Leeds Survivor Led Crisis Centre

History of the Organisation

The Leeds Survivor Led Crisis Service was set up in 1999 by a group of service users, who had campaigned for five years to develop the service. Initially, the service was run in partnership with Social Services, becoming a registered charity in 2001. The service was set up to be a place of sanctuary, which was an alternative to hospital admission and statutory services for people in acute mental health crisis. The service was established, and continues to be governed and managed, by people with direct experience of mental health problems. We have our own unique perspectives on what it feels like to be in crisis and what helps and does not help. We have developed our service based on this knowledge and experience, while responding to the needs articulated by our visitors and callers.

We are part of a network of mental health services in Leeds. We liaise with and undertake joint work with other services, while maintaining our identity as an innovative, service user led voluntary sector organisation.

Philosophy of the Leeds Survivor Led Crisis Service

Each individual has their own experience of crisis. The causes and impact of crisis will be different for each person. We believe that people are expert in knowing their own situations and with the right kind of attention and support can find their own solutions.

Our definition of crisis is…

People have told us that some of the characteristics of crisis are:

An overwhelming experience
More than the person can deal with
Not one’s normality
Usually intolerable
Highly stressful
Having nowhere to turn
Having exhausted all one’s coping strategies.

Crisis is sometimes described as a time of change or a turning point in one’s life: a period of breakthrough or breakdown.
Crisis can be a liberating or learning experience.
People in crisis should have a range of choices for dealing with a crisis. Our services may be used as an alternative to statutory services, or may complement involvement in mainstream services.
We believe that to deal with a crisis, a person must feel safe, listened to, and connected to other people.
We want to know about the person, not the label they have been given.
People in crisis are not essentially different from anyone else and everyone in his or her life will experience crisis at one time or another.
We recognise that the city of Leeds is made up of many different groups, traditions and cultures. We respect and are responsive to the fact that social factors in a person's life shape both their understanding of crisis and their way of dealing with crisis. We also recognise that deprivation and oppression not only impact on people's ability to cope with distress, but can be the cause of distress.

Therapeutic Approach of Leeds Survivor Led Crisis Service

The paid staff within the organisation are qualified or qualifying counsellors, or receive training in the Person Centred Approach. This is the primary therapeutic approach we use.

The key principles of this are:

The person providing support demonstrates empathy, congruence and unconditional positive regard towards the client
A belief in the actualisation tendency – that is, a belief that people do the best they can in the circumstances they are in and have an inherent tendency to try to achieve their full potential
The principle of non directivity. Work is led by the client, in the belief that they have the resources within themselves to find their own solutions.

We also draw on other therapeutic approaches, such as Solution Focused Brief Therapy. We provide a compassionate, respectful, empathic and consistent service, with the aim of supporting visitors to identify their own solutions to their difficulties.

Within both Dial House and Connect, we work with people in acute states of crisis. Many of our visitors are suicidal and/or self harm and we are skilled and experienced within these areas of work. Over the time we have been open, we have successfully worked with people who have been excluded from other services, or who other services have been unable to engage.

Working at Leeds Survivor Led Crisis Service

We value and nurture our staff, paid and voluntary, and see this is an essential aspect of providing a person centred service to clients.

We support staff in the following ways:

Supervision: Paid staff receive monthly individual supervision. Volunteers attend six weekly group supervision.
Debriefing: After each support session, whether this is face to face or over the telephone, staff are given the space to discuss the call or support session. This allows them to process their thoughts and feelings in relation to the work they have done.
Reflective Practice Group: Paid staff attend a monthly two hour meeting, to reflect on their practice. This provides the opportunity to have in depth discussions about aspects of the work and to support each other.
Annual Away Day: The service closes for one day once a year, for staff to get together to reflect on the past year and plan future work.
Training: The service provides internal training courses throughout the year, for staff, paid and voluntary. These include workshops on working with self harm, working with suicide, hearing voices, loss and bereavement. Paid staff also have a budget for attending external training courses. Staff undertaking training in the Person Centred Approach also receive a contribution towards this training.
Peer Support Group: There is a budget for the paid staff to have sessions facilitated by an external counsellor, without managers present.
Individual support budget: Paid staff receive a small annual budget to contribute to their emotional support. This can be spent on counselling or external supervision, complementary therapies or gym membership.

Despite being a small service, there are opportunities for progression. Staff have moved from voluntary to paid work within the organisation, from bank staff to permanent staff and from the Crisis Support Team to the management team.

Leeds Mental Health Directory