Community mental health team older people’s service (East and West) (Calderdale)
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About the service
The community mental health teams for older people (East and West) provide assessment, treatment, care planning and interventions for service users, who are primarily over the age of 65 and have a range of mental health problems. The aim is to support the individual, and their carers, to manage their mental health condition while promoting independence and encouraging choice.
Within the community mental health teams for older people (East and West), we have health care professionals who work more intensively with service users, providing planned care to support the individual on a daily basis according to need.
We work with partnership organisations in the local authority to provide tailored and supportive mental health care. We have links to local voluntary sector services, such as the Alzheimers Society, who also provide support.
Why would someone choose the service?
- Following a referral to the service, a member of the team will offer to visit you at your home or an alternative agreed venue in order to assess your needs.
- You will be allocated a care coordinator who will be your main point of contact and will help you to identify your needs and develop a care plan with you and your carers. CMHT members will then deliver treatment and interventions to assist you to maintain your well-being.
- Our staff will help you work at your own pace and try to respect your wishes.
- Carers are also offered an assessment and support to help relieve stress by a referral on to other agencies to further explore their concerns.
Staff you may meet
- Administrative staff provide essential support to doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals. This can be in a variety of different settings, with administrators working as a receptionist in a clinic or a clerk on a ward. They may also be working closely with a consultant as a medical secretary.
- There are more than 60 different specialities that doctors work within the NHS. Each is unique but there are many characteristics which are common. Roles range from working in a hospital to being based in the community as a GP.
- Nurses who choose to specialise in the mental health branch of nursing work with GPs, psychiatrists, psychologists, and others, to help care for patients. Increasingly, care is given in the community, with mental health nurses visiting patients and their families at home, in residential centres, in prisons or in specialist clinics or units.
- Occupational therapy is the assessment and treatment of physical and psychiatric conditions using specific, purposeful activity to prevent disability and promote independent function in all aspects of daily life.
- Adult psychotherapists work with people to assess and treat a range of emotional, social or mental health issues. They help people tackle problems such as behavioural issues, common challenges such as anxiety and depression or more complex or severe issues, such as psychosis or a personality disorder diagnosis.