Posted 22/07/2022

Neighbourhood Officer’s persistence leads to leaseholder getting mental health support

A woman experiencing poor mental health is now being cared for in a safe place thanks to the persistence and determination of one of our neighbourhood officers.

The lady, who will not be identified but we will refer to as Nina, is a leaseholder in a block, managed by Swan’s property management service, Hera. She began to display erratic behaviour catching the attention of Neighbourhood Officer, Caroline Maloney.

Nina was leaving lots of bottles outside her flat door in the communal areas and filling them with water. The Estates Services team kept clearing the items away, but more jars and bottles would appear. Nina then started to throw small amounts of water under her neighbours’ front doors.  A few weeks later Nina started to vandalise health and safety signs on her floor and covered the lift and front door with white sticky labels.

Knowing that this behaviour could be an indication that someone was experiencing mental health issues Caroline tried to intervene to see if she could help. When Caroline was unable to get a response, she decided to report her concerns to the local authority mental health team. Meanwhile, Caroline also discovered Nina was in mortgage arrears amounting to £3,000.

The mental health team saw for themselves the extent of the Nina’s mental health problems and sectioned her so she can receive the care and medication she needs.

Caroline said: “Nina’s mental health was getting worse every week, but she is now in a safe place on medication and when she returns home, I will be able to give her further support.

“We are also going to advocate with her mortgage provider directly about the arrears, which we believe are mostly due to the decline in her mental health.”