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Assertive Outreach Teams

Our Assertive outreach teams provide long term and intensive support to people who are suffering from a mental health problem and are judged to be the most vulnerable. They support people who have historically avoided contact with mental health services.

Assertive Outreach teams strive to establish a relationship with the service user and understand his or her specific needs, hopes and aspirations. The teams try to improve the way people cope with mental health problems and help them to live as full a life as possible, with the aim of boosting their quality of life.

Who are the Assertive Outreach Teams?

We are teams of mental health workers with a range of skills and experience, aimed at supporting the service users' recovery process.

The teams include:

team manager
community psychiatric nurses
community psychiatric social workers
occupational therapist
support workers
psychologist
consultant psychiatrist.

The teams value the opinion of service users and carers and welcome their involvement in the delivery of the service provided by our teams.

What services are provided by Assertive Outreach Teams?

We aim to provide support which will assist service users in the recovery process. This will depend upon what is relevant to the service user as an individual, but may include:

assessment
work with service users and their families and carers, building upon their strengths and abilities
provide practical support with benefits, finances, health, housing and daily living skills
to assist access to a range of community resources, vocational training and employment opportunities
to support service users and their families in skills associated with preventing relapse and reducing stress
to assist access to a range of treatment and support important to individual recovery. This may include medication, psychological interventions or specific alternative therapies
to assist service users in maintaining good physical health care
access to opportunities to make friends, socialise and pursue hobbies / interests
to provide a team approach to support. This allows us to work more flexibly and reliably.

We believe that the following principles are essential in supporting people in the recovery process:

recognising every service user as an individual with their own strengths and abilities
treating all service users with respect and sensitivity, taking into account their individual beliefs and aspirations
promoting independence and choice
the importance of building good relationships with all service users, their families and carers
to strive to work with people towards achieving a quality of life acceptable to them.

What can service users expect from the teams?

to have a named Care Coordinator / Keyworker
to be treated with respect and as an individual
to be involved in the plan of the way in which the team will work with the service user to support his or her recovery
to be involved in the regular review of support from the team and provided with information to enable them to make choices about their future
to be able to gain rapid access to support from the team
to be given access to the best available treatment and support, aimed at minimising the impact mental health problems may have upon service users achieving their goals
to be visited in their own home or a place of their own preference if required.