[Skip to Content]
Call for Insights: Accessing Mental Health Support

Call for Insights: Accessing Mental Health Support

Call for Insights: Accessing Mental Health Support

Friday, December 9, 2022

Over the past six years we have undertaken our Frontline Worker Survey, we have consistently heard that there is a need to improve access to mental health support for people experiencing homelessness, in order to help people secure and keep a safe place to live.

In our 2021 Survey, 83% of frontline workers reported having seen an increase in people presenting with mental health needs, as well as housing needs, over the previous 12 months. At the same time, staff saw substantial challenges in accessing relevant support for people they worked alongside, with 79% of frontline workers describing accessing mental health support as ‘difficult’ or ‘very difficult’.

Feedback from frontline staff included:

“More and more of our referrals are individuals suffering with their mental health […] We feel very stretched as individually we have [a] case load of 25 customers each which does not allow the time needed to work with complex mental health issues effectively.”

“By far the most difficult [service] to get help from is Mental Health Services.”

“Mental health and substance misuse [services] are severely underfunded. Staff do not have the time to build good working relationships.”

“I have worked in this sector for 10 years and have seen the negative impact on funding for services being cut especially in mental health services. This has resulted in more complex […] severe mental health issues presenting for support which I do not feel trained to support.”

As a result, at St Martin’s Charity we are:

  1. Calling for further insights about this issue and what works when supporting people experiencing homelessness to access mental health services.

  2. Committing to using this evidence to inform a grant round making funding available to scale up work in this area.

Our call for insights is now open and we welcome contributions from people and organisations across the UK with knowledge of this topic. You might have practical examples from your own personal or professional experience or have been involved in researching this area. 

We are interested in five questions:

  1. What are the gaps in service provision for people experiencing homelessness accessing mental health support?
  2. Are there particular access points / times when mental health support is most needed?
  3. Who do services struggle to engage and support and why?
  4. What works to help people access mental health support?
  5. If good support was in place, what would markers of success be?

You are welcome to submit your responses via our survey. The survey can be completed anonymously if preferred. You can view our privacy notice here. We request that responses are concise and do not exceed 500 words per question. Thank you for taking the time to share your insights. 

Please note, the survey is now closed. If you would like to get in touch about this work, please email: rachel.marshall@stmartinscharity.org.uk.

News and Views

collapse/expand
  • Brain Injury Guidance

    Brain Injury Guidance

    Leigh Andrews of Change Communication offered specialist advice on brain injuries and homelessness through a digital...
  • End Furniture Poverty Survey

    End Furniture Poverty Survey

    End Furniture Poverty have recently spoken with the Frontline Network to discuss their important ongoing survey, seek...
  • Cover the Cost Campaign

    Cover the Cost Campaign

    Jasmine Basran, Senior Policy Officer at Crisis, talks to us about the Cover the Cost Campaign, asking the Government...
  • VRF Impact Report 2018/19

    VRF Impact Report 2018/19

    Over the past year we have given out 3827 grants totaling £1,156,805 through the VRF. Read the latest Impact Report t...
  • Influence from the Frontline

    Influence from the Frontline

    Frontline workers are crucial at giving insight into the viewpoints of the people they work with as well as the chall...
  • The Vagrancy Act

    The Vagrancy Act

    Crisis, along with others including Homeless Link, Cymorth Cymru, Centrepoint, St Mungo’s, Shelter Cymru and the Wall...
  • Influencing local decisions

    Influencing local decisions

    Zoe, Frontline Network Coordinator at Coventry Citizens Advice, talks to us about the Coventry Frontline Network and...
  • The Litigant in Person Network

    The Litigant in Person Network

    Martha de la Roche, Network Development Manager at Litigant in Person Network (LiP Network), tells us about The LiP N...
  • VRF Impact Report

    VRF Impact Report

    Find out what impact VRF had last year and how to get involved in shaping its direction in the coming year.
  • Housing First Scotland

    Housing First Scotland

    Please see here for the first issue of Housing First Connect - a twice-yearly newsletter for Scotland’s new Housing F...
  • Slaying the Dragon

    Slaying the Dragon

    Will Golding, Edinburgh Tutor at Crisis, talks to us about 'Slaying the Dragon'.
  • CPAG - Early Warning System

    CPAG - Early Warning System

    Dan Norris, from CPAG, talks to us about a new Early Warning System to record the impact of benefit changes implement...
  • The Hostile Environment

    The Hostile Environment

    Bethan Lant, a Project lead from Praxis, writes about the creation of a hostile environment for migrants and refugees.
  • Wrexham’s Crisis Cafe

    Wrexham’s Crisis Cafe

    Sinead Kelleher writes about Wrexham's Crisis Cafe, a multi-agency response to Universal Credit.
  • Frontline Worker Survey

    Frontline Worker Survey

    We are asking frontline workers to participate in a survey, aimed at those working with clients who are experiencing...
  • A map through conflict

    A map through conflict

    A Cyrenians Mediator writes about their innovative Amber Mediation and Support Project, a model of mediation and supp...
  • “A place to call home"

    “A place to call home"

    Hannah Gousy was seconded from Crisis to the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) to help design policy recommendations to...
  • A London Nightshelter

    A London Nightshelter

    On 7 November we opened our church-based shelters for the winter with more churches signed on then ever before. Glass...
  • 'Step Up' at The Connection

    'Step Up' at The Connection

    Wyn Newman introduces the volunteer programme 'Step Up' that has been developed at The Connection for service users.