Today (10 October) is both World Mental Health Day and World Homeless Day. At Look Ahead, we offer care, support and housing to a range of people, many of whom have mental health needs and/or have either been at risk of, or experienced homelessness.
These two events are relevant to our work, so we’ve compiled a few special updates to mark the occasion.
1) Look Ahead to trial ground-breaking new “Trieste” service
Look Ahead is proud to be designing a new mental health service in partnership with the East London NHS Foundation Trust, that will use an innovative approach based on World Health Organisation-endorsed community health care in the Italian city of Trieste.
Currently, we are planning to trial this as a 24-hour service, using existing buildings and space, where six people experiencing a mental health crisis will be able to stay for up to 72 hours.
Individuals will be supported by NHS professionals based at the service, including a psychiatrist, psychologist, occupational therapist and mental health nurse. Look Ahead staff will also support them with housing, benefits and employment advice.
2) AnyBody Can Dance Sessions continue
In addition to our newly opening specialist mental health services, our AnyBody Can Dance project has received new funding from Arts Council England and is due to start fresh therapeutic dance sessions with customers from our mental health (as well as learning disability and autism) services very soon.
The people we support often face barriers to accessing arts, cultural activities and creative therapeutic opportunities, whether from lack of suitable venues or public transport, financial constraints, stigma or anxiety in unfamiliar spaces. AnyBody Can Dance aims to break these barriers to participation and showcase the positive impact of creativity and culture on the mental health and wellbeing of those we support.
Using a Dance Movement Psychotherapy framework the project will run weekly sessions in a safe space for customers to creatively explore and share feelings and emotions verbally as well as through movement. Participating customers will also have the chance to perform publicly if they choose to. We are looking forward to seeing how these activities help boost their confidence, wellbeing, fitness and offer new social opportunities.
3) Access to talking therapies at homelessness services
We are also proud to have expanded the mental health support available to customers at our existing services. We now have six psychotherapists working across our homelessness services who are helping the people we support to process trauma. Our therapists build relationships and trust with the people they support over time and are flexible. This helps to create an environment where people can feel safe to talk.
We now employ some of the therapists directly, while others are provided by the Enabling Assessment Service London (EASL). This is a specialist mental health team which supports people with experience of homelessness London-wide.
The psychotherapists are part of our wider staff team and provide therapy in our services. This is important because we know that people affected by homelessness may find it difficult to access and engage with traditional therapy sessions, or those available from the NHS. This includes turning up for appointments and building trust over time.
These are just a few of many highlights from across Look Ahead and our services. Be sure to keep an eye on our website’s News and Blogs page, and our social media for more!
