Peace pod for mental health is 'first in UK'

£200k support suite to help young people

- Phil Corrigan

MENTAL health workers hope a UK-first 'peace pod' will help reduce the number of young people being admitted to psychiatric intensive care.

Colourful murals, soft furnishings and interactive screens all feature in the £200,000 enhanced support suite, which has just opened at the Darwin Centre in Penkhull.

The 14-bed Darwin Centre is an inpatient mental health service for young people aged between 13 and 18, run by North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare.

Patients who are experiencing particularly intense episodes will be able to go to the 'peace pod, as it has been called, and 'calm down'.

Managers hope this will allow them to complete their recovery at the Darwin Centre, instead of being admitted to a psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU).