Staying With People: What Lived Experience Tells Us About Mental Health Support

Healthwatch County Durham, Healthwatch Middlesbrough, Healthwatch Darlington, Healthwatch Stockton-upon-Tees, Healthwatch Redcar and Cleveland and Healthwatch Hartlepool were commissioned by Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust to provide insight to support the development of mental health rehabilitation and reablement services. 

People’s stories describe the emotional reality of navigating mental health support, what helps, what gets in the way, and how experiences across crisis, inpatient and community settings influence someone’s ability to engage with rehabilitation. 

While shared experiences stretch beyond rehabilitation alone, the themes are directly relevant to recovery, continuity, safety, and sustained engagement. TEWV is working within a complex context of rising demand, workforce pressures and ongoing transformation across community mental health and crisis pathways. The Trust has set clear ambitions to strengthen trauma‑informed practice, improve continuity of care, enhance safe transitions and build stronger collaboration with VCSE partners. T

Across the region, people described consistent needs that strongly influence rehabilitation outcomes: 

• Clear communication and reliable follow‑up, with calls and appointments that happen when promised.
• One person or team who stays involved, providing continuity through transitions and periods of vulnerability.
• Face‑to‑face contact, especially when distressed or overwhelmed.
• Safe, coordinated discharge planning, including medication checks, involvement of families (where appropriate) and proactive contact once home.
• trauma‑informed and neurodiversity‑aware support, helping people feel understood rather than judged.
• Joined‑up working between crisis, community and rehabilitation teams, so people are not left to repeat their history or navigate gaps alone.
• Community‑based options and VCSE support, which many people rely on to maintain stability.

 These themes align closely with national priorities including the Neighbourhood Health Framework, the King’s Fund’s work on community‑based care, and NHS England’s focus on relational, recovery‑oriented support. They also reflect TEWV’s own improvement plans and provide a human lens through which to consider future service design. 

The report offers a constructive recommendation: the development of an integrated support function providing continuity, safe transitions, and joined‑up community working. This reflects what people repeatedly said would help them feel safe, supported and able to sustain progress.