Home > Our services > Recovery and Mental Health > Community Rehabilitation
Community Rehabilitation
The Community Rehabilitation Service supports people living with complex mental health problems to achieve their goals and gain the skills and confidence to live as independently as possible.
Impactful
Since the service began in 2015, we have supported many people with complex mental health difficulties, reduced inpatient admissions and successfully discharged 60% of clients to their GP - a really positive outcome considering many of the people we work with have been in secondary mental health services for many years.
We work in a partnership between Second Step, Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust (AWP) and Missing Link. The specialist clinical leadership is provided by an AWP psychologist and brings together social, psychological and medical approaches to give individually tailored support from a team of professionals. The team also includes peer recovery navigators who have their own experience of recovery and mental health services.
We work primarily with people with complex psychosis and offer specialist rehabilitation assessment, consultation and interventions.
National recognition for the team!
In April 2025, the team received national recognition for their work from the Royal College of Psychiatry.
This is only the second service nationwide to have received the quality standards accreditation from the College’s Quality Network for Mental Health Rehabilitation Services.
The accreditation process is well-recognised and rigorous and required us to provide detailed evidence of our work with clients, families, carers and staff.
Read Katie's story on how the help she received led her to volunteering at a local radio station.
Referrals
The service accepts referrals for people who are registered with a Bristol GP, have severe and enduring mental health problems and have previously received substantial intervention from secondary mental health services without resulting in a level of recovery that they would have wanted.
Most of the people we work with have had repeated hospital admissions or have difficulties with self-care, independent living or confidence.
Most of our referrals come from either recovery teams, early intervention services, or in-patient services where there is a current key worker allocated.
We ask that if a referral is being made that agreement is sought from the client and the key worker.
For more information about the Community Rehabilitation Service call 0117 909 6372 or email sshaltd.communityrehabadmin@nhs.net
Find out more
By watching our photo-essay (below), called Taking Mental Health Outside you’ll find out more about what we do. Taking Mental Health Outside is the result of a four-month experimental film project with staff, volunteers, peer workers and clients from the Community Rehabilitation Service which is both poignant and deeply personal.
Client stories
Surviving or Thriving. Read about a former client’s recovery story.