About the Mental Health Crisis Breathing Space programme

This training is for health and care professionals, including Approved Mental Health Professionals (AMHPs), who may be asked to provide evidence for a Mental Health Crisis Breathing Space (MHCBS) application or to deal with requests from debt advice providers related to an MHCBS.

An MHCBS pauses enforcement action and freezes interest and charges on debts while a person is receiving mental health crisis treatment, and for 30 days after crisis treatment ends.

This session explains the scheme, how to complete the evidence form, and how to refer someone to a debt advice provider for this purpose. It also explains the important role of the nominated point of contact, who needs to stay in touch with the debt advice provider throughout the breathing space period. It also signposts to more detailed guidance on the scheme and ways to help people in debt who are not receiving mental health crisis treatment.

More information

What is a Mental Health Crisis Breathing Space?

Mental Health Crisis Breathing Space (MHCBS) is a debt respite scheme that provides protections for people in England and Wales who are in problem debt. The protections include pausing enforcement action and contact from creditors and freezing interest and charges on their debts.

It may be very difficult to engage with debt advice while receiving mental health crisis treatment, but problem debt and mental health problems are often linked.

The Government committed to develop an alternative route into the scheme for people receiving mental health crisis treatment, so that they do not have to access debt advice first. The MHCBS lasts as long as a person’s mental health crisis treatment, plus 30 days (no matter how long the crisis treatment lasts).

The MHCBS will help to create time and space for a person to get the treatment they need, without having to worry about their debts growing or their creditors contacting them during their treatment.

Acknowledgements

HM Treasury and the Department of Health and Social Care would like to thank everyone who took time to engage with the design of the Breathing Space scheme and the Mental Health Crisis Breathing Space guidance upon which this training is based.

How to access

In order to access the Mental Health Crisis Breathing Space programme, you will need an elfh account. If you do not have one, then you can register by selecting the Register button below.

Register >

To view the Mental Health Crisis Breathing Space programme, select the View button below. If you already have an account with elfh, you will also be able to login and enrol on the programme from the View button.

View >

NHS healthcare staff in England

The Mental Health Crisis Breathing Space programme is also available to NHS healthcare staff via the Electronic Staff Record (ESR). Accessing this elearning via ESR means that your completions will transfer with you throughout your NHS career.

Further details are available here.

Not an NHS organisation?

If you are not an NHS health or care organisation and therefore do not qualify for free access elfh Hub, you may be able to access the service by creating an OpenAthens account.

To check whether or not you qualify for free access via OpenAthens, you can view the eligibility criteria and register on the ‘OpenAthens’ portal.

Registering large numbers of users

If you are a HR, IT or Practice Manager and would like to register and enrol large numbers of staff within your organisation for access onto the Mental Health Crisis Breathing Space programme, please contact elfh directly.

Organisations wishing to use their own LMS

For HR departments wanting to know more about gaining access to courses using an existing Learning Management System please contact elfh directly to express interest.

More information

Please select the following link for more information on how to use the elfh Hub.