HOMESTEAD COMMUNITY NETWORKS (HCN) PROJECT
Growing Better Lives is proud to be one of the founding partners of Homestead Community Networks (HCN), a new network of therapeutic environments for people who have experienced serious mental health challenges. HOMESTEAD COMMUNITY NETWORK will fill a missing gap in the UK’s mental health infrastructure, and secure better outcomes while minimising costs.
Each Homestead will be:
Homely, safe, imaginative & enlivening
Rural, suburban and urban
Close to nature
Beautifully crafted
Sustainable
Where holistic relational care gives people back hope, agency & purpose
Cost savings for public purse & true value for individuals
Regenerative & restorative
Improving health of people & planet
Core Principles
Each HOMESTEAD will be different but each one will be formed and run on a consistent set of Core Principles:
Homeliness & closeness to nature
Design excellence & sustainability
Productive enterprise & community interaction
Affordability & access for all
The Homestead Community Network will also be a Design and Knowledge Portal; a body of accessible information; prototype designs, guidelines and standard briefs; with the purpose of promoting good design for healing environments.
We intend to work in public-private partnership with the NHS to set new benchmarks for the design of therapeutic environments.
We will also work with communities and the voluntary sector to ensure we nourish and support resources and projects that are already underway.
Design Paradigm (Maggie’s Centres)
We intend the Homestead Community Network to be as significant for mental illness
as Maggie’s Centres are for cancer care; and like Maggie’s Centres, to work in public private partnership with the NHS to set new benchmarks for designing therapeutic environments in aid of mental wellness; for the benefit of people needing – and providing – care.
Why Homestead?
In the midst of a mounting mental health crisis, the UK’s inpatient psychiatric care system is buckling under the strain. Billions are spent on inpatient services that sometimes do more harm than good & take a heavy toll on healthcare staff
There are safety & quality concerns in some settings - and some people are excluded from meaningful help
Despite the ongoing transformation of mental health services and growing emphasis on keeping individuals within their communities and out of hospital settings, there is still a significant gap in providing adequate support
Few places across the UK can offer safe, structured environments that serve as a buffer between hospital and independent living. Those places that do exist are often for people with learning disabilities or on an offender pathway, or specialist settings run by private healthcare providers
The HOMESTEAD COMMUNITY NETWORK aims to fill this gap. We aim to slash costs from the public purse and also improve outcomes - enhancing wellbeing, boosting health capacities, and lessening the likelihood of relapse and hospital readmission
The hallmark of HCN projects will be the healing and growth that is possible through relationships which establish a sense of belonging, safety, openness, inclusion and empowerment - restoring hope & wellness, and trust that has been eroded
Social architecture: building our therapeutic philosophy
Our model is informed by a radical therapeutic approach with a long and venerable history, underpinned by understanding and using relationships
This includes all relationships between staff and residents, staff and staff, residents and residents - and all between-group relations
Residents recover through relationships and reconnecting with themselves, each other, the wider community and the natural world
All members of the communities are heard and treated with respect whatever their role, gender, age, sexuality, ethnicity, religious belief or physical characteristics
Use of medication is by informed choice. The most up-to-date techniques of deprescribing and tapering will be used for withdrawal wherever appropriate
We support people to find meaning in their difficult experiences, learning how to live well with difficult mind states, grow inner resources, build skills & reclaim healthy futures
No coercive interventions are made
All aspects of the services are co-produced: programme design, policies, leadership and management. We will support individuals to identify networks of support with family, friends and the wider community, in the spirit of Open Dialogue
It is anticipated that breakdown of relationships requiring detention under the Mental Health Act will be rare. When unavoidable, we will minimise harm by developing trusting and transparent working relationships with local statutory services
Individual, Service and Social Impacts
Individuals
Increased engagement and participation
More sense of responsibility and personal agency
Reduced hospitalisation and health service use
Reduced incidents and preventable deaths
Staff
Reduced staff burnout, presenteeism, sick leave and grievances
Less critical incidents
Better retention and staff satisfaction
System
Less 'revolving door' admissions
Improved mental health management
Improved communication between agencies
For more information, or to be involved with the project and become one of our partners and friends, please contact us at: info@homestead.org.uk