As a peer support worker, I’ve seen just how important the NHS Home Treatment Team can be for people experiencing a mental health crisis. The service is intended to provide intensive support at home, helping people stay safe and avoid admission to a psychiatric hospital whenever possible. For many, being able to remain in familiar surroundings, close to loved ones and their everyday routines, can make a real difference during an incredibly difficult time.
The Home Treatment Team is there to bridge the gap between community mental health services and inpatient care, offering regular contact, assessments, and treatment while supporting people through a crisis in the least restrictive environment. At its best, the service not only helps to keep people safe but also recognises that recovery is about more than managing symptoms—it’s about preserving dignity, independence, and hope.
My own experience has been very different. Personally, I have never found the support from the Home Treatment Team helpful. In fact, my experience has been quite the opposite.
During my most recent mental health crisis—which is still ongoing and feels just as overwhelming as when it first began—I found that my local Home Treatment Team in Cornwall made an already difficult situation even harder. Rather than feeling supported, I often felt that my distress was intensified. The way I experienced the service left me feeling unheard, misunderstood, and pushed to a point where the worst parts of my illness came to the surface.
I appreciate that other people may have had positive experiences with Home Treatment Teams, and I would never take that away from them. This is simply my experience. At a time when I needed understanding, compassion, and support the most, I was left feeling more isolated, more distressed, and less hopeful than before. Instead of helping me through the crisis, I felt as though the service added to it.
One member of the team, in particular, left a lasting impression on me, but unfortunately not for the right reasons. I found his attitude towards me dismissive and, at times, lacking in empathy. During what was one of the most vulnerable periods of my life, I often felt judged rather than supported, and our interactions left me feeling worse after each visit.
In contrast, the colleague who visited with him was quiet, kind, and easy to talk to. Although they spoke less, I felt far more at ease in their presence and appreciated the calm, respectful way they interacted with me.
To protect the privacy of those involved, I’m choosing not to name the individuals or identify the specific Home Treatment Team in today’s post. My intention isn’t to single out or shame anyone, but to share my personal experience and encourage conversations about how people in crisis are treated.
Because I was, and still am, highly dysregulated, even the smallest misunderstanding or mistake could have a significant impact on me. During visits, issues from previous appointments would often be brought up again, sometimes halfway through the conversation. Rather than helping me move forward, I found this left me feeling increasingly distressed and overwhelmed. On more than one occasion, I came away from these visits feeling worse than before, and my urge to harm myself became stronger.
The Home Treatment Team was supposed to call before visiting, but in my experience, this rarely happened. I was given explanations such as not having an up-to-date phone number or staff being unable to access information because their laptops were not working. Whatever the reason, the lack of communication added to my anxiety and left me feeling unprepared for their visits.
I also struggled to access support overnight, despite the service being described as available 24 hours a day. I was told on several occasions that there was only one member of staff covering both the East and West Cornwall Home Treatment Teams during the night. There were also times when calls appeared to disconnect rather than being answered. When you’re in the middle of a mental health crisis, experiences like these can leave you feeling abandoned and unsure where to turn.
I can only speak from my own experience, but it left me feeling that the service was unable to provide the level of support I needed. Whether that was because of staffing pressures, limited resources, communication problems, or other factors, the outcome was the same for me: I felt let down by a service that was meant to help keep me safe during one of the darkest periods of my life.
