Collaboration project seeks improvements to local mental health services
Researchers from the University of Huddersfield have collaborated with the NHS and an acclaimed local mental health consultant on a project aimed at improving mental health services in the local area.
Twelve months of developmental research have culminated in findings being submitted to the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), with the hope that funding will be awarded for a five-year project worth £11m to be carried out by the university.
Key to the research was the contribution of Debs Teale, who established her business The Debs Effect after she discovered the benefits of creativity following years of treatment for multiple mental health issues.
Issues in mental health provision included long waiting lists for initial appointments, inappropriate referrals due to GPs lacking knowledge of NHS mental health services, and patients not being signposted to charities or voluntary organisations that could help.
Michael Doyle, Professor in Mental Health Research at the University, is the award co-lead with Professor Ann-Louise Caress and Sarah Burn from the South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Trust, who was seconded to the University in 2024 to help manage the project.
“There is a big problem with people who need help being left behind,” says Sarah. “We have heard of 20 week waits for an initial appointment, then some people are being informed they are seeing the wrong professional so they have another wait to see the right person.
“There are charities and voluntary services that could help, but people need to be directed towards them. This is why working with Debs Teale was so helpful, as she has such detailed knowledge of how the system works. Her insight has been a huge benefit to this research.”
Debs Teale adds, "I went out to meet with people who had been 'left behind' in the system, who had been deemed to have a diagnosis of exclusion, or were deemed too complex for traditional NHS treatments. This opened up so many connections with the community and what it can offer and the support to people that were previously not able to access some services.
“By working in such a collaborative way and joining and making connections we were able to work with the more marginalised of society but also proving the importance of connected services for a truly holistic, person-centred approach.”
Debs has been chosen as one of this year’s bearers of the Baton of Hope, the UK’s largest ever suicide prevention initiative.
The development work over the past 12 months has led to an application for a five-year funding award to establish a Mental Health Research Group at the University of Huddersfield aimed at reducing mental health inequalities and improving mental health and wellbeing across Calderdale, Kirklees, Wakefield and beyond.