'If I'd known this existed before, I don't think I would've got to the stage I did. It's a safe haven'

THERE are two words that James, 28, uses repeatedly to describe England's first 24/7 neighbourhood mental health centre: "Safe haven.

- By Hanna Geissler Health Editor

After treatment in hospital following a suicide attempt and struggles with alcoholism, he was initially given two options: go home or be admitted to a psychiatric ward. Both terrified him.

Instead, staff at Barnsley Street Neighbourhood Mental Health Centre in East London offered him a bed at their pioneering project where support is available around the clock.

The Express was invited to spend a morning at the centre the first of six NHS pilot sites to open across the country. It brings together psychiatrists, mental health professionals, peer support workers and voluntary sector staff under one roof, ready to provide immediate help for locals. Dr Sheraz Ahmad, consultant psychiatrist and clinical lead for the centre, says this walk-in hub model is radically different to often fragmented local services, where people can be passed between different teams with long waiting times for appointments.

He said: "Our patients often tell us they feel like they're being pushed around and nobody really knows them.

"This place is where we're saying, 'No, the person stays with us'. We're providing that continuity.

"We're trying to do away with all the fragmentation so we're not referring people who then wait eight weeks for a reply, then need another appointment and have to repeat their whole story.

"We want to try and build a relationship. You get to know them, and they can start to trust you a little."

James had arrived the day before from The Royal London Hospital.

The thought of returning to normal life was overwhelming and he did not want to move to a psychiatric unit.

He says: "My biological mother committed suicide and I remember going to see her on a psych ward.