Crisis cafes: so much more than a cuppa

There isn’t one definitive way to explain what a crisis is. It is probably best described by the person themselves, according to their experiences and values (Ball et al., 2005). Some people may relate their crisis to a psychiatric condition, others may see crises happening when their usual ways of coping don’t work, unrelated to psychiatric conditions. The variation in how people perceive crises explains why a ‘one size fits all’ crisis service is unlikely to meet everyone’s needs or preferences (Rojas-García et al., 2023).

Crisis Resolution Teams (CRTs) provide services that reduce the need for hospital admission for many people but have been criticised for having too high a threshold for access. Psychiatric liaison services, based in emergency departments (called ED or A&E), provide crisis care, but EDs can be extremely busy, noisy places, risking further distress. Some people simply don’t like the clinical approach that CRTs and ED provide.

Previous blogs here have described an array of research on crisis services including intensive home treatment and crisis resolution teams and acute day hospitals, while Current UK government policies call for a range of crisis services including alternatives to mainstream provision.

One such form of alternative provision that has become increasingly common is the Crisis Café. These are local, accessible, comfortable and welcoming spaces run by voluntary organisations, the NHS or a partnership between both. Staff are mostly ‘non-professional’ in that they are more typically peer supporters, volunteers or other non-clinical support workers. Cafés are designed to provide early intervention to prevent further escalation of crises and tend to be open to anyone experiencing distress, regardless of diagnosis or presenting issues.

To fill a considerable gap in the published evidence about the work of these crisis cafés, this exploratory study aimed to assess what crisis café do and what is needed to set one up in England.