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Liverpool City Council have recently awarded Creative Support, a not for profit health and social care provider, £154,345 from the Improved Better Care Fund, to develop and operate a mental health night café. Named the Liverpool Light (The Light) this will be a welcoming and safe space that people experiencing mental health-related crisis can turn to for support during the evening.
The service will launch in early April and is part of Liverpool City Council’s pledge to prioritise mental health provision, offering an alternative to the use of A&E at times of crisis. The Light will take pressure off the nearby A&E department at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, offering people presenting with mental health needs an alternative and targeted offer of social support.
Beth Cunliffe, Creative Support’s Unit Business Manager in Liverpool, welcomes the development of the service: ‘The demand on A&E and police services is massive and they’re intervening with quite a lot of people in crisis who are not currently under a mental health team. However, the waiting time in A&E can be so long that people leave before they get seen. The police are welcoming the service, anticipating that in some cases it will prevent officers sitting with clients in A&E who are waiting to be seen.”
The service will be located on London Road in the City Centre, proposed opening hours are from 6pm-12am, seven days a week. The Light will provide a warm and supportive environment run by trained mental health support staff, intervention will be provided on an individual basis. Hot drinks and snacks will also be available free of charge.
In addition to the local A&E department at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, emergency services and partner agencies will also be able to refer individuals to the service, along with those experiencing a mental health crisis being able to drop in for support.
More information is available on the website.
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