Mental Health Access and Brief Treatment Team
The Mental Health Access and Brief Treatment Team is a team of skilled NHS and voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) trained professionals. Our service includes:
- Mental health nurses, occupational therapists and social workers who talk with and listen to people to gain a better understanding of their mental health needs and discuss next steps towards meeting those needs
- Mental health and wellbeing practitioners who offer a range of psychological (CBT) interventions to help people gain skills they need to better understand and manage feelings as part of their recovery journey
- Wellbeing coaches who offer practical advice based on what you tell us you need
- Administrators who support everything our team does
What is the role of the Mental Health Access and Brief Treatment Team?
We work with adults aged 18 to 74 who are experiencing mental health difficulties and need more specialist intervention, in addition to the support provided by primary care teams.
- Through a one-to-one conversation, in person, online or by phone, we provide an initial mental health assessment
- We build a picture of what is going on for a person and the factors that might be behind their needing help with their mental health
- We focus on wellbeing and helping people find what for them, is the best pathway to recovery: we recognise this is different for different people
- We can also offer a range of psychologically informed interventions for people, typically lasting 6-12 weeks
We work from Monday to Friday, between 9am and 5pm. We do not operate during weekends, evenings, or bank holidays.
How to refer into the service
If you or a patient or client requires a mental health assessment, we recommend:
- a referral by a GP or primary health professional who can share the information we need to make an appointment for this discussion
- a referral by a VSCE (voluntary sector) organisation where they are working with a person and require additional support
- this information be provided via our referral form and sent to the appropriate referral address in:
We are not an emergency service and do not provide crisis support or same-day assessments. Please call 111 and follow options for mental health crisis support.
What happens next?
Once we have a referral, our mental health team will review the information and arrange next steps. This may include:
- contacting the referrer or person concerned for more information to help inform the decision/ better understand what the person wants and needs
- forwarding the referral to one of our other teams who may be better able to offer support - this could be an NHS service or a voluntary sector organisation
- making an appointment for an urgent assessment - this means that the person would be offered an appointment within 5 days of our receiving the referral
- making an appointment for a routine assessment. We aim to see people within 28 working days. We do have waiting lists and sometimes will not be able to make an appointment within this time frame.
Wellbeing coaches
If the next best step is a mental health assessment, we will additionally offer support via one of our Help to Wellbeing coaches.
This team provide telephone or face-to-face appointments to discuss how areas of someone's life many be negatively affecting their mental health. They can advise on housing or finances, physical health or education challenges, and signpost to mental health support networks.
What happens during a mental health assessment?
A mental health assessment is a discussion with a specialist practitioner. It helps us build a picture of what is happening for you and what you would like to change or improve regarding your mental health.
Typically, the conversation lasts about 45 minutes to 1 hour. We will send a letter invitation to the appointment beforehand. The conversation can take place by phone, Attend Anywhere (online) or face-to-face in one of our clinic spaces.
During the conversation we will ask questions to help us better understand what is happening now. If we do not have the information in our records, we may ask questions to help us build a picture of your history where this is relevant.
We may ask questions about family, friends and support networks, work or education, alcohol, drug use or medication.
We are a trauma informed service. This means we try to avoid asking questions that you have answered with another NHS team. Instead, each assessment discussion should build on the last.
We also try to avoid re-assessing people multiple times. We understand that people would prefer not to tell their story more than once.
Please note, we are not a diagnostic service. We do not focus on what is wrong with someone, but what has happened to them. We will not give someone a diagnosis as part of our mental health discussion.
What happens after a mental health assessment?
After the discussion with someone we may:
- refer them to another NHS service such as Talking Therapies or the complex emotional difficulties team
- signpost them to another service in the community
- refer them to one of our community mental health teams
- refer them to a mental health and wellbeing practitioner for a low-intensity psychological intervention
Mental health and wellbeing practitioners
Mental health and wellbeing practitioners offer interventions to help people change thoughts or behaviours that negatively affect their mental health.
They can work with people with the following challenges:
- low mood or motivation
- anxiety
- issues with sleep
- problem solving
- managing emotions
- bulimia and binge-eating
Typically, they work with people for between 6 to 12 sessions.