Inside Clifton House - a podcast

This World Mental Health Day, get an insight into our low-secure forensic mental health service in York.

John, Ben, Stuart and Melissa have all received care and treatment at Clifton House in York.

This World Mental Health Day, they’re sharing their stories to help give an insight into their lives and experiences of mental health services and to help us tackle the stigma that is so often attached to mental illness.

They’ve contributed to a podcast that takes us inside Clifton House to meet some of the people who provide and use the services there.

It includes a ‘virtual tour’ of the shared space and eavesdrops on some of the social activities that are a firm favourite of those living in the low-secure hospital environment.

Clifton House offers low-secure inpatient mental health services that people access from a number of different routes, including prison, medium-secure settings, and other services.

Those using the service receive a wide range of therapies and support, which is individually tailored to their needs.

Graham Fox, one of the ward managers at Clifton House, said: “We offer a variety of services. We offer an acute service for those who are particularly unwell, we have a rehabilitation service for when a patient is moving on and they’re gradually getting better, and we’ve also got a community service. It’s not just a case of us seeing someone for a few days then moving them on somewhere else. We can help them move through a full pathway to recovery.

“What we’re aiming for is to try and get people back into the community, to be fully integrated just like we are. I think that’s why it’s important to do the things that we do. It’s about empowering people and it’s about giving them back what we take for granted.”

John, who shares his story in the podcast, added: “I think it’s important to have interests and to do things that you’re interested in and they’ve got facilities here [at Clifton House] for it all. In the social space we usually play bingo – I’ve won that a few times!

“In low-secure, they’re interested in getting us independent again and getting us to think for ourselves.

“I can get on with my life now.”

To hear more about life at Clifton, listen to the podcast in full, below.

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