We are working with North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust to deliver a Mental Health Treatment Requirement service across Staffordshire.
  
Three treatment options are available for use as part of a community or suspended sentence order: Drug Rehabilitation Requirements, Alcohol Treatment Requirements, and Mental Health Treatment Requirements (MHTR).

The service provides assessment and treatment for MHTRs. Drug and alcohol treatments are delivered by partner organisations. 

It is delivered by a team of qualified and assistant psychologists and is suitable for:

  • People aged 18+ with mental health problems appropriate for short term interventions such as anxiety and depression, who agree to the MHTR. They need to either be registered with, or eligible to register with a Staffordshire GP.

The service is not suitable for people who:  

  • Are already receiving support/ treatment for their mental health problems from local mental health services 
  • Have a more serious mental health problem that needs support/ treatment from local mental health services

Assessment

Service users are assessed in the Court building by an Assistant Psychologist before their hearing. The Assistant Psychologist will discuss the assessment with a qualified Psychologist who will decide if a MHTR is appropriate for the service user.

If the service user agrees to have a MHTR and the team think a MHTR is appropriate then they will inform the Court Duty Officer and the individual’s solicitor who may ask the Judge to consider a Mental Health Treatment Requirement as part of the sentence. 

Treatment

If a service user is sentenced to a Mental Health Treatment Requirement the treatment will be delivered by an Assistant Psychologist under the supervision of a qualified Psychologist. A member of the team will discuss the treatment order with the service user, their Offender Manager and, if the service user also has a drug or alcohol treatment order professionals delivering the drug and alcohol treatments. 
 
This enables professionals working with the service user to plan the best way to deliver the treatments with the service user.