Nai's House

We’re Nai’s House CIO, a small charity based in Bicester, Oxfordshire. Our work improves the mental health and wellbeing of teenagers and young adults, with a specific focus on suicide prevention. Nai’s Story Dené (known to her friends as Nai) struggled with poor emotional and mental wellbeing from a young age, caused by childhood trauma. As she grew up, the daily battles that she courageously fought became more and more challenging. At times during her teenage years, she was referred to CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services). She never felt that the support offered by the service really helped. In August 2016, after a series of traumatic experiences, Dené was referred to AMHS (Adult Mental Health Services) and was assessed as a medium to high risk of suicide and was also diagnosed with a personality disorder. Dené was discharged in November and told to refer herself to another specialist service. She was not seen before being discharged and there was no subsequent follow up by AMHS. On the 21st of February 2017, aged 22, Dené ended the war that raged in her head, and she took her own life. She was a mother, a daughter, a sister, and a friend. After Dené died, her mum, Gem Barrett, realised that, sadly, her daughter’s story was far from rare. Not just her battle with poor mental health and thoughts of suicide, but also how much she struggled to get help, despite asking for it. Statutory services are overstretched and are not always able to help those who are suicidal to move on from those feelings. This latter point is also true of other services such as The Samaritans, Mind and Papyrus. So, Gem created a service that would help young people struggling with poor emotional and mental wellbeing and thoughts of suicide, to prevent other young people from suffering the same experience as her daughter. Nai’s House was founded in September 2019. Nai’s passion was helping others, and she was just beginning her journey towards becoming a qualified psychotherapist. We consider Nai’s House to be Dené’s final gift to all those she would have gone on to help, if she had received the support she asked for, but never got. Our Team Gem brings a clear vision, passion, and energy, as well as a background in youth services, to running the organisation, supported by Trustees and volunteers who all bring both personal and professional experience. In just 4 years, Nai’s House has grown from a CIC with an income of £13,000, to a CIO with an income of £95,000. Originally staffed by Gem and her daughter's friend, we opened two afternoons a week at a local community centre. We have rapidly grown to a team of 25 frontline staff and volunteers working to support our guests and a further 7 helping with administration and outreach. With the support of Bicester Town Council, we now have dedicated premises and are open five days a week. Our Unique Approach We are currently the only service in Oxfordshire specifically devoted to youth suicide prevention. The support we offer is consistent, confidential, delivered in a non-clinical environment, and tailored to meet our guests’  individual needs. This involves not only One to One Support, but also group and individual wellbeing activities. We provide support to parents and carers of young people who are struggling with their mental health, as well as offering suicide bereavement support to people of all ages. Our counselling service is delivered by qualified and student counsellors and our holistic team offers a range of complementary treatments to help alleviate physical symptoms associated with poor mental health. We have invested in our One to One Supporter team to give them the expertise required to deliver this unique style of support. They are specialists in the service that Nai’s House delivers. They are given extensive training tailored to meet specific needs of our guests, including suicide prevention and intervention, mental health, trauma, and adverse childhood experiences. The unique, specialist approach of our One to One Supporters ensures the safety of our guests, reduces the risk of harm and loss of life, and empowers our guests to manage their thoughts, feeling and actions on a daily basis. It is the work of our One to One Supporters in particular, on which the growing reputation of Nai’s House has been built. Every referral is responded to quickly and guests are assigned to an appropriate Nai’s House practitioner. Crucially, there is no time limit on the support offered. Typically, a guest will see a supporter or counsellor once a week. Where relevant, we use a specific methodology to address suicidality and self-harm to work with the guest to reduce risk and keep them safe. In addition to weekly sessions, our guests can choose to take advantage of the holistic options we offer, such as massage and reflexology. A Safer Community Nai’s House believes that suicide is everyone’s responsibility. Our outreach and training activities raise awareness in the community of suicide risks, and ways individuals and organisations can help to reduce those risks. We have partnered with Preventing Suicide Workshops Ltd to deliver training to members of the community to empower them to be able to prevent suicide. We aim to develop a Crisis Response Team and a network of Crisis Safe Spots in local venues, to make Bicester a suicide-safer community.