-
Our medium secure mental health facility, accommodating 60 men from Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
-
How we can help
Secure and forensic services
Our secure services are focused on providing support for men who have experience with the legal system because of their mental health needs. We aim to provide a safe and secure environment that enables them to receive a wide range of treatments, therapies and care options to assist in their recovery.
The majority of the people who use our service are subject to the Mental Health Act (1983).
People staying with us will reside in either our medium secure, or low secure accommodation:
- Dewnans Centre - our medium secure accommodation
- Chichester - our low secure rehabilitation centre
How we help
The overall focus of care at the Dewnans Centre is upon personal recovery - supporting people to attain their goals, to achieve a sense of hope, opportunity and control and to move towards independence.
With every individual we follow a programme of personalised care planning. Professionals from different disciplines work with people to create a tailored programme of care.
-
How to get help
Wards
The four wards at Dewnans Centre are:
- Ashcombe for acute admissions
- Holcombe for people with particularly complex needs
- Warren and Cofton wards prepare people to step down to our low secure accommodation, or to be discharged in to the community
They support people on a 'treatment pathway' from acute emergency admissions through to long-term residential and step-down care as their health and wellbeing improves.
All of the bedrooms are en suite and offer views over the surrounding countryside.
- Beds 60
-
Langdon Hospital Exeter Road
Dawlish
EX7 0NR
01626 888372
Our facilities
Dewnans Centre is located on our 111-acre Langdon Hospital site. It houses 60 beds spread across four wards. It also offers an array of recreational, educational, and vocational amenities. These include a sports barn and therapies centre, providing individuals with ample opportunities for leisure, learning, and skill development.
The therapies centre and recreational activities are placed at the centre of everything. People pass through this central area on the way to and from wards and other parts of the facility, and this helps to create and sustain a sense of community and minimise any sense of isolation or separation.
As well as treatment rooms, the therapies centre includes 'heavy' and 'light' workshops, computing and library facilities, a music room and a café. Office and administration space has deliberately been housed separately, in the only part of the building that has a second storey.
There are two separate arms of the building each housing two wards. With their own courtyard garden, TV lounge, laundry, interview rooms, offices, arts and crafts room, and dining room, each ward functions as a completely self-contained unit. However, if the need arises, neighbouring wards can work together as a team.
Life at Langdon
At Langdon Hospital, our secure forensic mental health care ensures patients receive expert support tailored to their recovery journey.
Patient involvement and recovery
We believe in working together with our patients and encouraging them to be active in shaping their recovery goals. Through our Discovery Centre Recovery College, they can explore vocational opportunities, learn new skills, and gain confidence.
Our This is Langdon film was co-produced by patients and staff, offering insight into our compassionate and inclusive environment.
Patient Council
Empowering patients to shape their own care, the Patient Council meets monthly, offering a structured way for voices to be heard. Representatives from each ward raise concerns and help drive positive changes.
Through the Discovery Centre, patients can develop essential skills like chairing meetings, delivering presentations, and taking notes-helping build confidence and leadership.
Vocational opportunities
To support recovery, we offer a variety of vocational activities, both paid and unpaid, including:
- Horticulture
- Carpentry and woodwork
- Work experience within Café Oasis and the shop
- Clothesline initiative
- External voluntary placements
We also offer paid co-production roles, where patients can participate in interviews, staff inductions, workshops, and Patient Council meetings.
Education
We partner with South Devon College to offer English, Maths, IT, and other accredited courses. Patients can also access OpenLearn online courses to develop skills at their own pace.
Personalised one-to-one sessions provide tailored support for reading, writing, and general education. A Book Club is available to help patients maintain literacy skills while engaging in enjoyable discussions.
Wellbeing activities and physical therapies
Our team provides rehabilitation, exercise, sport, and therapeutic activities to help patients build skills and confidence. Options include:
- Gym sessions and team sports
- Injury and cardiac/pulmonary rehabilitation
- Community walks and cold water therapy
- Stress management workshops
- Art, music and cooking groups
We collaborate across physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and physical health teams to ensure a holistic approach to care.
Recognising achievements
We proudly celebrate patient successes with Trust awards and participation in the Koestler Awards for arts in criminal justice. One patient has won the Inspiration Award for an innovative hospital recycling initiative.
Connecting with the community
We work closely with local businesses, colleges, and charities, welcoming volunteers who contribute to conservation, plant nurseries, and hospital environment projects.
Preparing for life beyond Langdon
As discharge approaches, we provide support with housing, benefits, home care, and community groups, ensuring smooth transitions into life outside the hospital.
Discovery centre
The Discovery Centre is a recovery college that aims to restore hope, increase people's sense of control over their lives and support them to take opportunities to pursue their goals, interests and aspirations.
Courses and workshops are co-produced with patients, where possible, and run across four areas. These vary in content, length and learning, and include:
- Understanding mental health challenges
- Recovery journey
- Developing knowledge and skills
- Getting involved
Co-production means that the course is designed and delivered by people with personal experience and people with professional experience. Working together in an equal partnership, the results are effective.
Located at the medium secure Dewans Centre, with a second venue for low and open wards at Café Oasis, the Discovery Centre takes its inspiration from the Nottingham Recovery College and focuses on rebuilding lives rather than reducing symptoms.
Creating links with the local community, workshops include those with Rethink Mental Health, South Devon College and an environmental art therapist.
There are also courses to help patients deal with familiar issues, like coping with low moods and depression, dealing with grief and loss, anger management and many others. The focus is on providing useful and practical advice for those using our services.
Part of the strength of the centre is in its strong focus on co-creation - working together with people who use our services to create and deliver the events. It's proved to be a highly successful approach.
In fact, more than half of the residents at Langdon have engaged in some way with the centre.
For those who don't want to take a course, there is a large recovery library with self-help resources.
Sports barn
Carers and families
We believe that carers, families and friends are as important as the person staying at Langdon.
We work hard to develop real partnerships with carers. By providing opportunities for them to share their experiences, we can work together to improve the services we offer.
We know that the idea of a secure hospital setting can be a frightening experience when a loved one, friend or relative is admitted, but it doesn't need to be.
What happens when your loved one is admitted?
We will contact you within 48 hours of admission. We will visit you to gain a better understanding of your thoughts, feelings and experiences. We will be asking you to share information, but alongside this we would value your views about the person's strengths, hobbies, activities and positive factors that were in their life before the onset of their mental health difficulties.
This will help us understand the person that exists alongside the diagnosis.
We will provide you with a carers information pack. This contains the following:
- What we offer at Langdon Hospital
- Reasons for admission
- The legal framework, mental health tribunal, hospital managers meetings, confidentiality
- Who is involved in your relative's care - key people and what they do
- Visiting Langdon, video conferencing and Skype
- Care, treatment and restraint
- Help, support, useful information, contact numbers
- Carers events.
Getting involved
We provide a number of ways you can get involved as a carer:
- Attend a carers event, which we hold twice a year
- Get involved in the recruitment of our staff
- Get involved in the delivery of 'customer care' training for our staff
- Represent carers on our governance forum
- Deliver sessions for other carers in our Discovery Centre
- Carers newsletter.
As well as having the opportunity to attend one of our carers events, you will also be kept up-to-date by our carers newsletter which the patients produce three times a year.