Accessible treatments for urgent and complex care for people staying in hospital
Urgent care transformation is a priority within the Mental Health Strategy (2017-2027). This means ‘the prioritisation of mental health pathways for people that need urgent care’.
In the Arts Psychotherapies we have responded by orienting our inpatient services to provide quick access to arts based psychological therapies in acute mental health services at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, St John’s Hospital in Livingston, as well as in East Lothian. This often takes the form of routine open groups on wards that are accessible to everyone, and individual sessions in support of patients in their journey of rehabilitation, or recovery beyond hospital. This is alongside the development of services for people with complex diagnosis who may struggle to self-care at home, such as our frailer, older population, and people with learning disabilities.
We believe that the arts are well placed to enable patients to access, understand and self-care for their mental health. We aim to nurture patients in kinder relationships with themselves and others so that they are better able to manage their daily lives outside of hospital beyond their acute episodes of illness. We also aim to instill self-care strategies that enable patients to avoid future acute episodes, or at least be aware of how they may better manage difficult times when they happen.
Our Arts Psychotherapies Provision
We currently have Art and Music Therapists in these hospital based services:
Royal Edinburgh Hospital:
- Adult Acute Mental Health Admissions, Royal Edinburgh Hospital
adult acute admission wards and Intensive Psychiatric Care Unit (IPCU) - Older Peoples Mental Health, Royal Edinburgh Hospital
- Psychiatric Rehabilitation Service
- Mental Health Complex Needs and Frailer Adult Rehabilitation
A service for adults with complex presentations of mental disorder and behaviours that are challenging for others - Learning Disabilities Inpatient Services William Fraser Unit and Islay Centre at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital
- The Orchard Clinic a medium secure forensic unit at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital
- Inpatient Home Treatment Service (IHTT)
Edinburgh
- Hospital Based Complex Clinical Care (HBCCC)
specialist care for Older People whose care needs cannot be met in any setting other than a hospital
East Lothian
- Older People and Dementia Care East Lothian Community Hospital and care homes in East Lothian
West Lothian
- Adult Acute Mental Health Admissions, St Johns Hospital
- Mother and Baby Mental Health Unit, St Johns Hospital
There’s more information on our Where can I find Arts Psychotherapists pages. As well as offering a variety of ward based groups and individual sessions, we also facilitate and supervise a large team of Arts Psychotherapies students each year to offer additional interventions across inpatient settings.
Our news
These are are the twice yearly newsletters for the Arts Psychotherapies Inpatient Service
