{"id":358427,"date":"2025-12-19T17:31:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T17:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/358427\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T17:31:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T17:31:13","slug":"nhs-offers-alternative-to-ae-for-people-in-mental-health-crisis-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/358427\/","title":{"rendered":"NHS offers alternative to A&E for people in mental health crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark NormanBBC South East Health Correspondent <\/p>\n

\"MarkMark Norman\/BBC<\/p>\n

Leanne Nagel sought help for her mental health condition and now works to help others<\/p>\n

People experiencing a mental health crisis can now access immediate, out-of-hours support seven days a week at services across Sussex.<\/p>\n

Staying Well provides a space for adults aged 18 and over who need mental health support, as an alternative to hospital accident and emergency units.<\/p>\n

Leanne Nagle lives with depression, anxiety and ADHD and now works as a peer support worker for the service after getting help herself. <\/p>\n

“I learned a lot about myself and the reasons behind my mental health issues,” she said. “Then I wanted to give back.”<\/p>\n

Ms Nagle says she meets a lot of neurodivergent people that come into the service.<\/p>\n

“I’ve got lots of information and my biggest thing is for them to look at it as a superpower and not to look at it in a negative,” she said.<\/p>\n

The NHS says the service is available for anyone with a self-defined mental health crisis including feelings of not being able to cope, being worried you might hurt yourself or somebody else or those experiencing suicidal thoughts.<\/p>\n

Every month more than 1,000 people across Sussex attend A&E for urgent mental health support, according to the NHS. <\/p>\n

\"MarkMark Norman\/BBC<\/p>\n

The Staying Well service can also accept referrals from the emergency services<\/p>\n

Lucinda Wentworth is a clinician for the Staying Well service and a registered mental health nurse who described the service as vital. <\/p>\n

“People are welcome to drop into the service so they don’t have to wait for lengthy appointments and they don’t have to wait in a crowded, lit waiting room with hundreds of other people for hours,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We offer a very person-centred, friendly service and we’re able to look into each person’s needs on that day. I think that’s the nub of the service.”<\/p>\n

The Staying Well services are open in Brighton, Crawley, Eastbourne, Hastings and Worthing. <\/p>\n

They are open from 17:00 to 22:30 GMT on weekdays, and from 15:00 to 22:30 at weekends, including throughout Christmas and new year. An appointment or professional referral is not required.<\/p>\n

Recovery workers, mental health practitioners and peer support workers with lived experience offer visitors emotional support, coping strategies and safety planning. <\/p>\n

NHS Sussex said over the past three months more than 2,000 people had accessed the Staying Well services across Sussex, a 122% increase compared with the same period in 2023, when 900 people attended.<\/p>\n

The NHS believes these are people who might otherwise have gone to A&E. <\/p>\n

Staying Well is delivered by Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust in partnership with local voluntary and community sector organisations. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mark NormanBBC South East Health Correspondent Mark Norman\/BBC Leanne Nagel sought help for her mental health condition and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[97,259,260],"class_list":{"0":"post-358427","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-mental-health","10":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}