Upping Ward – Personality Disorder Intensive Support Service for Women

Gender: Female

Age: 18+

Beds: 15

Upping Ward is our Intensive Support Service for women with a diagnosis of personality disorder and complex mental health needs.

The service pathway provides a robust programme of care for women with challenging high risk behaviour who experience difficulties with engagement or motivation with therapeutic programmes. We aim to meet the needs of these women, who may have had previous inappropriate placements, in a less restrictive setting.

The care pathway is able to support and treat women presenting with complex needs, including significant self-harm and emotionally unstable personality disorder (EUPD) who will likely have difficulties in engaging with a therapeutic programme. The enabling environment and staffing skills provide a robust and safe setting. The pathway focuses on an integrated programme structure to enable focus on positive pre-engagement work offering a wide range of approaches. The primary aim of the service is to prepare service users with the required skills to move to a Tier 4 pathway or step-down services, or discharge to community services or independent living as appropriate.

Eleanor’s Journey

Read about how the team at Upping Ward helped Eleanor to regulate her emotions, improve her physical health and look forward to the future.

Find out more

Our Psychologically Informed care model:

Our psychological model is underpinned by a systemic framework, applying an eclectic approach that combines interventions from different therapeutic models and delivers them in a systemic and integrated way. The model is driven by a comprehensive complex formulation and an individually tailored psychological treatment plan underpinned by the relevant theoretical approach to meet the variable and complex needs of the service user.

The model embraces a wide range of evidence-based interventions such as DBT, CBT, and mindfulness along with alternative therapies such as art therapy and music therapy in order to respond to service user underlying needs.

Therapeutic approaches and assessments:

  • Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
  • Occupational therapy assessment and interventions
  • Psychological formulations
  • Music therapy
  • Art therapy
  • Mindfulness
  • Sensory assessments
  • Complementary therapies including reiki and aromatherapy
  • Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP)

Our service user profile:

  • Women, aged 18+
  • Detained under the Mental Health Act
  • Primary diagnosis of personality disorder
  • Presenting with complex high risk needs including:
    • Significant self-harm
    • Emotionally unstable personality disorder (EUPD)
  • Demonstrating difficulties with engagement or motivation with therapeutic programmes
  • May have a history of repeated hospital admissions or previous placement breakdown
Download the Upping Ward Flyer
763.28 KB
For more information or to make a referral please call 0808 164 4450 or email [email protected].

Share this page