The Community Enhanced Rehabilitation Team (CERT) is now live! Our team has already made a positive impact, successfully supporting discharges into the community from long term hospital admissions, and out of areas placements. We have also identified patients/service users in out of area placements, reviewed the clinical needs of individuals and explored potential CERT interventions to enhance their rehabilitation journey.
CERT has a dedicated role in community rehabilitation. They offer an enhanced multidisciplinary approach to providing high level community care for individuals who need more comprehensive support than our community mental health and recovery teams were originally designed and commissioned to deliver.
CERT work in partnership with our Enhanced Personality Disorder Community Rehabilitation Team based at Spring House to ensure we provide this enhanced care offer to as many people as possible. (Our specialist personality disorder service will remain dedicated to supporting people with complex emotional needs).
CERT provides a needs led service accepting referrals based on complexity and need rather than diagnosis. The team’s initial focus is on supporting the transition from out of area hospitals to more local services, collaborating with our community care and housing partners to ensure we support as many people as possible to return to their local communities in the most appropriate setting.
As the service develops, the team will expand their role to provide more support to our community mental health teams and inpatient units focusing on step down support and helping organise referrals to rehabilitation placements.
Progress so far:
- Over 40 face to face assessments have been completed by the team
- CERT has successfully stepped down one individual into the community for enhanced rehabilitation and is close to safe step down of several others
- The team has facilitated the repatriation of one person from Greater Manchester and is actively repatriating several others from out of area and out of region placements.
Team growth and training:
- Recruitment is well underway with new team members joining in March and April. Our new starters bring a wealth of experience to enhance our services
- The team has begun Open Dialogue training, a vital component in strengthening our collaborative approach to care
- A CERT team member has been nominated as Apprentice of the Year by Liverpool John Moores University, highlighting the dedication and talent within our team
- We are proud to have a student social worker contributing to our team’s efforts.
Establishing our base
Our team base is taking shape, with significant work completed to create a functional and welcoming space for our operations.
CERT is working collaboratively with inpatient services to provide integrated support, ensuring a smooth transition from hospital to community care. Their joint approach focusses on promoting recovery, independence and continuity of care.
As CERT continues to grow, we remain committed to providing high quality community rehabilitation and enhancing support for those transitioning into the community. We look forward to further developments and successes in the coming months which we’ll report on this page.