Station House now has two sanctuaries - one single room and one double room which can be made available to people in mental health or personal crisis for any period from one night to two years. In absolute crisis a Wokingham & West Berkshire Mental Health Association volunteer who is a member of our crisis team will stay overnight with individuals in distress, but for longer stays sanctuary guests must be able to take full responsibility for their own care including self administration of medication. Guests are welcome to have their own carer stay with them if appropriate. Guests may also have anyone involved in their care vist them in their sanctuaries.

Crises which make use of our crisis beds appropriately are as varied as the two hundred people who have accessed them over the years. Some guests come to us from a mental hospital - ready to leave a clinical setting, but not ready to be alone in the community. Others come form vulnerable situations in the community to our sanctuary - which then prevents total breakdown and consequent admission to hospital.

The sanctuaries are not just temporary accommodation and are most certainly not convenient dumping grounds for mental health authorities desperate to place people anywhere. We insist that proper use is made of them. When guests come in absolute crisis, everything (including food) is provided. For longer stays guests provide their own food, but are freed from other financial burdens during their stay. Where needed, guests are helped to find and to furnish move-on accommodation. Where an individual with mental health problems needs accommodation but is unsuitable for our crisis beds, our Association has limited funds to provide bed and breakfast accommodation – just for the period of acute crisis.

Appropriateness

The sanctuaries are highly appropriate for people with a good degree of autonomy and a commitment to resolving their mental health crisis. They are very inappropriate for people who are unable to structure their own lives or for people such as teenagers or those with learning disabilities who require some supervision. Wokingham & West Berkshire Mental Health Association takes no responsibility for inappropriate referrals; these remain the responsibility of the referrer.

The Crisis House has accommodated nearly two hundred guests over the years and only a handful have proved problematic. This is largely due to Wokingham & West Berkshire Mental Health Association's separatist stance. It is the Wokingham Mental Health Association's Executive Committee, not the social worker, who makes the decisions: Wokingham Mental Health Association doesn't consider what is convenient for Social Services, nor what problems they have. The association knows exactly what it offers and on what basis. It refuses to accommodate anyone who is in anyway anti-social or who is in anyway inappropriate to be in such a facility. Wokingham Mental Health Association is totally resilient to emotional blackmail, and does not consider the dearth of appropriate mental health services for the full range of clientele to be its practical concern. It exercises its concerns regarding the wider issues at a political level through the ballot box. The Crisis House challenges the mental health system through example. This is what should be - on a similar small scale - and provided universally. It does not attempt universal provision itself!

Sanctuaries Image Gallery
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Sanctuaries  pic 5	Sanctuaries  pic 6	Pictures on landing	Sanctuary kitchen