North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust’s Darwin Centre, an inpatient mental health service for children and young people, based in Stoke-on-Trent, has opened its doors to a new multifunctional enhanced support suite – the first of its kind in the UK.
Its aim is that the ‘Peace Pod’ will help the Darwin Centre to avoid admissions to a psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) or specialist eating disorder unit (SEDU), reduce the length of stay for patients with complex needs through timely therapeutic interventions tailored to the individual, and meet the multi-faceted requirements of patients with complex or dynamic needs.
Photos from the launch event on Tuesday 1 June 2025 can be seen below.
By creating a calm and inviting area in the Darwin Centre, the Peace Pod will be safe space for patients to manage higher intensity presentations of conditions such as eating disorders, learning disabilities, increased risk-taking behaviours and acute episodes of emotional dysregulation that cannot be managed in the current ward environment. A photo of the suite can be seen below, or you can experience the room for yourself with a 360° walk-through Matterport scan here.
Funding for the Peace Pod was awarded for an Enhanced Support Model through Toucan, the West Midlands CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) Provider Collaborative. Funding covers the development of the centre itself, as well as training for the inpatient MDT (multidisciplinary teams) and community teams.
The Darwin Centre provides care and support for young people aged 12 to 18 years old with mental health difficulties. Liz Mellor, Chief Strategy Officer at Combined Healthcare, said:
“The new Enhanced Support Model represents a great opportunity to deliver the best quality care for young people when they need it the most. With additional investment from Toucan, we have delivered comprehensive training to our staff and developed a safe space within our unit.
“Our aim is to deliver exceptionally skilled care in the best environment, supporting our young people in their recovery and planning for the future.”
Glynis Harford, Service Manager at the Darwin Centre, said:
“The young people who stay with us may sometimes need high-intensity, short-term nursing care or support to move through distressing emotions. The suite will form a core part of the ward, acting as a flexible space that we can quickly and easily reconfigure as a safe space to deliver more intensive support where required.”
The introduction of an Enhanced Support Model follows a number of improvements that have also been recently made to the Darwin Centre, including the recruitment of a dietician, input from patients and an art therapist to develop the therapy space, a mural commissioned by an artist and upgraded sensory equipment.
Find out more about the Darwin Centre here.
