MFT Launches Safe Harbour in Epsom

PRESS RELEASE – Leatherhead, 2 September 2024

Safe Harbour, a new daytime crisis prevention service Safe Harbour is officially launching full time in Epsom, providing up to 6-week tailored support to adults (18+) at risk of regular mental health crises. Safe Harbour Epsom works with referred clients to reduce the frequency and severity of their mental health crises, provide them with alternative strategies for de-escalation as well as build resilience.

The service is a one-year pilot, funded by Surrey County Council Mental Health Investment Fund, to provide better outcomes and experiences for people at risk of mental health crisis and reduce visits to A&E and other blue light services.

Safe Harbour is delivered face-to-face by a team of mental health professionals from Surrey leading mental health charity Mary Frances Trust (MFT). It is located at the Brickfield Centre, Epsom. The service is open every day of the year, 9am-6pm, including bank holidays and weekends.

Another Safe Harbour site is due to open in Woking in the autumn of 2024 by partner organisation Catalyst Support, another leading mental wellbeing charity in Surrey. Safe Harbour Woking will work in exactly the same way as the Epsom service.

Join our Virtual Safe Harbour Presentation for Healthcare Professionals
To find out more about the service and what it offers, health professionals are invited to a virtual Safe Harbour presentation to be held over Teams on Friday 20 September 2024, 2.30pm-3.30pm.

To register for the session and receive the Teams login details, please email the Safe Harbour team at:
safeharbour@maryfrancestrust.org.uk

What is Safe Harbour?

Safe Harbour is a preventative service to enable people at risk of mental health crisis to avoid escalation, manage and prevent crisis, better manage their mental health, stabilise, and build resilience tailored around their individual circumstances and needs as identified on their support plan.

It is a clinical referral only service. Safe Harbour is there to work alongside, and in collaboration with, other community services. Safe Harbour is based at the Brickfield Centre, Portland Pl, Epsom KT17 1DL.

What support is provided at Safe Harbour?

Safe Harbour is a face-to-face service which offers:

• Up to 6-week rolling programme
• Quiet space
• Preventative work – around areas such as sleep hygiene, mindful cooking, creating a plan of resources for a crisis
• One-to-one support
• Group work
• Peer Support/Group including activities, such as gardening and art
• Onward referrals to more holistic support, such as Community Connections
• Crisis intervention and action planning for each individual, where immediate next steps are agreed, including agreement around any further support planning
• Provision of information and support around crisis prevention for people who use services and their families and carers, signposting into other relevant and appropriate services, or agencies
• Preventative work to build resilience and manage crisis without the need for clinical invention to avoid escalation
• Facilitating access to other services and activities and longer-term support to prevent A&E and Hospital admissions. This is likely to be Community Connections.

Who is the service for?

Safe Harbour is for adults aged 18+, who:

• frequently attend A&E or other blue light services when experiencing a mental health crisis
• and/or people identified by the Home Treatment Teams, or Community Mental Health Recovery Services as requiring ongoing support in preventing themselves from escalating into crisis and assessed at not requiring clinical intervention or hospital admission at the time of referral.

When is Safe Harbour Epsom available?

Safe Harbour Epsom is open 7 days a week, 9am – 6pm, every day of the year (including bank holidays and weekends), offering a 6-week rolling programme to referred clients at the Brickfield Centre, Portland Place, Epsom.

Who can refer to Safe Harbour?

Safe Harbour is a clinical referral only service. The service can only accept referrals from the following teams:

• Home Treatment Team
• Community Mental Health Recovery Service
• Safe Havens
• Psychiatric Liaison
• GPs

Safe Harbour accepts six referrals a week. Referrals can be made through the Safe Harbour Admin email at: safeharbour@maryfrancestrust.org.uk.

Other services, including blue light services, can send people presenting in mental health crisis to Safe Haven Epsom (or any other Safe Haven sites in Surrey) where our team can make a referral to Safe Harbour, if appropriate. Safe Haven is a drop in crisis service, open 365 days a year, 6pm-11pm based at the Brickfield Centre, Epsom.

Safe Haven sites in Surrey are listed on the SABP website:
https://www.sabp.nhs.uk/our-services/mental-health/safe-havens

Join our Virtual Safe Harbour session for healthcare professionals
To explain the service in more depth and answer questions, healthcare professionals are invited to a virtual Safe Harbour presentation followed by a Q&A session to be held over Teams on Friday 20 September 2024, 2.30pm-3.30pm by the Safe Harbour team.

To register for the session and receive the Teams login details, please email the Safe Harbour team at safeharbour@maryfrancestrust.org.uk

Why was Safe Harbour created?

There is increasingly high demand both on mental health services and on Emergency Department services from people presenting in mental health crisis. However Emergency Department services and other blue light services are not set up to deal with mental health crises, leading to potentially poorer outcomes, as well as increasing existing flow issues in both mental health and acute hospitals.

The Safe Harbour pilot is a response to a need, identified by the system, to reduce visits of people presenting mental health crisis in A&E and other blue light services.

What’s the difference between Safe Haven and Safe Harbour?

Both Epsom Safe Haven and Epsom Safe Harbour are located in the same building at the Brickfield Centre, Portland Place, Epsom but they are different services with different opening times. They both aim to provide the best support to people in crisis and reduce A&E visits, but they do it in different ways.

Epsom Safe Haven is a drop-in, front-line crisis service for people experiencing a mental health crisis. It is open every evening of the year, 6pm-11pm. Staff at Safe Haven can make a referral to Safe Harbour, if appropriate. This service is delivered by Mary Frances Trust, in partnership with Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (SABP) who have a Clinician on site.

Epsom Safe Harbour is a preventative service that works with individuals who are at risk of being in crisis, helping them develop the tools to manage their mental health more effectively, de-escalate crisis if it occurs and build resilience. Safe Harbour is open every day of the year, 9am-6pm (although initially the service will be open only Monday to Friday, 9am-6pm throughout August until all staff is in place). This service is delivered exclusively by staff from Mary Frances Trust.

Notes to Editors

1. Safe Harbour is a 12-month pilot, which may be extended subject to funding.
2. Mary Frances Trust (MFT) is a Surrey leading mental health and emotional wellbeing charity operating in Surrey Downs (Banstead, Elmbridge, Epsom & Ewell and Mole Valley).
3. MFT runs a variety of services including Community Connections in Surrey Downs, Wellbeing Advice & Information, Safe Haven Epsom**, Financial and Wellbeing Support service in Epsom & Ewell (in partnership with Citizens Advice Epsom & Ewell), Service User Network (SUN)**, GPimhs** and Recovery & Connect**. Services marked ** are delivered in partnership with Surrey and Borders NHS Foundation Trust (SABP). All MFT services are free. For more information about our services, visit:
https://www.maryfrancestrust.org.uk/how-we-help/
4. Community Connections is a service open to Surrey residents (16+) experiencing any type of mental health and/or emotional wellbeing issues. No formal diagnosis is needed. It offers individual goal setting sessions as well as access to wellbeing activities and courses (self help courses, arts & crafts, physical activities, peer support, nature and other interest groups) delivered in small groups, both online and face-to-face to help restore
and/or maintain mental wellbeing. The service has no waiting lists or time limits. It is a self-referral service but we also accept referrals from other organisations. To register as a client of Community Connections, fill in our online registration form available on www.maryfrancestrust.org.uk under the “Register” tab.

Further Information

For more information about the service, please contact our team at Safe Harbour
Epsom at: safeharbour@maryfrancestrust.org.uk

Media Contact

Connie Ridout, Communications Lead, Mary Frances Trust
E: connie@maryfrancestrust.org.uk

Interview opportunity with Liz Wilson, Safe Harbour Manager, Mary Frances Trust
or Katrina Elliott, Clinical Lead and Safeguarding Manager, Mary Frances Trust.

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