MENTAL health services across North Yorkshire have received a huge boost in funding to provide vulnerable people with additional crisis services and alternative places of safety.

Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys (TEWV) NHS Foundation services have received over half a million pounds worth of funding from local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to help reduce the impact of a mental health crisis on both individuals in crisis and wider services, such as the police, ambulance, and accident and emergency.

The funding will allow the Trust to maintain specialist 24-hour telephone assessment and crisis support, as well as expanding existing out of hours crisis cafes in York, whilst introducing new crisis cafes in Harrogate and a mental health first aid response into Selby.

Crisis cafes are open on an evening and offer people aged 16 and over a safe place to receive support when they are in distress. The cafes are supported by trained nurses and support staff who have mental health first aid training, whilst also being linked to the local crisis and crisis resolution home treatment teams, so café staff can access a specialist response if needed.

The current Trust’s cafes, at The Haven in York and Scarborough Crisis Café, have been operating since October 2018. Both have been exceptionally beneficial for local people, helping over 200 people a week to access information and support around crisis prevention, as well as signposting them to and facilitating access to other relevant and appropriate services.

Helen Embleton, urgent care pathways lead for the NHS, said: “We’re delighted to have received NHS transformation funding. This will help us to deliver a responsive crisis service that meets key requirements set out in the NHS Long Term Plan."