North London Mental Health Partnership adds new facility to its Arsenal

The Integrated Mental Health Centre in Islington has been officially opened by Gunners academy manager Per Mertesacker

Per Mertesacker opens the facility — Per Mertesacker officially opened the facility

Arsenal academy manager Per Mertesacker joined staff and service users in Islington to celebrate the opening of North London Mental Health Partnership’s (NLMHP) new, state-of-the-art integrated community mental health centre.

The new centre, at 1 Lowther Road, provides a modern, welcoming space in the heart of the community offering integrated mental and physical health services and an enhanced working environment for staff. A community café on the ground floor will make Lowther Road a place which everyone can use and enjoy.

NLMHP’s Islington team already has close links with the ‘Arsenal in the Community’ project which delivers sport, social and education programmes to over 5,000 individuals each week including many with mental health diagnoses.

Declaring the centre open, Per said: “This is an issue that is close to my heart. As a young man in Germany, I spent a year working in a mental health hospital, and the experience was both humbling and life shaping.

“Our mental wellbeing is just as important as our physical wellbeing. That’s something we work on every day at our club, whether that’s giving our young Gunners in the academy the tools and confidence they need to learn and grow, or whether it’s our community team, who are providing essential support and care to some of the most vulnerable people in our area.

“I’m proud I can share in this moment to deliver a first-class facility right in the heart of our community, that will play a major role in to supporting both patients and staff for years to come.”

Lowther Road will be the home for the majority of NLMHP’s Islington community services. It is the latest building to open as part of the St Pancras Transformation Programme, which also includes Highgate East, a brand-new inpatient facility.

Jinjer Kandola MBE, NLMHP chief executive said: “We are delighted to welcome Per to Lowther Road to celebrate the opening of this fantastic new facility. The Partnership is committed to improving the outcomes for all our service users and the quality of the care we provide. Through our St Pancras Transformation Programme, we are delivering new leading-edge therapeutic environments for service users and carers and improved working environments for our staff.

“The cutting-edge design of Lowther Road was developed with input from service users, carers, our staff, and the local community, and can be adapted as our needs change over time.”

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