One Stop Shop for Mental Health

Project Background

In 2020, within South Ribble Borough Council’s Communities department, a new team was developed; South Ribble Together. This team focuses on providing support to those who have been negatively impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, working closely with residents to assess their health, social, and financial support needs, and making appropriate referrals to both partners and internal services.

Carrying out these assessments and having conversations with key partners, highlighted mental health as a leading community priority, with cases becoming more frequent and complex in both adults and young people. From liaising with schools, it was identified that:

• Schools were reporting worsening mental health amongst young people. Those with challenging home lives were having to spend increased time at home, and all young people experienced extended periods of social isolation whilst schools were closed.
• There are limited non-clinical and preventative mental health provisions available for young people and waiting lists for clinical interventions were extensive.
• Schools were not aware of the referral pathways into mental health services.
• Few teachers were trained to handle mental health related conversations (i.e. mental healthfirst aid trained).The application made to the Cooperative Council specifically focused on interventions to support young people, particularly those struggling with low confidence, self-belief, and emotional resilience.