Crisis Resolution Intensive Support Service

First of all, we’ll talk to you about the difficulties you’re experiencing and work with you to develop a plan of care that’s tailored to your needs.

We might only need to see you once to help you access support, or we might visit you more regularly such as daily or multiple times a day. This support may be over a few days or weeks dependant on your needs, reducing our visits as you improve.

If you’re already receiving support from a Community Mental Health Team, we’ll work closely with your care professional throughout and we’ll ask if those who need to know about your crisis have been contacted.

Peer support service

A dedicated team of peer support workers is now up and running in partnership with Touchstone and the team all have lived experience of mental health conditions. This experience will help them to empathise with our service users and build a therapeutic relationship to support them during their recovery with CRISS.

To find out more, download this flyer.

The peer support service is only for service users under the care of CRISS.

We’ll give you extra support in a time of crisis as a genuine alternative to hospital. We’ll listen and talk to you about how you’re feeling. There are various ways we can help:

• Practical support with things that may have triggered the crisis or are impacting on your illness, e.g. help with benefits, housing and daily activities.
• Medical help, including prescribing and monitoring any medication.
• Short term psychological therapies such as anxiety management and mindfulness.
• Coping strategies that help with self-management and independence.
• Relapse prevention to help you manage the early signs of relapse.
• Support for carers and family members.

We think it is important to involve family and carers in our service, as this leads to a more supportive and comprehensive assessment process, and helps us come up with a meaningful plan of care.

CRISS upholds the Triangle of Care principles as follows:

• Carers and the essential role they play are identified at first contact or as soon as possible afterwards
• Staff are ‘carer aware’ and trained in the best way to engage with carers
• We respect confidentiality and have policies on sharing information
• We have defined posts responsible for carers
• A carer introduction to the service and staff is available so that carers become familiar with everything that is important to them and the person they care for
• A range of carer support services are available

By embedding these principles into the work we do we can start to build positive relationships between ourselves, service users and the friends, families and relatives that provide care for them.

If your health professional has given you a direct contact in times of crisis, please continue to use that contact.

We recommend the following places where you can find helpful and reliable information with links to further help and support.

MindWell

MindWell is the single ‘go to’ website for information about mental health in Leeds. It includes advice on practical help with things like housing, benefits or money problems.

MindMate

MindMate is a Leeds-based website for younger people, their families and the professionals who support them. It covers emotional wellbeing and mental health issues and offers information about where support is available.

The Leeds Crisis Card: “Feel like you’ve had enough?”

This handy card is produced by Leeds City Council’s public health department. If you are accessing our services you may have already been given a copy of it by one of our staff. A web-friendly version can be found on their website.

The national NHS website 

Formerly known as NHS Choices, www.nhs.uk is the official website of the National Health Service in England. It provides a comprehensive health information service helping you to make the best choices about your health and lifestyle, but also about making the most of NHS and social care services in England.

For less urgent health needs, you should contact your GP or a local pharmacist in the usual way.

For immediate, life-threatening emergencies, always call 999.

Please note this is not comprehensive list of services but a few suggestions of how to get started finding help and information.

This section is for health and care professionals looking to make a referral to CRISS.

All referrals for the assessment service should be made via the Trust’s Single Point of Access. External access will tend to come from GPs, Aspire, Yorkshire Ambulance Service, Adult Social Care (especially AMHP provision), third sector organisations and self or carer referral.

For LYPFT services this will include locality CMHTs, ALPS, Assertive Outreach Team, LYPFT Specialist services, Inpatient services and Primary Care Mental Health Liaison Practitioners. Access to the intensive support element will come through CRISS.

Appropriate referrals / criteria

• Service users with acute mental health need who require a period of intensive support in the community, aiming to prevent hospital admission or facilitate timely transfer from a hospital setting.
• Service users who fit the referral criteria for the OPS service outside of IHTT operational hours.
• The service user’s mental health needs can safely and effectively managed within a community setting.
• The service user is usually registered with a Leeds GP or resident in Leeds, however if there is a request to accept a service-user outside of this, it must be discussed with a CTM or senior medical colleague.
• Access will be provided according to need, vulnerability and risk.
• Service users who may be under a neighbouring mental health team but are living in LYPFT catchment areas and may be more suitable for our services to provide home based treatment.

 

Return to Referrer of inappropriate referrals or signposting to other services

If following a crisis assessment a referral does not require ongoing CRISS support this will be communicated to the service user and the referrer via letter, and recorded on the Trust’s electronic patient record system.

 Access to CRISS for service users and carers currently under secondary mental health services

There are instances when a service-user or carer may contact CRISS which include:

• Service users previously known to LYPFT services that may not require a full assessment, but may benefit from a ‘one off intervention’ as indicated in their safety plan. Following this contact it is likely they can be signposted to alternatives for crisis support or existing support as part of their care package.

• Service users currently under LYPFT services and receiving care from the Intensive Support Service or CMHT for additional support out of working hours. During operational hours these service-users and carers will be directed straight to their CMHT or Intensive Support Service and CRISS will highlight this contact to the relevant teams.

If you are not currently a service user with the Crisis Resolution Intensive Support Service or you need help in a mental health crisis please call our Single Point of Access number on Freephone 0800 183 1485 to talk to a member of our crisis team.

If you are already a service user with the Crisis Resolution Intensive Support Service (or ISS as you may know them) please call them direct on 0113 85 56191.

We value your feedback at any point so that we can deliver the best care possible. If you have any compliments or concerns, please speak to a member of our team or request to speak to a clinical team manager. If your issue is not resolved, you can make a complaint via our website: www.leedsandyorkpft.nhs.uk/contact-us/

We understand this may be a difficult time for you and your family or carer so please speak to us if you have any questions; we want to support you in the best way possible.