Teal LifeCare equips new Chester NHS mental health crisis centre
Designed to provide practical support during challenging times a new early intervention support and treatment centre for anyone experiencing a mental health crisis has opened in Chester.
Designed in collaboration with people with ‘lived experience’ of mental ill-health, ‘Number 71’ is a wellbeing resource centre which provides a modern, non-clinical and therapeutic environment to support people in Mental Health crisis and emotional distress.
Teal LifeCare worked collaboratively with Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and Mersey Design Group to create a welcoming facility which meets the needs of both local service users, NHS Staff and volunteer workers. The service will become a one-stop shop for self-help, advice from care professionals and signposting to other services and wellbeing activities.
Teal provided an end-to-end solution, partnering with key stakeholders at Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust in the specification, supply and installation of its specialist mental health furniture. Helping to create a sense of calm and space the furniture supplied is both robust and secure, with anti-ligature features and additional weighting to maximise safety and limit misuse, whilst maintaining a non-clinical feel.
Teal’s Interior specialist Vicky Taylor advised on the project throughout. “The brief was to create a welcoming and therapeutic environment to support the Trust’s vision for Number 71 to become a thriving central hub for the community. Our furniture, whilst being appropriate for the environment in terms of safety and security, also complements the interior finishes selected by MDG, with design led seating and occasional furniture in soft, co-ordinating colourways throughout”.
An existing NHS facility was re-purposed to create the new centre, following a successful award from the national ‘Beyond Places of Safety’ grant scheme. Number 71 is a result of NHS West Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (CWP) working together with mental health interest groups.
