The Provision of Short Intervention Therapy

Description

1.1. Medway Council is a Unitary Authority on the north coast of Kent, 30 miles from London to the west, and 40 miles from Dover to the east. It is part of the Thames Gateway economic development area and is characterised by a highly populated urban area around the estuary of the river Medway, with substantial rural areas to the north and west. 1.2. Medway Council is one of the largest conurbations in the Southeast outside London with a population approaching 250,000. The largest ethnic minority group in Medway is Indian (2%), and there are a number of other ethnic minority communities (3.4%) including Chinese. 1.3. Medway wards have a very high number of people aged 0 to 19 years. Based on the 2017 mid-year population estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), it is estimated that there were 70,705 people aged 0 to 19 years in Medway in 2017. Medway has a larger proportion of people aged 0-14 years and 15-24 years compared to the England average (JSNA, 2020). 1.4. The NHS Plan recognises the need to ensure appropriate mental health and emotional wellbeing services is available for young adults and commits to implementing a new approach. This will include a comprehensive offer for 0-25-year-olds which reaches across mental health services for children, young people and adults to improve transition for all young people whether they are receiving care for their mental or physical health needs. The estimated prevalence of mental disorder in Medway’s JSNA is 6,655 Children and young people aged 5-19 years (JSNA, 2020). 1.5. Medway operates a Partnership Commissioning arrangement across Kent and Medway ICB and Medway Council to commission joint services and programmes of work to improve outcomes for children and young people. 1.6. A key area is children and young people’s emotional wellbeing and mental health services and its transition in line with NHS Long Term Plan in which they have extended their investment and commitment to 2024. This includes the neurodevelopmental pathway, young adults and children and young people with complex health needs. 1.7. Medway Council are procuring a service to work with children and young people aged 5-18 and up to 25 years for those with special educational needs or those care leaving, who require support with short, therapeutic interventions in a group or one to one setting. All Children in Care, Care Leavers and those with a Social Worker will be offered a service where they have exhausted or not found a universal service to meet their needs. If the service has additional spaces and referral turnover isn’t met, spaces will be allocated to all other children and young people who are not Children in Care or without a children’s social worker, likely referred via GP- this will be discussed at contract review. 1.8. The Short Intervention Therapy service will aim to reduce the number of children and young people who require access to crisis intervention throughout their childhood and adolescence by creating short interventions with high quality impact supporting emotive healing and authentic validation, mental and emotional wellness and resilience, coping strategies for life and adverse challenges, the opportunity to grow supportive community relationships within a group setting. 1.9. The service must include Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy and Creative Therapy support. The service must offer both one to one and group therapy for each therapeutic approach in order to inclusively reach the most young people. All other services in addition or partnership with this offer would be considered not part of the contract but of additional value.