Birchwood Highland

Housing support services

Birchwood Highland provides Housing Support and other services in the Inverness area, Easter Ross, Caithness and Lochaber.

Many of the people we work with have a mental health problem. We have many years of experience in working with people who have a severe and enduring mental illness. Whilst we have retained our expertise in supporting people with mental ill-health, today we focus on improving the quality of a person's life experiences whatever their background.

Housing Support can be provided to persons in either permanent or transitional accommodation, including managed tenancies.

It can include help with:

Accessing services;
Keeping the home secure;
Shopping;
Personal budgeting;
Using domestic equipment safely and economically;
Arranging adaptations in the home.

This is not an exhaustive list, and you can find out more about what local Housing Support services provide by downloading the leaflets listed at the bottom of this page.

How to refer to our service

We find that the majority of applications for Housing Support are made by the Community Mental Health Service on the applicant's behalf.

We don't have a special referral form, but we expect the referrer to give us a "Single Shared Assessment" and a Housing Support Plan to help us get started in planning the support needed.

However there is nothing to prevent individuals from applying directly to their local support service office, as long as they provide a Single Shared Assessment and Housing Support plan. Their Care Manager (usually a social worker or community psychiatric nurse) will provide these, and they will identify whether there is a need for just Housing Support, or Housing Support and Care at Home.