A Brixton organisations with a key role in the community celebrated 10 years of work yesterday (6 May).
Evening Sanctuary, based at the Mosaic Clubhouse on Effra Road, is an out-of-hours service for Lambeth residents facing a mental health crisis and an essential part of mental health care in the borough.
Instead of a frenetic and sometimes disturbing hospital A&E department, or the nighttime streets, people experiencing depression or suicidal thoughts can be in a calm and comfortable place and meet – or not – others with similar problems.
Posters displayed in the clubhouse café record Evening Sanctuary’s success – more then 1,500 people referred to the sanctuary over the past 10 years, and the 3,773 occasions that it has provided a warm and welcoming place out of the cold.
There have been a total of 12,417 visits. Nearly 4,000 times people have been referred to the sanctuary rather than A&E.
As with other services at the clubhouse, peer support – help from people in the same position and with the same problems – is at the heart of the sanctuary, which is open seven days a week between 6 and 11.30pm.
It was launched in 2015 as a three night a week service.
Beverley Randall, who manages Mosaic Clubhouse, says that the best thing about her job is working side by side with “the members” – the 300 or so people who both use and provide the services it offers. Everyone is equal, she says. With just 18 staff, the clubhouse relies on its members.
Beverley sees “people’s lives change when they’re in through the door”. Even the smallest things make a difference.
While a crisis may not require a hospital bed, someone feeling isolated and unwell can visit the sanctuary and choose what they want to do – watch a film … sit by themselves … or take part in activities like board games … or use a workstation.
“If you just want to be around people or if you want to be left alone, that’s fine as well,” says Beverley.
“They can help to prepare dinner, when people sit down and have a meal together, and that’s something if you’re at home on your own, you wouldn’t have.”
Lambeth health professionals can refer someone to the sanctuary.
Mosaic Clubhouse 65 Effra Road, Brixton, SW2 1BZ
020 7924 9657
evening.sanctuary@mosaic-clubhouse.org
mosaic-clubhouse.org
