This was the first time that Hampshire, Thames Valley (HTV) and Kent, Surrey and Sussex (KSS) colleagues from both children and young people and adult mental health mental health crisis services had come together as a south east region to share learning and positive practice examples from the all age mental health crisis sector.

Over 70 professionals joined the event which provided a range of presentations from colleagues across the region who had agreed to share their experiences of developing mental health crisis services and practices. We were also delighted to be joined by the national team for mental health, who provided an update on the national ambition for mental health crisis services and the key principles that should drive the development of a quality 24/7 open access crisis service.

Sonya McLean from Hampshire and Isle of Wight CCG Partnerships talked about their experience of developing a service that provided specialist mental health assessment and triage for all ages via NHS 111. Sonya shared the service outcome data which showed the impact the service had on  reducing A&E attendance for mental health issues and 999 calls. This generated a lot of discussion and questions from the audience.

We had insights from the Health and Justice Commissioner from the South East on how FCAMHS has continued to practice during the COVID-19 pandemic and acknowledgment that Secure Stairs has continued to move forwards in the secure estate.

The event was rounded off by a presentation by Stanley Masawi, a mental health service manager working in Aldershot Safe Haven.  He described how the service had adapted to COVID-19 by providing a virtual safe space for those in need of mental health crisis care and support. This initiative provided an alternative to face to face support and was well utilised and positively received by service users during this period.

You can watch the full webinar event here: