Leeds Survivor Led Crisis Centre (previously called Leeds User Led Crisis Centre) was a long time coming. In 1995, a group of local mental health service users, councillors and others agreed that a ‘user-based’ crisis centre should be developed in Leeds. After years of hard work, the Centre finally opened its doors in November 1999. 

User centred, user run

he aim of the Centre is to give users greater control over their situation. The Centre firmly believes that everyone should have an alternative to medical intervention during a mental health crisis, and should have access to to the support and information necessary to make decisions about their situation. The Centre’s philosophy is simple and user centred

• to provide an alternative to hospital admissions
• to provide a non-medical approach
• o help people find their own solutions
  
• to be respectful and non-judgmental about its users and their beliefs and lifestyles
• to provide a place that is safe and welcoming
• to offer a listening ear

The service has therefore positioned itself as an independent alternative to mainstream mental health provision, providing the support, safety and space needed by some to make their own choices about what they want to do to alleviate their current crisis.

The service is a registered charity and company limited by guarantee and has received funding from the Leeds Health Authority,  Social Services and the Mental Health Foundation. It is run by an elected management committee, primarily made up of people with first hand experience of mental health services and issues, either through their own use of such services, as a carer or in a professional capacity.

Remote Access

The service is housed in a large old brown brick townhouse in the village of Halton, between Seacroft and Temple Newsam. The building took two years to find, as it had to meet a range of criteria, not least the funders’ requirement that it should be based in east Leeds.

The house, known as Dial House, has a very friendly and homely feel, and has an abundance of facilities including several sitting rooms, a kitchen, shower and bathrooms, a family room, a smoking room and a small garden. Tucked away in the attic are the Centre’s offices, the Connect helpline and the Centre’s Millennium Volunteer coordinator.

Dial House is fully accessible on the ground floor, but the age and listed status of the building makes it impossible to provide wheelchair access to the other floors. This is fast becoming a major issue for the service, as it is excluding both users and staff from parts of the Centre.

The access issue extends beyond Dial House itself. Halton is by all accounts a friendly place and is only twenty minutes by bus from the city centre. However,  it lies on the very edge of Leeds, beyond the vast Seacroft estates. Its an area which may be too unfamiliar for some people to want to visit, especially when they are in the midst of a mental health crisis. The area also lacks the cultural diversity found just a few miles nearer the city centre, and this again may act as a barrier for some users.

While the service is making every effort to overcome these barriers (for example, they’ll pay for taxis when required), they are aware that in order to provide a fully accessible service they may have to relocate in the future.

What’s on offer

The access issue, far from being a major flaw, is an indication that the service’s development is still very much work in progress. The whole project is extremely ambitious and the management committee have taken a gradual approach to its implementation. The ultimate aim is to provide a 24 hour, seven day a week service, but this is currently unaffordable and unstaffable. Instead, the Centre has focussed on the most critical times when other services are unavailable, and is open on  Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings between 6pm and 10:30pm.

The Centre is all about providing emotional support and is not a medical or counselling facility. Anyone using the service will get one-to-one professional support is a very homely and user -centred environment. Confidentiality is paramount and, with the exception of any legal obligations (these are set out in its confidentiality policy which is explained to all users), the service will not inform any other person or agency about any call or visit to the Centre. Record keeping is also kept down to a minimum. People can access the Centre directly and don’t need to be referred by a professional.

The caller will be asked a range of basic questions about who they are, where they are, what their situation is, and so on. This provides a good opportunity for the caller to talk over their situation and can in itself offer a lot of reassurance.

The Centre’s staff team will then have a quick discussion about the callers situation and will consider what they can offer, when they could offer it, whether another service may be more appropriate and if so, what the Centre could do to support them in accessing it. The caller will be rung back within half an hour and arrangements made. Aside from legal obligations (eg child protection) this process is strictly confidential  (note: this process is not a formal ‘assessment’, but is a simple way of ensuring the callers needs are best met).

The centre has worked hard to develop a reliable and effective service, and has had to make many decisions about what it can and cannot do. For example, as a non-medical service, it cannot provide medical intervention, nursing care, administer medication or offer respite care. It cannot support people whose main issues are around alcohol or drug misuse or who have a recent history of violent behaviour. The Centre cannot yet offer any form of drop-in service, and while the the service is moving towards offering overnight stays where necessary, it is not an emergency housing provider.

Although the Survivor Led Crisis Service is still in its infancy, it is a truly impressive and valuable part of the city’s service provision. Whenever I have had discussions with mental health user groups, the number one demand has always been for a user-led crisis service which can act as an alternative to the mainstream mental health system. The Survivor Led Crisis Centre is well on its way to providing just that.

For further information, please contact the Survivor Led Crisis Service on 0113 260 9328, or write to: Leeds Survivor Led Crisis Centre, Dial House, 12 Chapel Street, Halton. Leeds LS15 7RW.