Birmingham Mental Health Consortium (BMHC), which now trades as Living Well Consortium, was established in October 2010. Health Exchange was a founder member.
The Consortium was established with the aim of improving the mental health and wellbeing of local people through the provision of high quality services. It pitches for contracts to deliver these services through its member organisations.
Over 30 civil society organisations are currently members and the Consortium is open to new members joining. To qualify, organisations need to demonstrate that they can meet certain eligibility criteria:
- Not-for-personal-profit (civil society) sector
- Provider of mental health services
- Committed to working with the vulnerable and hard-to-reach
- Working in appropriate localities
- Committed to consortium working
- Good financial health
- High quality systems
- Suitable organisational policies
- Suitable governance
- Appropriate technical capacity
The Consortium currently delivers the Edgbaston Wellbeing Hub, which covers six GP Surgeries in Edgbaston. Referrals are received into the Hub to be triaged and assessed and clients are then given recommendations for interventions which can support their mental wellbeing.
Improving Access to Psychological Therapy (IAPT) supports individuals and groups to maximise their mental wellbeing through personal and community interventions. Working with Forward Thinking Birmingham, the Consortium is delivering IAPT services for 16 – 25 year olds across Birmingham for 8 months from 1st April 2016.