QUIETLY and purposefully, a new mental health service for those in crisis has opened up in Bournemouth.

The Retreat will open formally next month but meanwhile it's already providing a safe and welcoming environment for people who have self-identified a mental health crisis and want to access support.

It's being run by Dorset Mental Health Forum and Dorset HealthCare who are working in partnership, and is the first of a series of changes and developments to Dorset’s mental health services as a result of the recent Acute Care Pathway review.

It moves away from the traditional approach to crisis management by not offering medication or formal therapy but instead supports and promotes self-management.

Dorset HealthCare Chief Executive Ron Shields said: “These changes are innovative, ambitious and a significant improvement on the current arrangements, based on what people using services have told us they need." He said they were: "Very positive for the future of mental health services in Dorset and reflect our ongoing commitment to delivering the very best quality of care."

The service is staffed by both peer specialists and mental health professionals and has a strong focus on valuing lived experience of mental health, he said.

The Retreat is open to anyone who is 18 and over and lives in Dorset. A person can visit if they feel that they are in crisis, are pre-empting a crisis or are seeking support. "They do not need to call ahead, they can just turn up," said Mr Shields.

Becky Aldridge, Chief Executive of the Dorset Mental Health Forum, welcomed the initiative.“It's an exciting, accessible and different kind of service shaped by local people, which seeks to offer people support when they need it,” she said.

The Retreat is based at Hahnemann House, Hahnemann Road, Bournemouth (BH2 5JW) and is open Monday to Thursday: 4.30pm-12midnight and Friday to Sunday: 6.30pm-2am.

*dorsetmentalhealthforum.org.uk/