Mental health and wellbeing project in London

Influencing Mental Health Commissioning

The City Bridge Trust funded Homeless Link to build on the work of 2010/11 with a focus on the new mental health commissioning structures in London. The on-going health reforms could have a major impact upon homelessness mental health services. Our recent health audit showed that over 70% of clients living in or accessing homelessness services experience mental distress and only 10% reported to be receiving sufficient support.  It is therefore important that services are up to speed about how to ensure the needs of their clients are understood and met by local mental health services.

We worked with six projects in London to support them to engage with and influence relevant bodies responsible for mental health commissioning and service delivery to ensure the needs of homeless people are heard within the new structures. The work fed into the City Bridge Trust's overall aim of Improving London’s mental health, with a specific focus on homelessness. Building on our findings from the last two years worked with projects to:

•    Support homelessness agencies to understand  mental health provision
•    Improve access to mental health services and resources for homeless people

As a result of this work we have developed a range of resources fact sheets, tools, and templates to assist homelessness servives to engage with and influence their local health structures, in London and across England. See our Health Influencing page for details and downloads.

CITY BRIDGE TRUST PROJECT 2010/11

In 2010/11 Homeless Link worked with 6 services in London to improve mental health services for homeless people. The two main areas we worked around were improving access to statutory services and promoting wellbeing.  We also produced several documents and resources throughout this project. The resources are available to download below:

• Improving homeless Londoners' mental health - September 2010
• Top tips for working effectively with statutory mental health agencies -  April 2011
• Looking after number 1 : Wellbeing resources for clients  - June  2011
• Homelessness, mental health and wellbeing guide - October 2011
• Mental health screening tool - developed by SHP - October 2011

london health structures

For more information about London Health structures and how to influence them, see our London Health Influencing page.

Mental health and well-being newsletter

December 2010
April 2011
August 2011

Supported by The City Bridge Trust