Preston’s Guild Lodge mental health inpatient unit has opened a new barbershop for its service users.

The shop was due to open before the pandemic, but it had to pause its launch. Guild Lodge determined that an on-site barbershop would benefit service users more than bringing in a community hairdresser.

Jennifer Gardner, occupational therapy (OT) manager at Guild Lodge, said: “We all recognise the benefits of a fresh haircut and how it can have a positive effect on our mood and confidence.

“From discussions with our service users, we discovered they felt more comfortable attending an appointment with a known staff member rather than a community hairdresser. With great luck, I found out one of the occupational therapy technical instructors had a ten-year background in barbering and was interested in this role.”

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Tracy Cookscowen, Director of Operations for the Specialised Services network at LSCft, said: “The occupational therapy, nursing and medical teams have pulled together to make this happen, but the brainchild behind the look and trademark for the barbershop came from our service users.

“Everyone should be proud of this achievement, and we aren’t stopping there. We plan to develop opportunities for vocational training using the barbershop as the springboard. The Guild Barbers is one to watch!”

Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust provide a range of services, including secondary mental health care. Specialist provision comprises inpatient child and adolescent mental health services and perinatal mental health and forensic services, including low and medium secure care. 

For more on the Guild Lodge, visit – https://www.lscft.nhs.uk/guild-lodge

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