PRJ 2305 - Intercultural Therapeutic Service for Lewisham

NHS South East London Integrated Care Board (SEL ICB) intends to award a single contract for the delivery of the Intercultural Therapeutic Service (ITS) in the London Borough of Lewisham. The Intercultural Therapeutic Service (ITS) provides specialist psychological support for Lewisham residents experiencing emotional distress, trauma, isolation and mental health difficulties where cultural, racial, migratory, faith, identity and social experiences are significant factors in presentation and recovery. The service was established to address recognise inequalities in access to and outcomes from mental health services amongst communities who may be underserved by conventional psychological support pathways, including people from Black African, Black Caribbean and other ethnically diverse communities, refugees and asylum seekers, migrants, and individuals with experiences of complex trauma. The service forms part of Lewisham's broader commitment to addressing mental health inequalities and improving culturally responsive support. It complements, rather than duplicates, existing statutory and NHS mental health provision. The Commissioner considers that delivery of the service requires a distinctive combination of intercultural psychotherapy, trauma-informed practice, racially aware therapeutic approaches, specialist supervision arrangements and workforce development functions that are not routinely available through standard counselling or wellbeing services. The Intercultural Therapeutic Service is not a standard counselling service. The model integrates:

• intercultural psychotherapy;
• racially-aware and anti-oppressive therapeutic practice;
• trauma-informed approaches;
• culturally adapted therapeutic interventions;
• multilingual provision where appropriate;
• reflective and relational therapeutic approaches;
• academic and clinical expertise through a specialist training environment.

A key distinguishing feature of the service is the integration of therapeutic delivery within a specialist academic-clinical model. Therapeutic practitioners are supported through a structured supervision framework involving qualified psychotherapists, experienced clinical supervisors and academic expertise. This enables intensive reflective practice, robust clinical governance and continuous service development. The Commissioner considers this supervision structure to be a distinctive component of the model, combining specialist clinical supervision, academic expertise, reflective practice and workforce development within a single service. The combination of intercultural psychotherapy, racially-aware practice and enhanced clinical supervision is not routinely available through existing mental health pathways and provides a level of specialism that would be difficult to replicate through a generic counselling or wellbeing service. The service therefore represents a specialised offer which contributes innovation within the local mental health system whilst maintaining appropriate standards of clinical governance and quality assurance. Independent evaluation of the service has demonstrated positive service-user outcomes, successful engagement of populations experiencing mental health inequalities, and evidence that the model is reaching individuals whose needs may not be fully met through conventional psychological support pathways. The Commissioner intends that the next phase of the service will build upon this evidence and further evaluate integration, accessibility and scalability. A key objective of the service is to improve access to psychological support for residents who are historically less likely to engage with, benefit from, or remain within traditional mental health services. The contract value is £150,000 for a period of 18-months. The process being followed is a Most Suitable Provider Process under the Provider Selection Regime 2023.