crisis or distress – and this would include better access outside 9 am to 5 pm. 

Openness and involvement

• There needs to be more openness about mental health. The openness and engagement need to be at every level in society, from education in schools, employment, community services, television and social media and within health services.
• Most importantly, the involvement of people who have experience with mental health issues in creating awareness is vital. 

Recommendations:

Valued partners

1. People who have lived experience (direct or indirect) of mental health matters want to and need to be involved in the design and delivery of initiatives to improve mental health awareness and service response. The range of initiatives will vary depending on the individual service objectives and operations. 

Building understanding within services

2. Mental Health Awareness initiatives need to be introduced, so people (staff and clients) become familiar with and comfortable using mental health terminology – this needs to be at every level in the organisation, and using a variety of formats.

Service response within SICDATF funded projects 

3. Mental health ‘check-ins’ with clients should be part of routine 1:1 reviews that are carried out.

4. Where possible, service responses should build in flexibility to recognise that mental health supports may be needed outside the 9 – 5 working hours

5. Mental health supports should be provided in a variety of ways, including counselling, groups, online sessions, one-to-one sessions and websites. Posters and leaflets should be used to reinforce the more direct provision of mental health information and awareness programmes.

6. Methods to support the information and support needs of families need to be considered.

7. Peer support programmes should be considered as part of a range of responses to increasing mental health awareness Advocacy, Education and Awareness

8. Mental health awareness sessions need to be incorporated into the school curriculum from primary school level upwards, and community groups (for children, adolescents, and adults) should have regular sessions on mental health awareness

9. People with mental health needs who are accessing Health Services need a holistic assessment and regular reviews

10. The Mental Health Services need to improve access for those experiencing a mental health crisis, ensuring comprehensive service is available on a 24-hour basis and more opportunities for counselling. 

Next Steps

A further series of consultations are planned for other SICDATF projects. The report will be shared with relevant stakeholders of the SICDATF.