THE region's first community mental health hub is set to be created in York with the aim of improving the lives of people with serious mental illness.

People who have suffered from mental such ill health have met with mental health partners in an online workshop, investigating what a local hub might look like and how it might fit into existing mental health provision.

A spokesperson said the hub was part of the region’s Community Mental Health Transformation Programme, which aimed to improve the way people living with serious mental illness were supported in the local community.

"Hubs allow people to meet a wide range of services, under one roof, without having to travel to different locations," they said.

"A small co-design team made up of staff from health, social care, the voluntary and community sector, as well as people with direct experience of mental ill health and their carers, will now take forward the advice and ideas from the workshop," they said.

"They will begin to design the detail of York’s hub, ready for the ideas to be tested this summer."

York carer Ros Savege said: “I have been fortunate in being part of this project from the beginning. I visited Trieste in 2018 with a study group from York and saw first-hand how an open door that leads to support for all aspects of a person's life - including their mental health - can keep people well and, to a great extent, out of crisis. It is exciting to be a member of the group which is bringing this collaborative and holistic way of working to York.”

Cllr Carol Runciman, executive member for health at City of York Council, said: “Over the next year, we will be holding a variety of workshops and meetings that will involve collaboration between stakeholders from a range of services and community organisations to support the creation of the hub in different ways. Do please get involved and share your experience.”

Tim Madgwick, Independent Chair of York Mental Health Partnership, said:“This is just the start and the plans over the next few years will be shaped by those best placed to understand what mental services feel like on a personal level with a long-term focus on prevention, care and what the individual needs to improve the quality of their lives."

David Kerr, Community Mental Health Transformation Programme Delivery Lead for North Yorkshire and York said: “People with lived experience of mental health, their families and carers have played a key role in the programme since it started. Their voices are helping to bring about real transformation and innovation in the way local people access and receive support.”

*Residents who would like to get involved and haven’t already been invited to do so should email connectingourcity@york.gov.uk.