A pioneering new community mental health hub which represents a “radical change” in the way people suffering mental distress will be supported is to be trialled in York.

The hub, which has been co-designed by people with experience of mental ill health, will be one of the first of its kind in the north, following the example set in Derby and the London borough of Lambeth.

It will aim to change the current mental health system – bringing health, voluntary and community sector organisations together and offering a wide range of services under one roof – at a time when rising levels of mental distress are impacting all parts of society.

It has been inspired by the Trieste model. The Italian city closed down its asylums in the 1970s and embarked on an approach that is recognised by the World Health Organisation as one of the most advanced, community-based mental health care systems.

There, community hubs are open 24/7, there are no locked doors or restraint and staff do not wear uniforms.

Tim Madgwick, chair of the York Mental Health Partnership, said the hub would support anyone who needed it, from those simply having a bad day to those with serious mental illnesses.

“It’s a radical change from where we are now and it will be difficult,” he told a meeting of City of York Council’s health and wellbeing board. “Anyone involved in a change programme that shifts power to the person who is seeking support as opposed to the person deciding how they allocate it – it is quite a major shift.

“We’re on the cusp of an opportunity in York that if we miss, we’ll rue for years and years.”

Mr Madgwick, former deputy chief constable of North Yorkshire Police (NYP), said the evidence showed people who visit community hubs are less likely to require further specialist care.

The hub, which will have a physical location in the city, will be trialled in the autumn and could be up and running at the start of next year, and it is hoped it will become one of many in the coming years.

Lisa Winward, chief constable of NYP, said it was “an excellent and innovative means of tackling an increasing and very concerning pattern in York”.

She added: “We have seen a huge increase in suicides, concerns for safety in terms of people wellbeing and people cyclically coming in and out of police contact as a result of the system not working for them.”

Sian Balsom, Healthwatch York manager, added: “I think it’s a living demonstration to us all that if our systems don’t work because people don’t fit it, we need to change our system.”

Health and wellbeing board chair Carol Runciman backed the hub, adding: “Stop putting labels on things – people know if there’s something going wrong for them and they might not know what the answer is or what they need is, but if they can talk to somebody that often brings them to a solution themselves, which is what early help and prevention is all about.”

Throughout its recent history, York has been seen as a pioneer with regards to mental health treatment. The Retreat, later Bootham Park Hospital, was founded in 1792 by William Tuke, a Yorkshire Quaker, in the countryside outside York. Unlike mental institutions of the time, there were no chains or manacles, and physical punishment was banned.