The Community Mental Health Team

The Community Mental Health Team works with adults of all ages who experience issues with their mental health. These tend to be of a severe and enduring nature and might include people with schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder, chronic depression, anxiety or personality disorders.

The team is made up of Social workers and Assessment and Review Officers who will work collaboratively with Care Coordinators from the health team to achieve the best outcomes for the individuals we support. Whilst Care Coordinators focus on the healthcare goals of their patients, the Social Workers and Assessment and Review Officers in the team undertake the statutory social care functions for the local authority.

These statutory functions will include assessments and care and support planning under the Care Act 2014 and reviews of the packages of care implemented to meet eligible assessed needs. Part of the work includes signposting to the broad range of support already available in the local areas.

The team has a number of Approved Mental Health Practitioners (AMPHs) who provide responses to our statutory responsibility under the Mental Health Act 1983 as amended 2007. The day AMHP team will hand over to the Emergency Duty Team if an assessment is urgent and cannot wait. The Emergency Duty team provide a daily update to the daytime AMHP team. This ensures that people who find themselves in need of help and a mental health act assessment is indicated, that they get this as soon as possible and both day and out of hours team keep communication lines open.

The CMHT team is divided into subdivisions known as neighbourhoods, these subdivisions will deal with specific aspects of a person’s needs and work with an integrated and person centred approach with health colleagues including psychiatric nurses, psychiatrists and occupational therapists. There are 4 areas that staff align to: Darwen, East, West and North.

Many of the staff working within the CMHT have additional qualifications such as Approved Mental Health Professionals (AMPH) and/or Best Interest Assessor (BIA). It is an expectation that the social workers within this team will go on to train as AMPH’s as part of their ongoing professional development. Some staff have also undertaken a qualification to act as a Practice Educator to help support social work students who require a statutory placement as part of their social work degree.