Held on Tuesday 30 June 2026, over 130 people (including commissioners, clinicians and voluntary sector organisations) attended the one-day conference at Tower Hamlets Town Hall in Whitechapel. The agenda demonstrated the positive impact the Barnsley Street Neighbourhood Mental Health Centre has had on the local community, improving health outcomes and reducing length of stay for hospital admissions.
Tower Hamlets was chosen by NHS England as one of six areas across the country to trial new 24/7 centres to support those with mental health needs. Its aim is to provide mental health input for people when they need it – to help prevent people becoming very unwell and avoid spending time in A&E as much as they may do now.
Of the six pilot sites, Barnsley Street was the very first to be fully operational. Enough time has passed to reflect on the successes and challenges that have taken place.
The day began with a talk from Barnsley Street colleagues explaining how the site came to be, as well as progress that has been made in the past year to support service users with their mental health needs. A Q&A session with attendees followed on from a break down of the centre’s structure, including internal staff and external partners who work together every day. The conference ended with some final thoughts about the future of community mental health.
Hannah Lawless, Service Manager, said: "The past year has shown what's possible when we really try to do something different. By bringing together a wide range of expertise from all our partners in one place, we've been able to launch a service we're really proud of. I'm excited to continue developing Barnsley Street alongside our community, ELFT, and the Tower Hamlets Mental Health Alliance and to continue sharing all of our learning across the sector."
Cassandra Geisel, Mental Health Alliance Lead for Tower Hamlets, added: “The opportunity to come together as a partnership to reflect on what we’ve achieved at Barnsley Street over the past year is incredible and fills me with hope for the future. The Tower Hamlets Mental Health Alliance, Look Ahead and ELFT have worked very hard to deliver a service together which aims to avoid fragmentation and build genuine relationships with people in Tower Hamlets experiencing mental health challenges. It was special to see clinicians standing alongside the VCSE sector, explaining how, together, they support people in the local community through a variety of interventions that address the social determinants of mental health alongside clinical need.”
If you would like to learn more about the Barnsley Street Neighbourhood Mental Health Centre, you can contact the team at elft.barnsleynmhc@nhs.net.