Community Mental Health Teams (Adult Services)

The Northern Trust has nine community mental health teams that provide assessment for people aged between 18 to 64 years, who are experiencing mental health problems.

Each team covers a different area of the Trust.

The teams provide assessment and intervention which is recovery focused, and supports the individual to reach their full potential, to live a satisfying, hopeful and contributing life.

The teams are made up of clinical professionals, and support staff, including team leaders, consultant psychiatrists/clinical leads, non-consultant medical staff, community mental health nurses, social workers, occupational therapists, clinical psychologist, support workers, and administrative staff.

We provide a bio-psychosocial assessment to those with a likely mental illness and advise on, or provide, appropriate treatment and management within available resources.

Many service users treated by our community mental health teams will be referred back to their GPs following a time-limited intervention. Others may be referred on to more appropriate services. The priority is for service users with severe and enduring mental illness. Some, however, will remain with the team for ongoing treatment, care and monitoring for longer periods. They will include people needing ongoing specialist care for:

Severe and persistent mental disorders associated with significant disability, predominantly psychoses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Longer term disorders of lesser severity, which are characterised by difficulties in engagement requiring pro-active intervention.
Disorders requiring skilled or intensive treatments not available in primary care.
Complex problems of management and engagement such as presented by service users requiring interventions under the Mental Health Order
Disorders of personality where these can be shown to benefit by continued contact and support.