Telford’s Calm Café mental health service set to expand for young people next month
A mental health crisis support service in Telford and Wrekin will be expanding next month to provide a service for young people, a meeting was told.
The non-clinical crisis intervention service called Calm Café already runs informal meeting sessions for adults, veterans and for those needing help with substance misuse.
Paid for by the NHS with social workers and independent voluntary organisation Telford Mind as “constant partners”, the aim will be to “support young people transitioning to adulthood”.
They will provide a ‘safe place’ for people to go for support for mental health crises.
The idea of the Calm Cafés in general is to intervene before issues balloon to the point that people need more costly help from social services or the NHS.
A meeting of Telford & Wrekin Council’s health scrutiny committee on Thursday (October 9) was told that two Calm Cafés for people aged 18-25 will be opening in November at Meeting Point House, in Southwater, and in Dawley.
The committee was told that the expansion has been funded for one year by the Telford and Wrekin Integrated Place Partnership (TWIPP).
A council officer said the new Calm Cafés will be opening in the first week of November and that staff are being recruited.
An official told councillors that the opening times and locations are flexible depending on what the young people want.
The Calm Café for young people in Dawley is scheduled to open from 1pm-3pm on Wednesdays, with the one at Meeting Point House slated for 5pm-7.45pm.
“We will change the venues and times and we will need to monitor that,” said the council official.
The committee was told that there will be “robust monitoring to ensure we evidence the impact on people and health and social care system".
For more about the Calm Cafes, visit https://livewell.telford.gov.uk/Services/2357.
