Experiences and views on seeking help and support during a mental health crisis
In 2016, Healthwatch Nottingham and Healthwatch Nottinghamshire were commissioned by Nottingham City NHS Clinical Commissioning Group, on behalf of the Nottingham/shire Crisis Concordat Partnership Board, to explore how five specified groups experience accessing mental health crisis support: Black and minority ethnic (BME) communities, students, carers of people with a mental health illness, veterans/ex-military personnel, and people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Through interviews, surveys and existing Healthwatch data, the project gathered detailed experiences from 269 people across these five groups, plus a further 215 experiences from the wider community — 484 people in total.
Key findings
- GP as most common first point of contact
- Awareness/stigma barriers more pronounced in specified groups vs wider population
- Group-specific barriers (language/cultural for BME; alcohol/substance misuse for veterans and homeless; crisis episode itself for veterans and homeless)
- Negative prior contact — waiting times, eligibility criteria, feeling dismissed
- Mixed experiences of crisis services, negative outnumbering positive, issues with communication/compassion/consistency
- Discharge concerns — poor preparation, missing/unfollowed care plans, leading to further crisis episodes
Recommendations
- Promotion of services + anti-stigma campaign
- Review eligibility criteria, include alcohol/substance misuse support
- Support through community locations (university, homeless services)
- Open-ended follow-up / step-down service
- Further work on quality of crisis service advice
- Further work on discharge arrangements
- CRHT team avoiding repeated "story-telling," co-produced care plans, routine carer's assessments
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Experiences and views on seeking help and support during a mental health crisis
