New high street mental health hub for Bridgwater opens
The hub has been opened to help locals access the support they need, when they need it
Last updated 17th Jan 2023
Bridgwater has a brand-new 'mental health hub', thanks to the work of Somerset's mental health alliance, called 'Open Mental Health'.
Anyone over the age of 18 can now walk into the new hub and access the mental health support they need - most importantly - when they need it.
It's a one-stop shop for help, with the project built as a base for the community where patients from the region can come in and be seen for a range of mental health needs. Seen as an accessible alternative to going to your GP, the face-to-face access point makes getting mental health support that much easier.
The team worked closely with a number of 'experts by experience' for their ideas on how to best serve the community and be there for its needs.
Now housed together in the same building, colleagues from the NHS, Open Mental Health and Second Step work collaboratively to guide patients to get the help they require.
It means those important conversations people need to have can be done informally with the team, who can guide them to the right service to give them the best help they can - and forms a part of the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust's mission to make sure interventions happen as early as possible.
Emmie Davies, Interim Senior Operations Manager for Community & Wellbeing at Second Step, one of the organisations involved, said: "Second Step has been working in Somerset for about three years now, and what we bring is a number of years of deep understanding of the impact of mental health. Our specialism is our understanding of how important it is to support people to get to the place where they can they can access the support they need, and this new hub forms a significant part of that.
"My message to everyone out there - just come and see us.
"Don't wait until you're in crisis to use a crisis service - well, maybe we can catch something before it takes hold. The beauty of Fore Street is that it's really relaxed. People have been asking for an alternative to the traditional clinical space for a really long time, so hopefully what that means is that when you knock on the door, you already feel comfortable.
"It's much more relaxed than a doctor's waiting room, and that hopefully makes this a place where people can open up and check in on themselves."
Last year alone, across the areas Second Step look after, they found nearly 1,500 people come to one of their 'Crisis Safe Spaces' for support - a service there simply for people needing immediate and short-term crisis prevention to find reprieve.
Talking about the demand on mental health services, Emmie said: "I think there is inevitably a knock-on effect from the pandemic. Long periods of isolation is not healthy for people - and a large part of mental health is about developing positive connections.
"For people who had adequate IT equipment, maybe that wasn't so difficult, and they could stay connected, but for lots of people, they really couldn't.
"We've seen a lot more people try to access services."
Helen Sturridge, from Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Just some of the many services available at the hub include psychoeducation groups for sleep hygiene, food and mood, and general health and wellbeing education,” she said.
“People can access the hub either via their GP, another healthcare practitioner or via a self-introduction. Depending on a person’s needs, support would then be provided either by the NHS or by one of the wide range of third sector partners, including, for example, Citizen’s Advice, Age UK Somerset or Second Step, a community mental health charity.
“We also have a section for group sessions, which can be of real benefit to some people, as well as a series of consultation rooms where people can be seen by mental healthcare professionals on a one-to-one basis.
“The group room, in particular, will be of huge benefit as there is limited space in the local area for face-to-face group sessions, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic as we had to place limits on the number of people that were allowed in a room together and some buildings changed their use altogether."
Chief Executive of Second Step, Aileen Edwards, said: “We’re delighted to continue the trailblazing work of Open Mental Health alongside our NHS colleagues and our Open Mental Health Experts by Experience in Somerset.
The opening of the Fore Street Hub will expand the options available for people in Bridgewater and beyond to receive immediate in-person mental health support. This is hugely important at a time when people are struggling and we’re in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis.
We’re confident that by valuing the lived experience of our staff and volunteers, and through working with our experts by experience, we’ve created a uniquely supportive and responsive safe space.”
The new hub on Fore Street opened earlier this month, on January 9th.
The project has been launched by Somerset's Mental Health Alliance and you can find out more about Second Step here.