The Complex Needs Training Suite was set up in summer 2018, to pilot a new approach to complex needs training. It’s being delivered in partnership with Community Links Training. 

The training is aimed at Mental Health Practitioners, Substance Use Practitioners, Peer Mentors, Homelessness and Housing Services and Criminal Justice – from all five localities in West Yorkshire.

Focusing on reflective practice, 30 delegates have already completed the introductory courses and are currently waiting to complete their individually chosen stage 2 courses. These include:

• Understanding Personality and Personality Disorders
• Working with Personality Disorders
• Trauma Informed Practice
• Dual Diagnosis – For mental health practitioners
• Dual Diagnosis – For substance use practitioners
• Learning disabilities, cognitive impairments and complex needs
• Working with Psychosis

A key aspect of the training is to measure its impact on delegates’ working practices and outcomes for people experiencing complex needs.

Delegates are been asked complete evaluations which focus on this, and there’ll be a short report published in the new year which will consider the impact of the training.

Please note that the training is not open for general booking. 

Visit the Complex Needs Training Suite

Community Links Training

Community Links Training is a registered charity that provides mental health training to help employers develop their workforce. 

We originally commissioned Community Links Training to produce a one day course on Learning Difficulties and Complex Needs. This is now become one of the optional stage 2 courses in the Complex Needs Training Suite.

Visit the Community Links Training website. 

The Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) recently published its Expression of Interest Prospectus for the Rapid Rehousing Pathways, for funding as part of the Rough Sleeping Strategy.

Applications were invited from Local Authorities wanting to apply for funding around one or more of four elements:

• Somewhere safe to stay pilots
• Local lettings agencies
• Supported lettings
• Navigators

“Navigation” or “coordination” is a vital part of helping individuals with the most complex needs move away from rough sleeping, and it is an approach that is distinct from outreach or other forms of engagement.

WY-FI Navigators are already being funded via the Big Lottery Fulfilling Lives programme, so we haven’t applied for funding. But what this does demonstrate is a huge step forward in showing that both the MEAM and the WY-FI approach works and is being adopted nationally.

Read more on the MEAM website.

The WY-FI Annual Learning Event took place on Wednesday 26th September, at the Civic Hall in Leeds. More than 200 guests attended the event, which focused on the learning and knowledge gathered over the last four years, which will help to establish better services for people with multiple needs.

West Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Mark Burns-Williamson opened the event, addressing partners, professionals, academics and network members, as well as Humankind staff.

He had a strong message that joint working was essential to address complex issues surrounding mental health and criminal justice.

As well as listening to keynote speakers, guests were invited to choose from a selection of Information Sessions to attend during the day, which included:

• The Ripple Effect of WY-FI
• Multi-Agency Working and Multi Agency Review Boards
• Evaluating Talking Therapies with Complex Needs
• Housing First – a case study
• Embedding Co-Production and the Value of Lived Experience in the Workplace
• The Value of Peer Mentoring
• Developing the Workforce for Everyone
• Cost Benefit Analysis

The event closed with some personal messages from the Network, reflecting on how much work WY-FI has done, and is yet to do between now and May 2020. There’s a strong focus on the project’s legacy, to ensure that support for people with multiple and complex needs doesn’t end when the project ends.

Network Member Adam was the last onto the speaker podium, to recite a poem he’d written just that day, reflecting on all the key messages from the event and the importance of sticking together to continue making a difference.