New acute mental health facility opens in Belfast
A new residential facility with a collaborative approach to tackling mental illness has officially opened in North Belfast.
Last updated 31st Jan 2018
Clearwater House provides specialist care for 22 patients with chronic mental illness.
The multi-million pound residential facility is the first of its kind in Northern Ireland and helps patients integrate back into the community after discharge from acute psychiatric wards.
The project secured investment from the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, Choice Housing and mental health charity Threshold.
Dr Raman Kapur is a consultant clinical psychologist and the facility's chief executive:
"Essentially it takes patients from the Mater Hospital off their psychiatric unit...and gives them a home for two to three years.
"So it helps them in their recovery from mental illness to live more independent lives."
Dr Raman said leaving a secure environment can be daunting for patients, but the main objective is to support them to live independently after being discharged:
"It's a big step to go back after being with us for two to three years particularly if people come from hospital but we do a lot of preparation to help people get their independence.
"Often they go back either into their family home or a home of their own."
50-year-old Nigel McAnuff is a patient there, he says the service should be rolled out across Northern Ireland:
"I get support in every way I need it.
"It's the start of a new way of thinking, a new life for me.
"The staff treat me with a lot of respect, I feel that my journey's only just begun, through Clearwater to find independent living."
The 50-year-old suffers from borderline Personality Disorder, Tourettes syndrome, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and suspected Borderline Personality Disorder.
He says Clearwater House has supported him to find a home away from home:
"I was only diagnosed with Tourettes and OCD and depression when I was 28 years of age which is a long time.
"I knew I needed some kind of help but it wasn't until I had a breakdown in 1995 that it all came out."
Dr Raman says the idea is to help patients feel less daunted about re-integrating into society:
"Patients have to go back into the big wide world and because we're community based we can help people to do that within a community setting, within a supported living setting.
"They get the emotional help they need to put their mind back together again so eventually they can begin to live independently."