Sheffield is a national trailblazer site for delivering a new place-based community mental health service for adults and older adults. Sheffield has been awarded £5.2 million to develop and implement a transformation approach. The programme is a partnership between Sheffield Health and Social Care, Primary Care Sheffield and NHS Sheffield CCG and the voluntary community and social enterprise sector (VCSE). It will focus on developing support for people with serious mental illness living in four areas of the city with access to psychological therapies, improved physical health care, personalised and trauma-informed care and medicine management.

The service will be delivered through the development of new multidisciplinary team of Clinical Psychologists and Psychosocial Practitioners, Occupational Therapists, Mental Health Pharmacists, CBT Therapists, Primary Care Mental Health Practitioners, Community Connectors and physical health improvement workers, as well as an increased VCSE offer supported by Sheffield Mind.

Overview of the fund

The Community Connections Fund is a new £300k fund which eligible voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations can apply for to deliver support and activities to people with serious mental illness in four areas of the city.

These four areas, known Primary Care Networks are Foundry (North2), Townships II, GPA1 and Universities. You can see where they are on this map.

Funding will be provided over to two years to organisations that can provide activities and support specifically in the following areas:

• education training and support
• family orientated support
• volunteering and employment support
• hobbies/interest groups
• activities that improve physical activity and physical health
• debt advice, money/budgeting support

These priority activity areas have been identified on the basis of extensive engagement with local service users, Sheffield’s voluntary, community and social enterprise sector and representatives from the wider health and social care system.

While we remain positive, we are aware that circumstances due to Covid-19 may mean primary care and the voluntary sector may need to work differently to deliver the new service.

Click here for information on how to apply.