Katie Baldwin, Health reporter at Yorkshire Evening Post has been covering the threat to Leeds Crisis Centre. She would very much like to hear from anyone willing to talk (anonymously if you prefer) about your experience of using the Centre. She can be reached on 0113 238 8465; Katie.Baldwin@ypn.co.uk . You could also write a letter to the Editor:
Yorkshire Post Newspapers Ltd, PO Box 168 Wellington Street, Leeds, LS1 1RF
or submit one via their website: http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/contactus.aspx
ITV Calendar are covering the campaign, as are BBC Look North. Both are looking for service users, GPs and others willing to be interviewed, anonymously if you prefer. Their contact details are:
Danielle Hewson, Local government reporter (BBC Look North): 07739 300217; danielle.hewson@bbc.co.uk and
Elizabeth Fordham, Assistant Programme Editor (Calendar): 07919 692 502; elizabeth.fordham@itv.com.
Councillors contacts and letter
Below are the phone numbers and email addresses for all of Leeds’ city councillors. Please email your local councillors. If you’re not sure what to say, below the list is a template letter for you to use or adapt. The Chief Executive of the council is called Tom Riordan (tom.riordan@leeds.gov.uk, Twitter: @tomriordan). His salary is about a quarter of the total running costs of the Crisis Centre.
If you want to send your story or support to the Crisis Centre itself, its address is: 3, Spring Road, Headingley, Leeds, LS6 1AD.
| Name | Phone | |
| Councillor Javaid Akhtar | 0113 224 3031 | |
| Councillor Barry Anderson | (0113) 285 7562 | barry.anderson@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Suzi Armitage | (0113) 273 2197 | suzi.armitage@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Bernard Atha CBE | (0113) 267 2485 | bernard.atha@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Denise Atkinson MBE | (0113) 257 0550 | denise.atkinson@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Andrew Barker | (0113) 2591826 | andrew.barker@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Sue Bentley | (0113) 230 1481 | sue.bentley@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Ann Blackburn | (0113) 279 0336 | ann.blackburn@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor David Blackburn | (0113) 279 0336 | Cllr.david.blackburn@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Judith Blake | (0113) 395 1735 | judith.blake@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Richard Brett | (0113) 293 3925 | richard.brett@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Colin Campbell | (01943) 465909 | colin.campbell@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Andrew Carter | (0113) 256 0701 | andrew.carter@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor John Leslie Carter | (0113) 395 1740 | les.carter@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Ann Castle | (0113) 289 6922 | ann.castle@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Judith Chapman | 0113 266 7211 | judith.m.chapman@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Ben Chastney | 07891 279275 | ben.l.chastney@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Brian Cleasby | (0113) 247 4056 | brian.cleasby@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor David Congreve | (0113) 277 7389 | david.congreve@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Mick Coulson | (0113) 263 4572 | mick.coulson@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Patrick Davey | (0113) 261 0465 | patrick.davey@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Mark Dobson | 0113 247 4578 | mark.dobson@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Ryk Downes | (0113) 247 4580 | ryk.downes@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Jane Dowson | (0113) 247 6922 | jane.dowson@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Geoff Driver | (0113) 278 5995 | geoff.driver@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Jack Dunn | (0113) 270 6283 | jack.dunn@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Judith Elliott | (0113) 253 2786 | judith.elliott@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Penny Ewens | (0113) 294 6976 | penny.ewens@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Ruth Feldman | (0113) 295 9796 | ruth.feldman@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Ronald Feldman | (0113) 295 9796 | ronald.feldman@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Robert Finnigan | (0113) 247 7538 | robert.finnigan@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Clive Fox | (0113) 267 4360 | clive.fox@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Angela Gabriel | 07946 632 468 | angela.gabriel@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Bob Gettings JP | ||
| Councillor Stewart Golton | (0113) 288 0464 | stewart.golton@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Pauleen Grahame | (0113) 260 7697 | pauleen.grahame@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Ronald Grahame | 0113 260 7697 | |
| Councillor Terrence Grayshon | (0113) 2477538 | terry.grayshon@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Kim Groves | 07891 741 832 | |
| Councillor Peter Gruen | (0113) 266 3047 | peter.gruen@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Martin Hamilton | (0113) 257 0196 | martin.hamilton@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Sharon Hamilton | 0113 247 4578 | |
| Councillor Ted Hanley | (0113) 258 7456 | |
| Councillor John Hardy | 0113 217 4838 | |
| Councillor Gerry Harper | (0113) 224 3031 | gerald.harper@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Janet Harper | (0113) 247 6927 | janet.harper@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Peter Harrand | (0113) 268 9844 | peter.harrand@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Mark Harris | mark.harris@leeds.gov.uk | |
| Councillor Arif Hussain | 0113 247 6927 | arif.hussain@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Ghulam Hussain | 07881 655 705 | |
| Councillor Graham Hyde | (0113) 260 6494 | graham.hyde@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor William Hyde | (0113) 260 2150 | william.hyde@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor John Illingworth | (0113) 267 3735 | john.illingworth@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Mohammed Iqbal | (0113) 294 1049 | mohammed.iqbal@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Josephine Jarosz | (0113) 256 4948 | josephine.jarosz@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Valerie Kendall | (0113) 275 0784 | valerie.kendall@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Graham Kirkland | (01943) 850522 | graham.kirkland@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Alan Lamb | 0113 2474552 | alan.lamb@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Brenda Lancaster | (0113) 2787650 | brenda.lancaster@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Graham Latty | (0113) 250 5776 | graham.latty@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Pat Latty | 0113 2505776 | patricia.latty@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Thomas Leadley | (0113) 2535677 | thomas.leadley@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor James Lewis | (0113) 286 9647 | james.lewis@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Richard Lewis | (0113) 256 7389 | richard.lewis@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Matthew Lobley | (0113) 395 1460 | matthew.lobley@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Alison Lowe | (0113) 247 6927 | alison.lowe@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Michael Lyons OBE | (0113) 260 9054 | |
| Councillor Kamila Maqsood | 07910848474 | |
| Councillor Joseph Marjoram | 0113 247 4552 | joe.marjoram@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Jamie Matthews | 0113 247 4580 | jamie.matthews@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Andrea McKenna | (0113) 274 1792 | andrea.mckenna@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor James McKenna | (0113) 274 1792 | james.mckenna@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor James Monaghan | (0113) 247 4580 | james.monaghan@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Vonnie Morgan | (0113) 276 0669 | veronica.morgan@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Lisa Mulherin | (0113) 294 5627 | lisa.mulherin@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Thomas Murray | (0113) 266 1138 | thomas.murray@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Elizabeth Nash | (0113) 275 8594 | elizabeth.nash@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Adam Ogilvie | (0113) 247 4578 | adam.ogilvie@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Keith Parker | (0113) 286 9703 | keith.parker@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor John Procter | (0113) 224 3863 | john.procter@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Rachael Procter | (0113) 395 1948 | rachael.procter@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Ralph Pryke | (0113) 249 3396 | ralph.pryke@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Mohammed Rafique | (0113) 247 6922 | cllr.mohammed.rafique@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Karen Renshaw | (0113) 253 5752 | karen.renshaw@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Matthew Robinson | 0113 3951948 | matthew.robinson@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor David Schofield | (0113) 264 6030 | david.schofield@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Brian Selby | (0113) 269 5102 | brian.selby@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Steve Smith | (0113) 288 7917 | steve.cllr.smith@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Neil Taggart | (0113) 816 0134 | neil.taggart@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Alan Taylor | (0113) 248 6992 | alan.taylor@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Eileen Taylor | 0113 247 6922 | eileen.taylor@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Chris Townsley | (0113) 2590555 | christopher.townsley@leeds.gov.uk |
| Shirley Varley | 0113 247 7538 | shirley.varley@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Paul Wadsworth | 0113 269 7469 | paul.wadsworth@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Keith Wakefield | (0113) 286 9947 | keith.wakefield@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Gerald Wilkinson | (0113) 395 1948 | gerald.wilkinson@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Donald Wilson | (0113) 282 2819 | donald.wilson@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Rod Wood | 0113 3952802 | roderic.wood@leeds.gov.uk |
| Councillor Lucinda Yeadon | (0113) 217 7330 | lucinda.yeadon@leeds.gov.uk |
Dear Councillor,
Please help us to save Leeds’ only instant access crisis counselling service from closure. Other counselling and mental health services already have long waiting lists and will soon be cut too. We are people who have used or valued Leeds Crisis Centre and don’t believe it should close.
Please read the moving accounts from service users on our blog (http://saveleedscrisiscentre.wordpress.com/) which has been read nearly 900 times in the last three days. Please email your views to saveleedscrisiscentre@gmail.com. Or please leave a comment to show your support at the bottom of any blog entry. You can see what other MPs and councillors have said so far on the ‘Heroes and Zeroes” page. You can follow us on Twitter: @saveleedscrisis
More details of Leeds Crisis Centre at: http://bit.ly/hgSn9U and of its impending closure as reported in the press: http://bit.ly/gaxvJ5. The decision will be taken in the council meeting on Feb 11th.
The council has made no attempt to consult with service users or to consider other options than closing the service, such as reducing it or moving it to share premises with another service. Spokespeople have talked of it duplicating other services, despite it being the only instant access crisis counselling service open to ordinary people in Leeds. Other services provide “self help literature” and brief “CBT” sessions or have long waiting lists (full details on the Press Release and About pages on the blog http://saveleedscrisiscentre.wordpress.com/). The campaign calls for three things:
1 A full consultation with current and former service users and with GPs and others who refer to the service.
2 Consideration of cost-cutting options (such as shrinking or moving the service) other than complete closure, which is all that is being considered at the moment.
3 The local NHS Trust (PCT) to put funding into the service as it is referred to extensively by local GPs.
Local TV news are researching the story and have talked to service users. If you wish to express an opinion to the media, please contact us. We’ve also featured on Guardian Leeds, Guardian Cuts Watch and a number of other local sites.
Thank you.
The Save Leeds Crisis Centre Campaign
Save Leeds Crisis Centre
saveleedscrisiscentre@gmail.com
Website: http://saveleedscrisiscentre.wordpress.com
Follow us on Twitter: @saveleedscrisis
Pingback: Are you our 1000th supporter? | saveleedscrisiscentre
On behalf of the GPs and staff at St Martins Practice in Chapeltown, I wish to add our voice to the many others concerned at the proposed closure of the Leeds Crisis Centre. As NHS providers in an area of deprivation and high incidence of mental health problems, we are deeply aware of the contribution the Leeds Crisis Centre has made to the people of Leeds, over many years. The service is not duplicated by any other service in the city, and we are very concerned that people in crisis will no longer have a service to support them. Leeds City Council can be proud of its record in providing this service for many years. Its uniqueness is not an argument for closure, but reflects the progressive and imaginative approach to health that the Council has shown. an approach that needs to be cherished and built on, not demolished.
We call for 1) a clear option appraisal of the possible alternatives, recognising the demands to find resources currently placed on the council. 2) clear and open analysis of the consequences on other services of closing this service and 3) a consultation process that engages both service users and providers of mental health services, including the GPs of Leeds, many of whom are unaware of the proposed closure.
Dr Susanna Lawrence, St Martins Practice, Chapeltown, Leeds.
I thought I would share my email to the councillors making the decision on Friday 11th February;
Dear Councillor,
I have worked as a student counsellor for a year now at the Leeds Crisis Centre and have seen first hand the dedication and the amazing work the team do for and with the clients. I have also seen the huge difference the centre makes to so many lives and I am proud and privileged to work with the team in such a unique and vital service.
When you first proposed closing the centre you claimed it was not necessary as the service was duplicated. After these hasty and unfounded words you have now changed your story to one which says the work of the Crisis Centre can be picked up elsewhere. I suggest that since you got your first claim wrong, you may well be incorrect with your second claim. Can you have on your consciences the fact that 504 people from last year alone may not infact be provided with the life-saving treatment they received from the centre anywhere else. They will be left floundering in a service which has nothing to offer for their particular situation…….or worse. I have to believe you are all human beings with feelings, emotions and compassion for the people of Leeds who gave you the responsibility to do the best for the city. I do not believe somebody with compassion and understanding could end this vital and unique service, especially after reading all the comments on the blog. You say, too that you have consulted with other mental health professionals. If you read the wealth of support on the blog from GPs, mental health workers, psychologists, indeed IAPT practitioners, you will see proof of little or no consultation with grass roots mental health workers and health care professionals. I fail to see how anybody who reads all that is written on the site can give the go ahead and close the centre. It concerns me deeply that anyone who could read that and still vote for closure can claim to be working in the interest of the people of Leeds.
I understand that it is not a statutory requirement to provide this service. I also understand you are the only council providing such a service; so be proud,hold your heads high and shout from the roof tops about a flagship service which you provide to your people not because you have to, but because they deserve it. Be leaders-show other councils how it is done so that they can follow your lead in supporting and improving mental health services in their cities. Show that you truly are dedicated to providing and advancing mental welfare in the city. This service is worth holding on to and holding up high for all to see.
I understand you are having to make huge cuts and I am not naive enough to think that nobody will be affected but please consider these cuts more deeply before you axe life-saving services. How many people need to be vulnerable before you will consider investing in them? Alternatives have not been considered enough and the frontline health workers have not been consulted. I do not wish in any way to be rude or offensive, but it seems to me that it is not enough to consult with Chris Butler, CEO of NHS Leeds Foundation Partnership Trust. For his opinions to be valid and founded in reality he needs to have consulted with the staff he represesnts, which, from the comments on the blog, he has quite plainly failed to do.
What I would like from you is a promise to SAVE THE LEEDS CRISIS CENTRE. However, I understand we are all in difficult times financially so I ask you for a promise instead, to keep The Crisis Centre open for a minimum of a further 18 months so that measures such as cost cutting, moving the service, attracting outside funding for the service can be pursued vigourously whilst the centre continues to provide care and support for the most vulnerable people in our great city. If the service is closed it will be considerably more difficult to reinstate it after proper consultation so I ask you, as human beings with consciences and empathy for othose who elected you, give this more thought, more time and find a way to keep this incredible service alive.
Yours sincerely
Sarah Parker
Here is a copy of Greg mulholland ‘early day motion’, i am working with berni moston on the gopetition and attended the meeting today at leelds civic hall.
FUTURE OF THE LEEDS CRISIS CENTRE07.02.2011
Mulholland, Greg
That this House recognises the unique service provided by Leeds Crisis Centre for people at times of acute personal crisis, and acknowledges the widespread local and national support from the service users, staff, GPs and other health professionals, and the actor Stephen Fry; notes that Leeds City Council Adult Social Care has proposed the immediate closure of the service; understands that, inthe current economic situation, Leeds City Council is having to make reductions in spending; observes that the report produced by Leeds City Council officers is flawed, notably because it wrongly states that services are duplicated by other providers; further observes that no consultation was undertaken with the centre staff and service users, and no formal approach made to the primary care trust (PCT), GPs and mental health practitioners to discuss the impact of this decision on their work, or alternative models of provision; is concerned that the proposed closure is as a result of an artificial social care divide leaving the crisis centre solely council funded and would like to see a dialogue between the PCT and the Council to resolve this issue; considers that a full audit and examination of cost-saving measures must be undertaken prior to any final decision; and calls on Leeds City Council Executive Board to postpone making a decision forsix months and to undertake a full impact and risk assessment to consider the effect of any decision across communities in Leeds and to ensure a service like this is accessible across the city in the long term.
Signatures( 1)
Standard Order Party Groups Alphabetical Order Party Totals
Status
Open signatures All signatures
Mulholland, Greg
Thanks very much!
SLCC
Thank you Heroes!
And I just want to say that you guys too who are organising this blog are absolutely astounding. The work, commitment and care for the service and the people of Leeds that you all demonstrate takes my breath away. I understand Leeds Crisis Centre was set up from a spirit of commitment and passion for the preservation of life on the one hand, and a resistance to the unnecessary medicalisation of distress on the other. What you, and your supporters are doing continues, widens and deepens that spirit. Thank you !
To everyone campaigning against the closure of Leeds Crisis Centre: I want to hear from YOU!
Postgraduate trainee broadcast journalists at Leeds Trinity University College are organising a big charity sporting event in Leeds in March – involving professional sports people.
We want to use the event to raise local and national awareness of the Leeds Crisis Centre, its proposed closure, and mental health in general.
We are in the process of organising as many guest speakers as possible – who can talk about the proposed cuts to this mental health service, and what it could mean for people locally and nationally. We also want to hear from users of the centre, who can talk about the impact the centre has on their lives.
We are going to raise a lot of money, which we want to donate to a voluntary organisation that work (with or without the crisis centre) to help people with mental health problems. If you run one/ work for one/ could do with some publicity please contact me via email ASAP.
Whoever is running this blog – please get in touch!
We really hope that we can help raise even more awareness of your cause. Thanks.