What is the Hope Service?
The Hope Service is a multi-agency service for young people aged 11 to 18 who are experiencing complex mental health, emotional, social and behavioural needs which could cause a placement breakdown or may require a psychiatric hospital admission. These needs cannot be met by one agency alone. It is a joint partnership between Health Services, Children's Services and Education who work together to provide support to young people in the community and through day programme provision. At Hope there is a dedicated team of social workers, nurses, teachers, psychologists, art/drama therapists, psychiatrists, a systemic family worker and activity workers.
The Hope Service is based on 3 sites:
- Hope Epsom in West Park in Epsom
- Hope Guildford on Worplesdon Road in Guildford
- Extended Hope in Redhill
What the Hope Service aim to achieve
- To prevent or shorten psychiatric inpatient hospital admissions for young people with mental health difficulties.
- To prevent out of county fostering, community home or residential school placements for young people
- To prevent family breakdown, where a young person is likely to be placed out of county
- To work with young people in the community and/or through the provision of an individualised day programme to meet their specific therapeutic, educational and social needs.
- To support young people to access employment, education or training on exit from Hope.
- To work with young people on a short term basis, usually for 6 to 12 months.
Community outreach
The Hope Service provides intensive community support and intervention to prevent or shorten a young person's admission to psychiatric inpatient units and to prevent placement breakdowns within the family, foster care placement or residential setting which might lead to a young person being moved into an out of county placement. We work closely with a range of professionals including psychiatric in-patient units, Community Mental Health teams, Children's Services teams, youth services, schools and local support networks to support young people. A Hope Co-ordinator is allocated to work with each young person to build a relationship with them in the community and support their transition into the day programme where it is appropriate.
The Day Programme
The day programme offers structured therapeutic, educational and personalised recreational activities to young people. The programme is flexible to ensure that it meets individual needs in a safe, supportive and therapeutic environment. In addition to education, there is a focus on individual and group therapy, art therapy, drama therapy, psychology, cognitive behavioural therapy, anger and anxiety management, assertiveness training and practical social and living skills. The day programme runs daily during term time, and continues with therapeutic work and activities in the school holidays.
Extended Hope
The Extended Hope Assessment and Support Service aims to support young people facing emotional and mental health crisis outside of normal office hours (5pm to 11pm 7 days a week) or requiring, following assessment, a respite/crisis bed at Hope House for up to 7 days. It is staffed by community psychiatric nurses and who will undertake mental health assessments of young people and can offer support to that young person and their family/carer.
Extended Hope can be accessed by young people and parents and carers by calling the crisis number 0800 915 4644 option 1. All calls for Extended Hope will be triaged and if necessary Extended Hope will be asked to support young people in emotional and mental Health crisis, for example avoiding an Accident and Emergency attendance or if there is an increase in risk.
A referral for the bed needs to be made through the Team Manager of Extended Hope or an Extended Hope Nurse or any Manager or Care Coordinator within the Hope service on 01372 203404 (Hope Epsom) or 01483 517190 (Hope Guildford) between the hours of 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday.
Mental Health Crisis Support
The Mental Health Crisis support line is available 24 hours and 7 days a week. The number can be accessed by calling 0800 915 4644 and pressing option 1. The crisis line will be answered by a trained call handler who are experienced in working with people with Mental Health difficulties.
The Emergency Duty Team (EDT) is still available after 5pm to offer help and support for children and young people with increased social care needs and safeguarding concerns. Please call 01483 517898.
CYP Havens are open in Ash, Epsom, Redhill and Shepperton.. They are available for young people from 10 to 18 years old. There is also a support line, please call 01483 519436. Mental Health Clinicians or Youth Workers are available to speak to and there are groups which are also running.
Pathways out of Hope
We aim to ensure that all young people leave our day programme with a clear pathway for them to progress onto. There are many different placements that can be explored dependent upon age, interests and need including;
- Special educational provision
- Re-integration to mainstream schools
- Apprenticeships
- College
- Other employment and training
- Work
- Workshops
- Work experience