Children and Young People Safe Space Support Services

The Safe Space service will provide support for young people experiencing acute emotional distress or mental health crisis. The environment will be safe, welcoming and trauma informed, where one-to-one emotional support and crisis stabilisation can be delivered out of hours by appropriately skilled and trained staff who have experience and expertise in supporting children and young people experiencing emotional distress and mental health difficulties.

Support provided within Safe Space may include active listening, emotional support, safety planning, activity-based interventions, emotional regulation techniques, resilience building activities, coping strategy development and signposting to ongoing support services. Activities will be age appropriate and tailored to the needs and preferences of the young person, with the aim of reducing distress, promotion emotional wellbeing and supporting recovery.

Access to Safe Space can be through two distinct pathways: planned or unplanned

• Planned access offer structured support agreed in advance between the young person their parents/carers/caregivers, clinicians and Safe Space staff. It allows familiarisation with the environment, collaborative safety planning, identification of coping strategies and proactive management of risk to reduce the likelihood of crisis escalation.
• Unplanned access responds to immediate crisis presentations. Referrals are coordinated through the CAMHS Crisis and Intensive Home Treatment Team (CCIHT) with risk assessments and discharge planning in place to ensure safe and effective short-term support.

Together these pathways ensure that Safe Space remains flexible responsive and inclusive meeting the needs of young people at different parts in their care journey.

The service will adopt a whole family approach, recognising the important role that parent, carers and caregivers play in supporting young people during periods of emotional distress and crisis. Parents, carers and caregivers will be actively involved in care planning, safety planning and discharge planning, and will be offered information, guidance and support to enable them to respond effectively to the young person's needs and reduce the risk of future crisis.

The service will be required to work in collaboration with HTFT's CAMHS Crisis & Intensive Home Treatment Team (CCIHT) and other partner organisations where required including the police, ambulance service, A&E, voluntary sector and social care.

Support, Activities and Interventions

The Provider will deliver a range of supportive interventions designed to promote emotional stabilisation, reduce distress and support recovery for young people experiencing acute emotional distress or mental health crisis. Interventions will be person-centred, trauma-informed and tailored to the individual needs, strengths and preferences of each young person.

The main duties of the Provider will be to:

• offer a range of age-appropriate activities and interventions aimed at supporting emotional and psychological wellbeing, reducing anxiety, promoting emotional regulation, developing coping strategies and increasing a young person's sense of t self-worth and confidence
• provide one-to-one emotional support, active listening and crisis stabilisation for young people attending Safe Space, supporting them to identify strengths, develop practical coping strategies and reduce the risk of further escalation.
• work collaboratively with young people, parents, carers and caregivers, where appropriate, to support safety planning, ongoing wellbeing and recovery
• offer information, guidance and signposting to relevant health, social care, education, community and voluntary sector services to ensure young people and their families can access appropriate ongoing support.
• contribute to collaborative risk assessment, safety planning and discharge planning processes in partnership with CAMHS Crisis and Intensive Home Treatment Team (CCIHT) and other relevant agencies.
• where appropriate, provide supportive contact to parents, carers and caregivers during a young person's stay in Safe Space, offering reassurance, information and guidance to support the young person's care and wellbeing. All such contacts will be documented within the agreed clinical record and any concerns escalated in line with agreed procedures.
• agree and maintain a daily process with CCIHT for reviewing Safe Space capacity and prioritising referrals to ensure safe and effective use of the service
• Support integrated working with CCIHT and partner agencies. Where Safe Space capacity and service demand allow, staff will work alongside CAMHS Crisis clinicians to support the delivery of crisis care, within the limits of their role, competence and agreed governance arrangements. Additional information: The Provider must be ready to go-live on 1st December 2026.