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Our History

Community Links has over 40 years of experience in supporting people with a wide range of mental health issues.

1981 Project set up in Leeds to provide support for tenants of large single homeless hostels which were closing, who felt unable to cope alone in the wider community. The project concentrates on shared housing, and has two members of staff. It becomes a charity and later sees its role as a mental health service provider.

1987 First hostel worker is appointed. The organisation is supporting around 75 people.

1989 First Housing Support Worker specifically for clients with mental health problems is appointed and plans are begun for a 10 bed, long stay hostel – Maltings Close.

1994 Residential home opens for people whose needs cannot be met by other mental health services Oakwood Hall.

1998 First short stay hostel opens. Organisation name became ‘Community Links’.

2000 Mental Health Support Service opens, and develops psycho-social interventions approach.

2004 Community Links’ first dedicated personality disorder service, Personality Disorder Accommodation Support, opens as part of the Leeds Personality Disorder Managed Clinical Network.

2005 Launch of aspire – Leeds early intervention in psychosis service.

2007 Community Links first service outside Leeds opens: Alcohol Support Community Links Alcohol Support Service (CLASS) in Kirklees

2008 Training provision becomes a service, as Community Links Training starts to train 4500 people in Yorkshire and the Humber in Mental Health First Aid.

2010 Aftercare is Community Links’ first drugs service, and Leeds IAPT Young People the first psycho-therapy service.

2012 York & Selby Early Intervention in Psychosis service joins Community Links. Community Links appoints a Volunteer Co-ordinator.

2013 Positive Pathways: Community Links leads a new consortium providing mental health housing support across Leeds through a single point of access.

2014 Community Links Engagement and Recovery (Clear) service opens in Kirklees with two bases – Huddersfield and Dewsbury. The WY-FI service also begins this year.

2016 Connect Well – new social prescribing service for North Leeds launches. The service is a consortium with Community Links as the lead partner.

2017- Community Links launches its first dementia service, Young Dementia Leeds in partnership with Carers Leeds. Later that year, Kirklees Dementia Hub in partnership with Age UK Calderdale and Kirklees was also launched.

2017  York Families and Housing Support Services are launched in partnership with Changing Lives. Community Links begins delivery of Stronger Families project.

2018  Connect Peer Support eating disorder service is launched. Dedicated peer support workers work within Connect, LYPFT’s new community service across West Yorkshire and Harrogate.

2018  Community Links merged with housing charity Foundation in October 2018.  A parent organisation called Inspire North was created.

2019  Linking Leeds is launched. This is an integrated, free city-wide Social Prescribing service for people in Leeds. Social Prescribing is a way of linking individuals with a range of local community services to improve social, emotional and mental wellbeing.

2022 Community Links turns 40! Celebrating and acknowledging the achievements made throughout the last four decades. Let’s see what the next 40 years bring and how many individual’s lives we can change for the better.