Hospital Link | Outreach Support

I don't know what would have happened to me if it wasn't for my Link Worker – I could be on the streets by now."

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Mental health crises rarely happen in isolation, there are usually unresolved social problems that have caused or contributed to the crisis.

There are sadly times when people experiencing mental health problems can no longer cope and need further support either from spending time in hospital or receiving extra support from Crisis and Home Treatment Services.

It is now widely acknowledged that behind many mental health crises there is often poor housing, homelessness, debt, inadequate income, problems at the workplace or relationship breakdowns.

We set up the Hospital Link Service to address these specific issues. We provide housing and social welfare advice combined with ongoing support to ensure that patients, at times of crisis and ill health, are able to follow the necessary steps to resolve their housing and welfare problems.

The added support ensures that patients don’t disengage from the service and allows goals to be achieved. This makes the service vastly different from those provided by advice centres like Citizens Advice and Shelter who offer advice only. Hospital Link Workers are specialists in housing and mental health, and we believe that this specialism combined with ongoing support, is the only way to meet the complex social needs of acute service patients.

We have found that many users of the Hospital Link Service experience significantly less stress, as housing and financial matters are resolved.

We have demonstrated that this not only helps reduce the length of admission but also plays a vital part in preventing readmission.

Download a service sheet that contains the information
on this page.

Help and Support

I am in my fifties now. I was brought up in Norwich, and have worked in London and in several other countries. I was first diagnosed with Bipolar at the age of 18.