“It’s a chameleon of a building”: What is a community mental health centre?
“From my experience as a former service user, I know this space would really work for me, and I'm really excited to watch it grow”
A Sheffield centre is being hailed as a national beacon of hope as the spotlight falls on mental health support across the country.
The government is set to expand community mental health support across England, with up to 159 new centres designed to help before people reaching crisis point.
One of the pilot sites is the new Gleadless and Heeley Neighbourhood Mental Health Centre in Sheffield, where Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Yvette Cooper visited to announce the national plans.
Alee Drummond, senior lived experience practitioner, said the centre was designed to be made into different things.
“It’s a wellbeing café for people to drop into, have any conversations around their mental health," she said.
“If someone is experiencing a few difficulties, they've been feeling a bit low or they're struggling with their emotions, there's recovery workers here, there's peer support workers here.
“It might just be coming in for a few days and having a chat. As crazy as it sounds, there's art and craft materials here, there's board games, there's something always going on.”
Ms Drummond said the centre also features consultation rooms and three beds for people to stay who might need a bit of time away from home.
Outside of the six existing community mental health centres and 23 mental health emergency departments, the first new facilities are expected to open from autumn 2026, with further sites opening from March 2027.
57 will be new builds, whilst 102 will be conversions of existing sites.
Ms Drummond explained the aim of the Gleadless site is to meet people where they are.
“From my experience as a former service user, I know this space would really work for me, and I'm really excited to watch it grow, watch people come through the doors and their journey, the groups that will start.”
It’s early days, but already she is noticing some positive results.
“We’ve seen quite a lot of men coming, which are often the hardest to reach when it comes to speaking about mental health or feeling like it's okay to.
“There have been lots of conversations where people are going back saying they'd like a cooking group here or a movie night.
“We're trying to wait to see what people want, rather than just providing groups. What actually would they like to go on here.
“So we can meet people where they’re at, and with them, try and figure out what they might need on that day, or for the next few days.”