Page contents
Mental health care at home is a temporary measure taken by medical professionals. It is for when you are struggling with day to day life due to a mental illness and need support to get back on your feet.
Community mental health teams (CMHTs) can support you in your own home for as long as medical health professionals deem it necessary. CMHTs are for people aged 18-65, while people over 65 years old can receive support from an Older Adult Mental Health Team.
These teams are comprised of occupational therapists, psychiatrists, social workers and community psychiatric nurses.
If you feel that you need mental health care at home, contact your GP.
Mental health care at home in a crisis situation
If somebody is suffering from severe mental health difficulties but does not meet the criteria to be sectioned under the Mental Health Act 1983, they may receive support at home.
In cases like this, your GP would arrange for you to be visited by a mental health crisis team. They would assess you and decide whether you need to go to hospital, go straight into mental support at home or any other action they feel is necessary.
If you are already under a mental health team then the psychiatrist may put mental health care at home in place if you are relapsing.
Ongoing support at home
The aim of this home care is to help people stay out of hospital, and can be provided instead of admission to hospital or to transition after a stay. You may receive visits from a home care team that includes:
- Social workers to help you with social needs and managing your home and finances
- Community psychiatric nurses to aid with medication and other health needs
- A psychiatrist to give therapy and help you discuss and understand your feelings
- Occupational therapists
Tamsin Chant is an occupational therapist (OT). She explains: “The role of an occupational therapist is to assess how well a person is able to function and perform daily tasks, and provide tools and techniques to improve function and make a task easier, increasing their independence.
“When a person becomes very unwell with a mental illness, they may find it difficult to carry out daily tasks such as getting up, washing, dressing, preparing food etc. The OT will help a person with these tasks, or any other tasks they are struggling with to help them re-establish more of a routine, and gradually work towards helping them return to a more productive and meaningful routine.
“The help can be provided in the community as well as in hospital. It has been observed that people tend to recover better when in their own environment, compared to hospital if it is safe to do so.”
Care for older people with mental health problems
Support from Older Adult Mental Health Teams is temporary, but many older people who require home care can have mental health support as part of their care package.
Some home care services employ care workers who are trained in certain mental health areas, while many can construct your care plan in conjunction with your mental health care needs, to ensure all carers know exactly how to deliver your physical and mental health care.
Some people choose to have live-in care for round-the-clock support. Melanie Geldard, marketing director at Independent People Home Care Services, says: “Whether you’re looking for mental health respite services or support on a longer term basis, at Independent People Homecare we know that care for mental health is about more than the practical side of things. In fact, the emotional support provided by our live-in carers is, without doubt, of most value to the customers who receive mental health home care”.
Counselling at home
Many people with mental health issues benefit enormously from counselling. Counsellors help people to talk through their feelings and make sense of them, as well as working with you to develop coping strategies.
Counselling can be done from home, via phone or video call. If you live in England, you can refer yourself for psychological therapy on the NHS, rather than going to your GP. This NHS programme is called Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) and is not currently available in Wales. You can refer yourself here.
In Scotland, you can speak to a Breathing Space advisor about accessing mental health support here.
Many people choose to receive private counselling at home. Private counselling enables you to choose how many hours you want. There is a great number of professional counsellors who offer telephone, online or face-to-face service. To find the right private counsellor for you, follow this link.
Any counsellor you have should be registered with the British Association for Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapies.