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<\/p>\nThe new base provides round the clock mental health support for people in parts of Birmingham<\/p>\n
05:30, 14 May 2026<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0_Mental-Health.jpg\")
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(Image: Local Democracy Reporting Service)<\/p>\n
“I come in here crying but I leave smiling.” Birmingham’s first Neighbourhood Mental Health Centre (NMHC) is changing the way people get the support they need.<\/p>\n
The Golden Hillock Neighbourhood Mental Health Centre was officially opened on Tuesday, May 12, and has been given a seal of approval by guests using services and NHS<\/a> bosses in the region.<\/p>\n It moved into the former Ghamkol Sharif Education Centre earlier this year, enabling it to leave its temporary base at Omnia GP Practice and has supported 550 new referrals.<\/p>\n READ MORE:<\/strong> How franchising will stop the scourge of ‘ghost buses’ deceiving West M<\/a> idlands passengers<\/a><\/p>\n It’s only one of six national pilot sites, and provides person-centred support for adults in Small Heath<\/a>, Heartlands and Bordesley Green<\/a>, offering a welcoming and inclusive space designed around the mental health needs of the local community.<\/p>\n Facilities include shared living and kitchen spaces, dedicated areas for reflection and wellbeing and bedrooms for short stays.<\/p>\n Guest Claire Hastings-Spaine, 48, suffers from depression, anxiety and some psychosis.<\/p>\n She said: “The new centre is really good. I was a bit dubious at first because obviously going somewhere new from where I was before in Chapman Road, but once I got used to the people it’s a really good place to come.<\/p>\n “I can come in here crying and I can go out of here smiling. It can be something small that’s upset me and I can get into depression.<\/p>\n (Image: Local Democracy Reporting Service)<\/p>\n “But coming here and talking, having the availability of someone to talk to is really great.<\/p>\n “I was at Chapman Road from 1998 and been with them ever since up until now where I’m here.<\/p>\n “In Chapman Road, you can’t just walk in. You have to make an appointment. If you can be feeling that bad you need to see a doctor, you kind of feel like you’ve been left.<\/p>\n “By the time you’ve got the appointment, I could be in a completely different mindset. Here is the advantage, you can come and speak to somebody when you’re feeling like that and most of the time it gets resolved.<\/p>\n “It will make a lot of difference. This place is really important and they should have more like it where there is access 24 hours.<\/p>\n “You’re not sick 9-5, you are sick whenever so having this place to come to is so important.”<\/p>\n (Image: Local Democracy Reporting Service)<\/p>\n Darren Westwood, 43, also uses services but has begun running art classes to help other people who visit the centre.<\/p>\n He said: “I’m schizophrenic but mostly now I do artwork with guests here.<\/p>\n “I used to Green Lane for about 12 months doing one or two sessions per week. I run art classes. Mostly clay and pastel. Each week I try to do something different.<\/p>\n “I was going to a creative group as a service user and they said I was ok at art and asked ‘why don’t you start your own session’?”<\/p>\n He added: “I think the new building is beautiful, you are comfortable. It is great having a dedicated centre. It’s great for people who are struggling.<\/p>\n “For me, it’s great and just down the road. Other people will definitely appreciate it.<\/p>\n “I’m not too bad. I’m still on the road to recovery but the art is really good for me and it’s an achievement when I do the session. I often get people telling me they enjoyed the group.<\/p>\n “For them to turn around and say they got a lot from it is brilliant as I can relate to them.”<\/p>\n Get breaking news on<\/strong> BirminghamLive WhatsApp<\/a><\/p>\n Ro\u00eds\u00ecn Fallon Williams, Chief Executive of Birmingham<\/a> and Solihull<\/a> Mental Health Foundation Trust, said: “I feel so proud of being part of this community.<\/p>\n “This is about us really working with people to help shape how care will be best provided for them.<\/p>\n “When people come here, they are greeted openly, offered tea and coffee and so it’s not that traditional, you’ve come for an appointment, book in and go and sit in a unfamiliar clinical setting.<\/p>\n “It’s about wanting to support communities to have greater resilience as well.<\/p>\n “We’ve got lots of organisations we’ve connected with and discovered just in this small locality who want to support and are working in this centre with us.<\/p>\n “The newness is the approach. If you come through the door, whatever your level of need we will find a way to get you in a service in a timely way.<\/p>\n “We do have a range of services available 24\/7 but it’s the concept of not having to make an appointment or referral and can just turn up when needed.<\/p>\n “The feedback we’re getting is really positive. People are accessing it who would not have accessed our services until they were very unwell, if at all.”<\/p>\n And David Melbourne, Chief Executive of the new NHS Birmingham, Black Country and Solihull ICB, said: “It’s a wonderful facility in one of our most deprived wards.<\/p>\n “It’s embedded in the local neighbourhood. This encapsulates neighbourhood care closer to home.<\/p>\n “I think it will be enormous for people here. Access is all to often an issue for users and unfortunately we see too many people landing at Heartlands Hospital A&E.<\/p>\n “This stops that. It’s an intervention and will make a real difference in people being seen by the right people and early on.”<\/p>\n He added he wants to see this model rolled out across Birmingham, Solihull and the Black Country.<\/p>\n He said: “There is a real desire for this. We want to roll this out because it is a concrete example of neighbourhood healthcare in mental health services.<\/p>\n “Our desire is to commission these. Mental health is as important as physical health.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The new base provides round the clock mental health support for people in parts of Birmingham 05:30, 14…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":959704,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4317],"tags":[855,10586,105,218,211,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-959703","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-bordesley-green-and-small-heath","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-mental-health","12":"tag-nhs","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116574003831497214","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/959703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=959703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/959703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/959704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=959703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=959703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=959703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Claire](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1_Mental-Health.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Darren](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778778030_704_0_Mental-Health.jpg\")
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