The Community Mental Health Transformation programme (CMHT) has provided an Innovation Fund of £300,000 to be distributed across 14 local voluntary, community and social partners in Coventry and Warwickshire.
Led by the Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust (CWPT), the programme recognises “how well placed the passion and influence of local organisations are to drive forward new community-based services.” It acknowledges that community mental health services play a role in delivering care and allow patients to remain as close to or at home for as long as possible.
The CMHT programme intends to bring together experience and support from all sectors in order to drive forward community-based services, with a key aim to promote more integration and collaboration across organisations to improve patient care and better accessibility for services.
It is hoped that by strengthening collaborative work, patients will have more options for accessing the right help and they will only have to tell their story once.
Organisations could apply for funding of up to £25,000 per project and were asked to outline how the projects would positively impact the wellbeing and mental health of residents. The projects being funded will cover a range of issues including bereavement support, support for refugees and BAME communities, for people in financial hardship and for those who may be struggling with loneliness and social isolation.
It is hoped that the successful projects will provide a trauma-informed service, which is a keystone of the CMFT. The trust explains this in simple terms as asking ‘what has happened to you?’ rather than ‘what is wrong with you?’
Director of Strategy and Development at CWPT Dominic Cox praised the community services: “Across Coventry and Warwickshire, we have an active, diverse, and vibrant Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector and are excited about our future collaboration.”
Dominic also emphasised the plans for the programme going forward. “Our ambitions are bigger still,” he said, “next year will we invest again into the sector and hope to expand the inclusion of as many VCSE partners as possible in the delivery of trauma-informed care to benefit our local populations.”
