Body & Mind

SHINE named Project of the Year

ISSUE 11 / MARCH 2017

The CNWL magazine

CNWL GEMS CELEBRATED AT TRUST BAFTAS

Hillingdon Admin CMHT East and West Team of the Year

“Becoming a governor brought me back to life”

Welcomefrom Alisha Nurse - the Editor

To contribute a story or idea to Body & Mind, email me at alisha.nurse@nhs.net. The copy deadline for the next edition is April 24 2017.

There’s a quote I love from Albert Einstein who said that only a life lived in the service of others is worth living. I got to thinking about all of our amazing staff who dedicate their time, talents and service to the NHS and its patients.

It was fitting that we kicked off 2017 by saying thanks to our people for their hard work and commitment at our Annual Gems Awards. We were inspired by many stories of staff going the extra mile, despite challenges, to make sure patients get the care they need. Patient feedback read on the night offered us potent reminders of why we do what we do. And we’ve never been prouder to be CNWL. We’ve all the news from the Awards ceremony with plenty of photographs for you, pages 4, 5, 12, 13, 14 & 15.

We get an insight into the amazing work of the Woodfield Trauma Service, which looks after the mental health of refugees and

asylum seekers, page 10.

Sarah Farooq the new service manager for London and safeguarding lead for rehabilitation, shares a personal and deeply moving account of why she wanted to go into nursing, page 16.

Why would anyone want to be IT director? We put Owen Powell ‘In the hot seat’, page 17.

My personal favourite for this edition sees Stephen Chamberlain, our longest serving governor talk about compassion and how it’s influenced just about every sphere of his life, page 18.

David Van De Velde is the new co-chair of the LGBT network, and he gets frank about why he chooses to wear the rainbow lanyard, page 20. Recruitment is still big on our agenda, so it’s great news that we’ve a group of bright, new apprentices training at St Charles Hospital on page 23.

Don’t forget, this is your magazine so I want to hear all that you’re up to, in and outside of work. Get in touch to share your news or tell me what you think. You can email alishanurse@nhs.net or pop round for a coffee and chat.

Until next time!

Alisha Nurse

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Keep up-to-date with all our news on our website: www.cnwl.nhs.uk/news

Follow us on Twitter @CNWLNHS

ContentsThis issue’s features:

What I wish I knew then

Getting to know the Woodfield Trauma Service

“Becoming a governor brought me back to life”

Encouraging good mental health through football

Plus…

Trust-wide news

4 CNWL gems celebrated at Trust Baftas

9 Claire’s view20 ‘Why I wear the

rainbow lanyard’

Team news

17 Going green with electric car trial

23 Spotted

Your Health and WellbeingThe Trust’s health and wellbeing strategy is now well underway, and there are some exciting programmes that you can take part in.

Would you like to join a gym but have been put off by the price? Now you can select gym membership through salary sacrifice. Through this method, you do not have to pay National Insurance on the value of the gym membership, which means you will save up to 15% on the discounted membership rates. You can select membership from over 3,000 health clubs.

There’s also The Wellbeing Zone, which is a free and confidential online health and wellbeing resource that offers you a combination of personally tailored programmes and general health information. Features include a

Wellbeing Assessment to find out your wellbeing score and a Goal Setting function allowing you to set goals for a range of lifestyle issues. There’s even an app you can download to your mobile device to help you keep track of your achievements.

And finally our Recovery & Wellbeing College is running a variety of courses for staff on different aspects of health and wellbeing. There’s no charge for the courses, but you will need to get your manager’s permission to attend. Sample courses include: healthy eating, introduction to mindfulness, managing stress, a good night’s sleep and many more.

Tell us what you think. You can find out about all these initiatives on our staff intranet, Trustnet.

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Body & Mind magazine

To cut costs, we’re printing fewer copies of the Body and Mind magazine. That means that not everyone will receive copies. You can read all editions of the magazine on Trustnet and our website www.cnwl.nhs.uk

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In January we honoured hundreds of our staff for their service and dedication in our Annual Gems and Long Service Awards Ceremony.

We received more than 120 nominations. Finalists were nominated across seven award categories by patients and colleagues for outstanding work and dedication to our Trust values. More than 80 members of staff were honoured for dedicating 20, 30 and 40 years’ service to the NHS. Among them, they have over 1,900 years’ service in the NHS.

We were moved by many inspiring stories of staff going beyond the call of duty to make sure that patients can get the best possible care, in what are sometimes very trying circumstances.

Chief Executive Claire Murdoch said, “Though these are tough times I’m incredibly proud of the resilience of our staff.” To check out our films visit www.cnwl.nhs.uk and search ‘annual gems films.’

CNWL gems celebrated at Trust Baftas

Dr Tasneem Fateh received a Long Service Award for 20

years’ service to the NHS

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Trust-wide news

Employee of the Year

Hannah O’Brien, Senior Project Manager for Capital Projects was named Employee of the Year, for her hard work and leadership which improved the environment, in which we care for our patients. She and her team went the extra mile to identify solutions for services’ estates’ needs, in preparation for CQC inspections. Finalists from this category were winners from our Hidden Gem Award Employee of the Month scheme.

CNWL gems celebrated at Trust Baftas

Hannah O’Brien pictured centre

Left to right: Maggie Vaul, Michelle Cooper, Sue Cuthbert,

Kathy Wakelin, Linda O’Brien, Bev Cornwell and Anna-marie Shah

Team of the Year

This coveted award went to the Administration Team at Hillingdon Community Mental Health East and West, nominated for showing exceptional customer service despite having to reapply for their jobs during a service redesign. Based at Mead House in Hillingdon, the team comprises Beverley Cornwell, Kathy Wakelin, Linda O’Brien and Maggie Vaul.

Susan Cuthbert, Office Manager, nominated them. “They have remained positive throughout the whole process and although they have had serious job worries and other worries outside of work they have made sure the customer experience has been exceptional.

“The patients know them all by name and they all go the extra mile to help clients with anything that needs to be done in their lives in or outside Mead House.

Cont’d on pages 12, 13, 14 & 15

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Trust-wide news

News bites

We want to hear from you! Send in contributions for News bites to communications.cnwl@nhs.net

NICE comment on Shine Our Shine Project has been published as good practice on the NICE website.

Dr Ed Beveridge, Project Leader said, “This is important as it gives confirmation of the importance and effectiveness of the work we have done, and helps disseminate it as good practice.”

Police commend Hillingdon’s Riverside mental health staff

Local Hillingdon police complimented our staff after a ‘surprise’ visit with a patient to the Riverside Centre, Hillingdon Hospital turned out to be a “great experience.” They met bed manager Yaw Boampong, and said, “Mr Boampong was extremely helpful and an absolute pleasure to deal with. It was a surprise visit to the mental health unit for us. I just wanted to bring this great interaction to your attention as we always tend to report bad incidents.”

All about liaison psychiatry David Munns, one of our liaison psychiatry nurses has been talking all about our services on Chelsea and Westminster’s hospital radio.

Trust occupational therapist in The OT magazine

Farzana Karim penned ‘A day in the life of’ article for the niche magazine. She writes a passionate account of her daily adventures as an OT working across three teams in Camden.

Farzana Karim

Roving nurse making a difference to the homeless

Gabrielle Bleidorn, one of our peripatetic health and wellbeing nurses looks after homeless and hostel clients in Kensington and Chelsea. She visits hostels and meets clients for health checks including BP, BMI, medications and wound care and refers people to GPs, dentists, sexual health, mental health, and other services.

Gabrielle Bleidorn

Making a change - one refugee child at a time

Franca Fiabane and her husband Mohammad provide prosthetic limbs for refugee children maimed in the Syrian conflict.

It’s hard and costly work for their charity PalmyraRelief CIO but Franca, Serious Incidents Support Manager at the Trust said it has to be done.

“It is to alleviate the suffering as much as we can. You feel so hopeless really. The situation hasn’t changed much and this is the best we can do really,” she said. They’re raising funds to help another child. To find out how you can help email palmyrarelief@gmail.org call 07956 366824 or visit www.palmyrarelief.org/contribute/

Franca Fiabane

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Trust-wide news

Joint study on brain changes after alcohol detox

The Trust has collaborated with Imperial College on a study into the inflammatory changes in the brains of alcohol dependent individuals after detoxification. The researchers say it will help to understand the damaging effects of alcohol on the brain.

Hillingdon CMHT admin ordered keyboard for grand-daughter, but Amazon delivered home-made ‘prison shank’Beverley Cornwell, an admin with the Hillingdon Community Mental Health Team East and West, had a shock last Boxing Day, when her 8 year old grand-daughter unwrapped a home-made “prison shank,” instead of the keyboard she ordered from Amazon.

Holly Cornwell pulled a row of 15 Stanley knife blades with a taped handle.

“Obviously an eight-year-old child is excited and wants to tear the packaging open so thank goodness she had the hindsight to hold it up and say ‘what’s this?’, and thank goodness we were there to witness her unwrapping it. I just felt awful,” said Beverley.

Amazon offered the family a refund.

News bites

For the full stories and more please visit www.cnwl.nhs.uk/news

EIS Hillingdon /Harrow mentioned in new OT book

The Early Intervention Service (EIS) in Hillingdon and Harrow is mentioned in a new book on emerging roles in occupational therapy.

Diverse roles for Occupational Therapists Ed by Janes Clewes & Robert Kirkwood features chapters offering insights by different authors.

Jackie Parsonage, former CNWL Acting Team Leader, Care Coordinator and OT with our EIS, penned a chapter titled Early Intervention with psychosis: the occupational therapist role.

“It provides an overview of the history, supporting evidence base, and a practical guide to how these services work. The chapter then goes on to focus specifically on the role of the occupational therapist and how they can support the recovery of those suffering their first episode of psychosis,” said Jackie.The title is now available on Amazon.

Jackie Parsonage

New community sexual health services to launch in April

The Trust has been appointed to deliver sexual and reproductive health services across the three boroughs of Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea and Hammersmith and Fulham from April 2017.

The new three-year contracts, worth £4 million, will see services move to new locations in community settings that more convenient for local people. There’ll be a renewed focus on prevention, particularly among those at the highest risk of poor sexual health.

New Trust network for staff carers

A new network has been set up to support staff with caring roles outside of work. In the UK three million people, or one in nine combine caring for a loved one with paid work. For more info contact cnw-tr.carers.cnwl@nhs.net

Sarah Hulme & Sian Aylett, co-chairs of the network

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Trust-wide news

What I wish I knew thenThere are some things we all wish we knew then. From trade secrets to life lessons big and small, we wish our younger selves knew. Whatever it is you wish you knew then, we want to hear all about it. Email alisha.nurse@nhs.net

I find it hard to believe now that when I started training as a psychiatrist there were no computers, no electronic records, no mobile phones. I first encountered a computer in 1987. It worked so slowly – I couldn’t see how it would ever be useful. However once computers became commonplace in the NHS I started using e-mail. It was a miracle – I would never need to make a telephone call or write a letter again.

But over the years, sometimes through bitter experience, I have learned that email as a form of communication has its limitations.

Dr Julia Palmer Consultant Psychiatrist & Associate Medical Director, Revalidation and Governance

I discovered that firing off e-mails, possibly copied widely, especially when feeling cross about something, annoyed people, and as a result the problem could take a longer time to sort out. If you can’t see the person you’re emailing, you sometimes say things in email you might not say to their face.

My role in the Trust is to lead the medical appraisal and revalidation process. This can be challenging, but these days I never send emails in anger. If the matter in hand is sensitive or complicated I ring the person up; sometimes I suggest a meeting. After the meeting I will send an email of a few lines recording our meeting. That way there’s a record to look back on, no time has been wasted, and any angry feelings have been explored and understood.

DID YOU KNOW? The internal floor area of CNWL buildings repaired by our maintenance service would fill Oxford Street over 3 times.

We use over 58 million kilowatt hours of gas and electricity a year— enough power to supply over 1000 average London homes.

The total space CNWL works in would fill more than 2500 London Buses.

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Feature

(Front) Meet Bethany Wingfield, 20, and Deanna Frary, 20, who will be featuring as the faces of a new recruitment campaign for apprentices in Milton Keynes.

CORRECTION

In our last issue, in the story Bridging the gap between the hearing and deaf, we mentioned that the last Annual General Meeting featured speech to text displayed on large screens. These words did not come from Nick Mears, who did not attend the meeting and who is also quoted in the article. We apologise that it appeared so.

Claire’s ViewHello!

I was thinking of all the compliments I see from patients and they always praise the services and treatments but they become really enthusiastic when they talk about particular staff members and why they were so impressive – caring, lovely, compassionate, listening, held my hand – in fact they’re always about the wonderful people who happen to be nurses, doctors, therapists, receptionists or housekeepers but are lovely people first. You are the NHS and it was truly moving to be at this year’s Gems celebration to see the best ‘resources’ of the NHS on show and cheered to the rooftops!

I particularly want to welcome the 200+ people we’ve recruited since the last edition and the hundred more who joined from new contracts we’ve won in Surrey and central London.

I want this to be the best place to work in the NHS. We’ll have the staff survey results soon and I think this is the most important survey we do. I’ll be listening closely to what you think and what you would like us to do more of; and I really do want to hear!

I was very pleased to hear we’ve been accredited for Healthy Workplaces - level two of three - the Achievement level.. This is all about supporting your health and wellbeing and it was very striking how much is actually going on here so let there be more.

So let’s have your ideas and see how many we implement before the next edition: if you’re up for it?

Claire

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Trust-wide news

Trust-wide news

Getting to know...

Alice, not her real name, lives with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Past recurrent traumas led to the diagnosis, which impacted her everyday life.

“She’s someone who barely stepped outside her front door,” says Christie Coho, a trained Cognitive behaviour therapist who works part of her time doing trauma-focused therapy, with patients at the Woodfield Trauma Service (WTS).

“If you have PTSD your world is very small. You’re afraid of everything, and coming out of that makes a huge difference. It opens the world back up,” she says.

Alice attended the WTS clinic, where

The Woodfield Trauma Service(formerly known as the Forced Migration Trauma Team)

they specifically treat refugees, asylum seekers and ‘forced migrants’ living with PTSD due to adult trauma. She was able to graduate with a law degree while receiving treatment.

That’s no small feat for someone living with PTSD. Service users usually face a range of psychosocial and medical issues on top of their diagnosis.

“Some of the typical clients we see might be a man from Iraq in his forties who was politically active or perhaps served in the military and then the power changed; for most of the people we’ve seen, they were likely imprisoned and tortured, and/or, had other things like their families killed in front of them or rape used against them, but as a political means, an act of war, something used to threaten them to stop their political activity,” says Christie.

Beginnings

The WTS clinic in Westminster evolved from the decommissioned Refugee Support Service. GPs in the area saw a need for it.

“Many of the patients have a lot of physical difficulties, again because they were tortured, or they were injured in a bombing that went off near them, or perhaps they were in the military and they were injured. So that was part of how it came to the attention of GPs because they were seeing people really frequently, and it seemed to be a mix of physical difficulties

The Woodfield Trauma Service Team

Christie Coho

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Feature

and mental difficulties that were difficult to treat,” Christie says.

The service was re-commissioned in 2011, as a cognitive behavioural therapy service offering trauma-focused therapy.

Now, WTS is run by a team of eight full and part-time staff, who offer therapeutic and practical support to patients in the Westminster, and Kensington and Chelsea areas. They use a multi-phased approached to treatment, starting with an assessment, followed by a phase where service users are offered an individual worker, like a social or support worker to help stabilise their life.

“That might have to do with really practical things like housing, benefits, or accessing resources or it might have to do more with helping them to manage some of the trauma symptoms they’re having,

so the person can be more ready for the therapy,” says Christie.

“For anyone coming to sessions regularly, being able to concentrate as much as possible during the sessions is important. There might be work that the therapist asks them to do in between sessions, and if their life is chaotic none of that’s going to get done.”

Majority of patients ‘improve’

During the stabilisation phase, patients are invited to engage with groups doing activities like gardening and knitting, to help with relaxation skills and positive imagery.

“Then we do the therapy with them – trauma-focused CBT and a related one called NET—Narrative Exposure Therapy, which was set up for people who have the kind of on-going or multiple long incidents of trauma; so it was actually made

for refugees and to be used in places like refugee camps, and that’s where the multi-phased idea came from,” says Christie.

A client’s journey through the different phases of treatment usually lasts a couple of years.

So far, this holistic approach seems to be working. 82% of WTS service users report improvement after treatment*, resulting in a 25% reduction in GP visits.

Commendable results for a service contending with major challenges.

WTS was first commissioned to see 100 service users each year. Now, it runs at maximum staff capacity, seeing up to 70% more service users with no extra paid staff. A majority of these (86%) are seen with an interpreter.

Most referrals come from GPs, Talking Therapies and secondary care mental health services. And demand is growing.

Between 2014 and 2015 the UK received almost 30 thousand asylum applications. 60% of these are granted in the end.

Research shows that 65% of refugees who see mental health practitioners have PTSD.

Looking ahead, the service hopes to start a number of projects, including one to develop specialist interventions for patients with Complex PTSD.

Looking ahead, the service hopes to start a number of projects, including one to develop specialist interventions for patients with Complex PTSD.

* Based on Clinician Administered PTSD semi-structured interviews (CAP) showing reductions in PTSD scores after treatment 11

Feature

Project of the Year AwardThe three amazing projects shortlisted for this category all brought considerable benefits to patients, services and partner organisations.

The three nominees were:

Improving access to patient medication information project:

This project aimed to review and improve accessibility to information about medication for healthcare and patients.

Shine project:

This project was set up after evidence showed people with severe mental illness die, on average 15 to 20 years earlier than the general population, mainly due to increased

lifestyle risk factors that contribute to heart disease and diabetes. It was funded by The Health Foundation to develop new ways of improving the physical health of people with serious mental illness at St Charles Hospital.

Telehealth Team project:

The Telehealth Team in Milton Keynes have undergone major changes to their service following the development of a new Rapid Response Service. They’ve received very positive feedback from patients after changing their

working model to manage patients with long term conditions.

The award went to the Shine Project Team, led by Dr Bill Tiplady and Dr Ed Beveridge. The team included patients and partnered with organisations like the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration of Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) Northwest London to explore local problems and identify and test potential solutions.

CNWL gems celebrated at Trust Baftas

The Shine Project Team

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Trust-wide news

CNWL gems celebrated at Trust Baftas

The Shine Project Team

Tina Parrot won the Compassion Award

Our values awardsThe Compassion AwardThe Compassion Award went to Tina Parrott, a Care of Next Infant (CONI) Administrator for Milton Keynes Community Health Services. The CONI program (part of the Lullaby Trust) is offered throughout the country primarily by the Health Visiting Service to support families who have suffered a Sudden Infant Death. Tina was nominated for her ‘tireless fundraising’ for sleep monitors, which they didn’t have enough of.

The Respect Award

Dr Susan Childs took home the Respect Award, for her work leading the Pain Management Psychology Service based at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. Dr Childs has worked for CNWL for 10 years and during this time she’s created a pain service from nothing, to a department with three psychologists and physiotherapists that deliver five groups a week alongside one-to-one, dual sessions and specialised clinics.

Chief Executive Claire Murdoch with Dr Susan Childs

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Trust-wide news

Empowerment Award

Nicki Harvey from our Early Intervention Service for Harrow/Hillingdon won the Empowerment Award. She’s been with the team for almost a year after the team’s Employment Specialist went on maternity leave. In her citation, she’s described as “relentlessly kind, compassionate and caring.”

The Partnership Award

The award for Partnership went to Margaret Mustafa, who was described in her citation as the backbone of Carelink at St Pancras Hospital.

Carelink provides same day reablement packages of care for a number of CNWL Camden teams but also with University College Hospital and Royal Free Hospital Rapid Response teams.

Nicki Harvey receives her award with CNWL Chair Prof Dot Griffiths (L to R), Chief Executive Claire Murdoch and Goodall Divisional Director Maria O’Brien

Margaret Mustafa

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Trust-wide news

Surprise awards

The night was full of surprises, including for St Pancras Hospital Housekeeper Donovan Harris, who bagged the Chair’s Award for Outstanding Contribution. No nominations are announced for this special award given to staff who are shining examples. Donovan is widely known for epitomising the “Hello my name is...” campaign, and is regularly mentioned in patient feedback for the warm welcome he gives to patients and families.

We also gave a surprise award to patient advocate and Chair of Community Voice Joan Davis, who’s dedicated her life to campaigning for better NHS services for local communities.

An elated Donovan Harris with Claire Murdoch and Prof Dot Griffiths

Joan Davis (R) receives her award from Claire Murdoch

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Trust-wide news

The following article was first published in the Rehab service line newsletter

Sarah Farooq is the new service manager for London and safeguarding lead for rehabilitation. Donna Norstrom asked her about her background and reasons for wanting to work in rehabilitation.

I have wanted to be a nurse as long as I can remember, my mother even bought me a fancy dress nurse’s costume for my third birthday, but at that time I wanted to be a nurse mermaid dragon. Whilst growing up, my best friend’s father was a nursing officer in an asylum called Cefn Coed and I was fortunate to spend time there in the school holidays, mainly with the rehab patients, going to the farm, the activity centre and even going out on trips. By the time I started secondary school I knew I wanted to be a psychiatric nurse

and whilst carrying out my Duke of Edinburgh Award I did voluntary work on the wards throughout the hospital, making beds and refreshments for the patients; I even continued doing this after getting the award because I enjoyed it so much. I went on work experience to an older adult ward when I was about fourteen and a man died whilst I was in the middle of feeding him, and even that did not put me off, and no he did not choke to death. A few days after my 18th birthday I started as a Health Care Assistant, a job I loved because all my time was spent with patients and then after a few years I undertook my nurse training.

I have worked in CNWL since February 2001 when I relocated to London from Swansea. My first post was a staff nurse on Shore Ward at Park Royal in Brent. I was then given the opportunity to get some community experience working

two days a week with Brent East Community team, carrying a small case load, running a depot clinic and working in the assessment team, carrying out assessments of new referrals to the service. I then became the discharge nurse on Shore ward, where I followed up all unallocated patients for six weeks after discharge. I missed the in-patient work, so decided to go back to being a charge nurse on Shore ward. In 2006 I became ward manager of Shore Ward, a job I did until I became Matron in 2013.

Despite spending many happy years in acute, in my heart I have always wanted to go back to work in rehab, because I feel that is where patients are given the time and support they need in order to gain the skills to recover, and staff are fortunate to really get to build a rapport and therapeutic relationship with the patients.

I am excited about taking up my new Service Manager role in Rehab for which I am responsible for the six London Inpatient sites. I am also the Safeguarding and Mental Health Act Lead for Rehab and the Trust Lead for SUMH [substance use in mental health].

Sarah Farooq

Getting to know...

About me:

Hobbies - Travelling, Swimming and Football, I support Swansea FC.

Likes - Kind eyes and nice smiles

Dislikes - The taste and smell of beer, which many people are surprised about, as my husband and brother own Portobello Brewing Company, a brewery in West London.

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Team news

Going green with electric car trial We’re trialling the electric BMWi3, to see whether it’s feasible for use by our Rapid Response teams.

The estates and facilities department says it is always “keen to look at greener ways of supporting the work of the Trust.” This emissions and odour-free car can be charged through any household socket, and running cost is14p per kilowatt. For car enthusiasts it takes just 7.3 seconds to go from 0-62mph.

The Rapid Access Service Team has been using the car every day to visit patients in the community. Gareth Turner, Interim Operational Lead and Occupational Therapist said:

“The feedback from the staff has been very positive with the car being easy to drive, easy to park and more convenient as it’s charged overnight. But there are wider benefits such as no congestion charge saving the trust money and reducing our carbon footprint but more fundamental than that, given the recent news about London’s pollution levels affecting public health, reducing our emissions.”

Our Rapid Response and Crisis Response teams currently use a number of Trust pool cars. If the trial is successful, these may be replaced with electric cars in the near future.

L to R: Gareth Turner, Deborah Skeete and Rajkarun Masina from the Rapid Access Services have been

using the car to visit patients in the community.

In the HOT SEATIn this new series, we put Owen Powell, our ICT Director in the hot seat. Owen’s been in post for almost 7 months now and joined at a trying time for the department. Major changes to our ICT caused some setbacks and challenges for teams across the Trust, so it’s no surprise some of the questions we received centred around this.

It must be a very stressful job. Why did you want to be IT

Director?

It is quite a stressful job, but I am passionate about improving the way

we use IT in the NHS. I have worked in IT my whole career, and it was an early ambition to be in a charge of a department. I enjoy being in a role where I can make a positive contribution. Of course, things don’t go well all the time, but that’s true of many jobs.

Why is my computer so slow?

We’re in the process of upgrading computers at the moment, and

halfway through a process of improving networks. Once all the infrastructure IT has been upgraded, I am confident that speed will improve.

How do you stay positive on a very bad day?

To stay positive it’s important to believe in what you are doing. We are

working very hard to make significant improvements in IT, but I am aware that not everyone is gaining the benefits yet. Unfortunately, we have to go through this uncomfortable transitional process first. However, I am confident that we are doing the right things for the Trust in the longer term, and that helps me to maintain a positive outlook.

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Team news

On an icy Thursday morning in Brondesbury, just beyond the pews of Christ Church with St Laurence, Stephen Chamberlain is whizzing back and forth with unbelievable energy. In the bustling kitchen he’s making sure a fragrant pot of soup is ready to be served to the hungry people who’ve come in from the cold. He skips back to the next room to continue an interview with the BBC. By the time it’s all over, he plops himself down on the chair and flashes a camera-perfect smile.

“So, are we ready for the interview?” he asks animatedly.

Stephen, 70, is used to having his hands in many pots. He’s juggling running the soup kitchen he founded, St Laurence’s Larder from the church, with duties as lay chair

to the Brent Deanery, and work as the Trust’s Brent public governor.

“It’s about giving and receiving and being non-judgemental,” he says of the Larder. “You saw how we reacted to the clients today, and it’s very much the ethos of CNWL – compassion.”

It’s a word he keeps coming back to. Stephen’s had a very colourful life, from window dressing in the West End to managing Soho’s L’Escargot restaurant greeting and serving celebrities like Madonna and Princess Diana; and counselling HIV patients when the diagnosis was a death sentence pre-anti-retroviral drugs.

But when depression hit after he struggled to adjust to retiring, he says it was his work as a CNWL governor that returned what felt lost.

“Becoming a governor brought me back to life,” he said. “I felt valued. Some of the visits (to Trust sites) were fantastic, the compassion I saw.”

After being treated at St Mary’s Hospital, where the Trust provides psychiatric services, Stephen was invited to become a member and later, elected as governor. That was nine years ago. He’s the Trust’s longest serving governor.

Becoming governor inspired much. At the church, he started a small food bank, but soon realised the people coming needed more.

“The great thing about St Laurence’s Larder is no one leaves here hungry, angry or wanting,” he says.

Stephen’s made sure customers here are served with dollops of kindness and heaps of compassion.

Becoming a governor brought me back to life

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Feature

Run entirely by volunteers, St Laurence’s Larder serves hot three course meals to anyone who needs it, and they get food to take home too. Communities have come together to donate all the food they serve, from charities like The Felix Project, local churches, schools, the local mosque, Hindu temple and synagogue.

“Many CNWL clients with mental health issues come here, the homeless, the elderly for fellowship and companionship, and these people might be on small pensions so they’re trying to make their pennies last longer so we’re more than happy to give them a meal. We have travellers, immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, but we don’t ask any questions and they don’t have to produce a paper. They just have to turn up.”

find respite from depression and social problems by coming here. Some find their own way, others referred by priests and social services. One of them, a 40-something-year-old lady helping out in the kitchen, says she first started coming to eat when her work hours were drastically cut.

“I couldn’t manage so it was a big help. Then I started giving back.”

Valentine suffered severe brain damage after being bullied at school. Every Wednesday, he and other people with physical and mental

health difficulties prepare the food.

“He said he feels so happy doing it,” says Stephen. “It’s therapy. They feel needed, and they know they’re doing good work.”

Stephen’s term as governor may be coming to an end but he intends to continue using his interesting mishmash of experience to effect change.

“I didn’t realise I’d end up with a mission of my own. I’ve become a minister. My congregation is the homeless.”

But that’s not the only reason Stephen’s brainchild is special.

“People in need of care themselves giving care to others...it’s magical,” he says.

Stephen first encountered this model on a visit to a San Francisco hospice that cared for terminally-ill people.

“There were rooms to the side. So I said, ‘oh is that where the sickest people are?’ They said ‘oh no, that’s them there.’ And right in the centre of the room near the nurses’ station there were six beds and all these people were terminally ill—they were going to die within 24/48 hours. And I went ‘really?’

“And they (nurses) said, ‘well yes, because if that man wants a glass of water this man can give it to him, so their lives are meaningful to the moment they die.’ And I just went wow!” he said.

At the Larder, many of the volunteers

“I felt valued. Some of the visits (to Trust sites) were fantastic, the compassion I saw.”

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Feature

‘Why I wear the rainbow lanyard’

David at Stephenson House

When he was younger, David Van De Velde had no one to turn to on matters LGBT– Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender. That’s why the clinical team leader, and qualified mental health nurse wears the rainbow lanyard with pride.“For me, the reason I wear it now is to try and help others in the same situation, because I didn’t have anyone to help me with that. It’s about trying to change things from the ground,” he says.

The colourful lanyards attached to staff ID badges were introduced across the Trust in February 2012, as a voluntary way for staff of any sexual orientation to indicate

that they’re a ‘safe listening ear for LGBT service users.’

And David, who was recently elected co-chair of the Trust’s LGBT network, knows first-hand that the lanyards work.

“Because I’m wearing the lanyard they feel comfortable enough to confide in me and ask me things, for information or talk to me about

things they wouldn’t be able to talk to anyone else about for fear of judgement,” says David.

LGBT patients who approach David tend to have common concerns and questions, including where to find support for abuse, identity crises, loneliness and suicide, and how to connect with other LGBT people.

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Trust-wide news

‘Why I wear the rainbow lanyard’

LGBT and an ethnic minorityAt the moment, David’s on a rotational programme where he gets placed in four different specialisms across the Trust every six months, so he gets around a lot. Despite the good that he’s doing, he admits that he’s been subject to abuse when wearing the lanyard, because he’s not just a member of the LGBT community but also an ethnic minority.

“People hurl homophobic abuse. People from part of my racial background (in my case I’m mixed-race) saying that I have made the wrong choice and that sort of stuff. You get a lot of abuse from people, but I’m not doing it for them. I’m doing it for the four or five people who come to me a week, and that could be the moment it changes their life,” he says.

For David the rewards far outweigh the cons.

“I did actually have a patient who came forward who I don’t think had worked out who he really was yet. Before he came in he had tried to commit suicide as he wasn’t happy and his family weren’t happy with his

direction. I think that by seeing the lanyard he was able to come and speak to me about things.”

“You have to go against what your community thinks you should

be. It’s difficult but it’s not insurmountable,” he says.

David isn’t shaken. He feels supported at work.

“It’s one of the reasons I joined the Trust. I knew they had a good strong LGBT community that’s strong and active. I wanted to go somewhere I could identify and work openly as a LGBT person

and provide support alongside my nursing practise,” he says.

David is now the face of a new Trust campaign to promote the rainbow lanyard. The posters are being sent directly to sites. To request rainbow lanyards or more posters email lgbt.cnwl@nhs.net.

*Patients surveyed over three months by The Advocacy Project’s User Involvement initiative, Different Voices.

“Because I’m wearing the lanyard they feel comfortable

enough to confide in me and ask me things, for

information or talk to me about things they wouldn’t be

able to talk to anyone else about for fear of

judgement,”

LGBT patient experience

The lanyard initiative was rolled out after a 2012 survey* found that a majority of patients at The Gordon and St Charles Hospitals didn’t feel supported or able to disclose their LGBT status to hospital staff.

The Trust wanted to change this. The LGBT Allies got to work. It introduced the rainbow lanyards across the Trust, and a number of measures aimed at tackling the issues, including a communications campaign and training sessions for staff, led by LGBT advocates.

Alison Devlin, Equalities and Diversity Manager requested another survey in 2015/2016 to see if anything had changed for patients. The results were far better, with an increase in patients saying there was no issue around their LGBT status. Patients said the rainbow lanyards were positive and reported feeling safe around staff wearing them.

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Trust-wide news

Encouraging good mental health through footballA member of staff at CNWL’s inpatient mental health unit in Milton Keynes has been showing patients how playing football can be a valuable part of the recovery process.

Each week for the past 12 months, Amy Humphries, Fitness Lead at the Campbell Centre, has taken five to six inpatients to regularly train as the MK Dons Mental Health Football Team.

In total 35 inpatients from CNWL’s inpatient unit in Milton Keynes, the Campbell Centre, have signed up to take part along with service users from community mental health services.

Amy, who is working towards gaining a football coaching qualification so she can coach a Ladies Mental Health MK Dons team, said: “I started it up when I started working at the Campbell Centre in January 2016 because I love football coaching and wanted to help our service users become more active.

“It is known there is a link between

exercise and better mental health and fits in with the wider health and wellbeing narrative. It encourages the patients to commit and have fun trying something new. It has prevented re-admissions.”

Players have been honing skills over the past 12 months in readiness for next season when they hope to take part in the BOBI league – a pan-disability league that operates across Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

One player is 53-year-old Robin Gandy, who has suffered from depression for more than 40 years. He spoke to BBC Look East about what football meant to him for a news piece it made about CNWL’s link up with the MK Dons and mental health football.

Robin told the BBC: “Football

rocks. It’s a whole team sport and a whole team environment and it improves your health and it improves your wellbeing.”

Training has been led by coaches from the MK Dons with support from the Campbell Centre Fitness Team and the occasional visit from players for the MK Dons.

Amy added: “We are so grateful to the Dons in opening up their facilities to patients. Since being formed we have been invited to the MK Dons stadium as part of Mental Health Awareness Day in October, and have won awards for our Mental Health Team.

“MK Dons are now a great part of our discharge and community follow up and have even been involved in helping open our new gym at the Campbell Centre.”

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Feature

Tyrone Blackford-Swaries – Service Director for mental health services in Milton Keynes

Tyrone comes from South West London and St George’ Mental Health NHS Trust where he worked as the service director.

John Hughes – Borough Director for Westminster

John has worked in the NHS in mental health for 30 years. He is a registered social worker and specialised in complex cases. Previously, he worked at Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust as an operational service director; and recently as Programme Director for the Transformation Team.

Saying goodbyeAlison Devlin, Equalities and Diversity Manager has moved onto greener pastures after 12 years with the Trust. We wish her the very best. She is replaced by Alam Khan.

Janice Dickson, Service Manager/Lead Nurse in Jameson Division has retired after 35 years in the NHS.

Janice had a grand send-off that included lunch at Northwick Park, and a party at the social club. “She has been the backbone of acute services in Harrow for the last five years and will be very much missed,” said her team.

Appointments

Meet our apprentices at St Charles Hospital Our apprenticeship scheme is just one of the ways that we’re trying to recruit more staff. We have a new set of apprentices based at St Charles Hospital, working towards level 3 diplomas in Health and Social Care at Barnet and Southgate College. The 18-month programme covers all that a skilled support worker should know, and includes a fortnightly study day with work on site the rest of the time.

Maggie Orr, Healthcare Assistant Development Nurse/Preceptorship Facilitator, said in choosing the apprentices, their values and potential were considered ahead of previous experience.

“I visit the apprentices regularly at Barnet and Southgate College and always come away from these meetings feeling inspired by their enthusiasm for their role and the way they are coping with the challenges. If this group is typical of the talent which is out there I think young apprentices can make a really positive contribution to the workforce in CNWL,” she said.

Some of the apprentices applied to the scheme after learning about the Trust at college events. Any teams that would like to get involved at similar events should email maggieorr@nhs.net . Apprenticeship Week starts on 6 March. Visit the intranet to learn more.

Alison Devlin

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Trust-wide news

Body & Mind

Hannah O’Brien named Employee of the Year

ISSUE 11 / MARCH 2017

The CNWL magazine

CNWL GEMS CELEBRATED AT TRUST BAFTAS

Hillingdon Admin CMHT East and West Team of the Year

“Becoming a governor brought me back to life”