Mental Health Support Team

MHST
Mental Health Support Team for
Homeless People

The Mental Health Support Team:

assesses individual needs and, where appropriate, refers people to psychiatric and drug and alcohol services
works with homeless people who are reluctant or unable to use mainstream services
advocates on behalf of homeless people to enable them to access services
provides a link and continuity to people who are socially excluded and have an unsettled lifestyle
works with the HLG Resettlement Service to provide floating support to people moving into their own tenancies.

The team provides 8 weekly drop-in sessions per week in Nottingham's emergency accommodation provision and day centres. Co-ordination of services is promoted through fortnightly Multi-Agency meetings, meetings with workers in the sector and the Rough Sleepers Outreach Team.

Click here to view the referrers guide and download a copy of the MHST referral form

MULTI-AGENCY WORKING
DROP-INS
KEYWORKING
HOW TO MAKE A REFERRAL
DUTY WORKER
OPEN SESSIONS
RESOURCE ON HOMELESSNESS AND TRAINING

Its aims are:-

To provide assessments, social care and support to homeless people with a mental health difficulty, in particular those people using emergency, direct access provision.
To extend channels of communication between statutory and non-statutory agencies, to share knowledge and experience, thereby increasing access to appropriate advice and support services for homeless people with a mental health difficulty.
To identify, monitor and evaluate gaps in service provision and to feed back information to the appropriate authorities/services.

We plan to fulfil these aims by working closely with colleagues from both statutory and voluntary agencies, and with a flexible needs led approach to our service users.

MULTI-AGENCY WORKING
The MHST maintains regular contact with statutory and non-statutory agencies and holds fortnightly multi-agency meetings with representatives from statutory health providers.

The purpose of this multi-agency meeting is to exchange information as appropriate on individual cases, organise care planning when two or more agencies are involved, and ensure overall that relevant information is shared with and between voluntary organisations working with homeless people and statutory health providers.

The Team also chairs a fortnightly meeting for workers in direct access and day centre projects. This meeting provides a forum for the sharing of concerns and risk information between projects supporting the same/similar groups; and allows for care planning between projects to avoid duplicating support/advice/referrals.

DROP-INS
The primary purpose of drop-ins is a first opportunity for service users newly referred to the team to find out what we may be able to offer, and for team members to begin the assessment process. Ordinarily following a fairly brief initial assessment a follow-up appointment will be offered usually within a week, where a service users needs will be discussed more fully. During times when the MHST team member is not seeing newly referred people at drop-ins they will use drop-in time to make themselves available to other users of the host project, who may request advice or sign-posting or may take the opportunity to self refer to the team for ongoing support.

KEYWORKING
Usually a service user will be keyworked by the team member who they first see at a drop-in session. However, all requests for specific workers would be considered and where for instance a potential user requested a worker of a specific gender we would try to accommodate that request. Demands on team members' time may also sometimes necessitate transfer from the initial assessor to another team member for keyworking.

A keyworker may offer a variety of different types of support which broadly fall into the following areas:-

Someone to talk to about difficulties such as stress, anxiety, depression, self-injury, bereavement, relationships or problematic alcohol or drug use and the impact homelessness is having on an individual.
Support to access primary healthcare services where appropriate, including G.P.s, NADT, CPN for Homeless People, CMHTs and nursing services
When appropriate an assessment of support needs and help to access or acquire funding for specialist housing such as a rehabilitation project.
Information and sign-posting to information on education, leisure, volunteering or other forms of support e.g. self help groups

Referral On
Following assessment a keyworker may feel a person's needs would be best met by another agency the person would be referred on in this case. Usually it is appropriate to end contact when a person becomes linked in with another service although joint working is sometimes a possibility when an individual's needs are complex and where professionals involved have clearly defined roles and responsibilities.

HOW TO MAKE A REFERRAL TO THE MHST

Telephone Referrals
If you are referring someone who uses a service where we provide a weekly drop-in or who is a rough sleeper, we are glad to accept referrals by telephone. We request that you have available the following information.

Date of birth
Presenting difficulties (be as specific as you can)
Any present or previous contact with the MHST or other support/treatment agency
Previous whereabouts/last address and length of time at current project
Any potential or known risks to themselves or others
Whether or not the person has requested the referral

A referral should, whenever possible, be discussed with the person concerned well in advance. This gives referrers an opportunity to discuss more fully the support the MHST can offer. A referral should never be made without a homeless person’s knowledge unless there is an obvious risk in doing so. Furthermore the users of our service do so on a voluntary basis, therefore we require that contact with the team is not made a condition of residency.

Written Referrals
Other projects or secondary hostels or dispersed housing providers for homeless people are required to refer in writing. A copy of the referral form comes with this document for your information. Please copy this as required should you wish to make a referral.

The MHST aims to see all people referred as soon as is possible, usually within a week of allocation. Written referrals will be discussed and allocated at our weekly Tuesday (pm) meeting. During busy periods those in direct access projects and those in greatest need will be prioritised. However, if a situation is deemed to be an emergency we will respond to a telephone referral. Again, the information required will be as listed above.

DUTY WORKER
The MHST has a named daily duty worker. This worker will be available to offer advice and signposting to service users or agencies requesting information and be able to respond to an emergency if required. They are contactable via the main office number (0115 9565 313).

OPEN SESSIONS
These sessions - which happen six weekly – provide an opportunity for the MHST to explain in greater detail the work they do and a forum for those attending to raise questions or ask for advice. New workers in hostels and day centres or anyone interested in mental health and homelessness may find these open sessions useful. To book a place contact any team member on 956 5313.

RESOURCE ON HOMELESSNESS AND TRAINING
By working closely with a broad spectrum of the homeless population and a wide variety of support, treatment and housing agencies, the MHST have a unique overview of movement/trends and changing needs within the "homeless community". This overview is of immense value to agencies throughout the City. The MHST is not only a focus point for referrals of homeless people, but it is also recognised as a valuable information resource about homelessness, the subcultures which exist within it and the resources available to help homeless people. The MHST are represented at a number of planning meetings and reference groups ensuring that the needs of homeless people are considered and included in current and future developments and strategies.

The MHST can be contacted by Email mhst@hlg.org.uk

HOW TO MAKE A REFERRAL TO THE MHST

Telephone Referrals If you are referring someone who uses a service where we provide a weekly drop-in or who is a rough sleeper, we are glad to accept referrals by telephone. We request that you have available the following information.

Telephone Referrals
If you are referring someone who uses a service where we provide a weekly drop-in or who is a rough sleeper, we are glad to accept referrals by telephone. We request that you have available the following information.