Third sector and BSW Partnership working to improve mental health services
The hundreds of charity and voluntary sector organisations that work hand in hand with the providers that make up the BSW Partnership, play a crucial role in helping to deliver services and offer support to local people.
Third sector organisation partners working in areas such as housing and homelessness, support for older people and support for carers play a crucial role in the way the BSW Partnership delivers services across our local area.
Examples of partnership work with third sector organisations includes outreach work with Julian House to offer Covid vaccinations to homeless people and members of local boating communities and support to help vulnerable members of the community during lockdowns.
Another recent example has seen mental health charity Bath Mind work with the BSW Partnership to support the redesign of how community mental health services are delivered and experienced.
Working with the Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust as well as Swindon and Gloucester Mind, Rethink and Alabaré, Bath Mind are involved in providing mental health services as part of the national Community Mental Health Framework and NHS Long Term Plan.
Together the organisations will work to build accessible, responsive and inclusive mental health support across the local area.
The services offered will sit alongside and compliment those provided by primary and secondary care in areas including counselling services, one-to-one community support, telephone support, help with navigating through the mental health system, support for independent living and supported accommodation.
Kate Morton, Chief Executive Officer at Bath Mind said her organisation’s involvement with the framework was all about joining the system together.
“This is all about GP surgeries, hospitals and the third sector working together so anybody who needs a service sees the right person at the right time, through a single point of entry. Together, we’re making sure we’re walking alongside people who need support every step of the way, making sure they are ok, making sure they’re accessing counselling and then thinking about their next steps.”
What is the Community Mental Health Framework?
Published in September 2019, the framework outlines planned changes in community mental health services, along with significant extra investment. It looks at how to realise the NHS’s vision for mental health care and support in the future through more local, community mental health services and how community services should modernise to offer whole-person, whole-population health approaches.
You can read more about the framework on the NHS England website.