Depression to

World Champion:

Monique’s story

Mental HealthMatters www.wlmht.nhs.uk

June 2012

In the hot seat with the new Chief Executive

As from April, B-block at St Bernard’s has been under re-construction, getting ready for services to move in as part of the St Bernard’s redevelopment programme. The block is being completely gutted

and refurbished to meet modern standards. Service users’ bedrooms are being made larger and fitted with modern furniture, and all bathrooms are being redone. It will also include a child visiting suite and multi-faith room.

B-block will be the interim home for the adult wards in John Conolly Wing (JCW), the Crisis Resolution Home Treatment Team, Occupational Therapy, Art and Music Therapy, a Mind Advocate and carer workers. Other services in JCW such as older adults and the Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) will be moving to other locations.

Overall, the B-block refurbishment aims to create a modern, bright and airy space that will support service users in their recovery. Works are due to be finished in November this year.

Editorial team

Mental Health Matters2 Mental Health Matters 3

On the cover:Monique Newton, World Champion powerlifter and service user, shares her story.

Welcome to this summer edition of Mental Health Matters. And a special welcome to all of you who are reading it for the first time – particularly our members, who have been sent an e-magazine.

We want as many of you who are involved in our Trust’s important work to know what we’re doing, to feel part of it and to let us know your views. So please do get in touch.

I’m particularly delighted that you can read, on pages 8 and 9, about our new Chief Executive, Steve Shrubb, who’s joining us at the end of June. Steve’s been with the NHS Confederation, leading the Mental Health Network for the last five years, helping to shape national policy and practice. He has spent his entire career working

in mental health in the NHS and will be bringing a wealth of experience to the Trust.

And there’s the inspirational story of 19-year-old service user Monique Newton – a world champion powerlifter whose mental powers of recovery from severe mental illness have helped her journey to the top of her sport.

I have been Acting Chief Executive for five months and it’s been a privilege to see the Trust from a different perspective and meet so many dedicated staff, service users and carers who have been willing to get involved with our work.

I hope you enjoy this edition.

Barbara Byrne Acting Chief Executive chief-executive@wlmht.nhs.uk

Messagefrom Barbara Byrne…

Barbara Byrne, Acting Chief Executive B-block under re-construction

Paul Wastell, Candy Day (top) and Megan Singleton, from the Communications Team

Contents3. Trust news

6. BBC Radio live from Broadmoor Hospital

8. In the hot seat with Steve Shrubb

10. A member’s story

11. Olympic fever

12. World Champion! The power of recovery

14. Foundation Trust update

16. What is recovery?

17. Meet the chaplain

18. Research trial makes a difference

19. Q&A with Dr Michael Maier

20. Employee of the Month

21. Aurora ward embraces positive change

22. Fix-it Fund: improving our Trust

23. Every picture tells a story

Welcome to MHM! Over the last few months, we’ve been looking at the ways we communicate both inside and outside the Trust. We currently have two magazines – MHM for staff, service users and carers, and Open Minds for members. Because there is such a large crossover, we’ve decided to merge the two mags, and we’re proud to launch this issue of MHM as the new Trust-wide magazine.

Editors: Paul Wastell and Megan Singleton Editorial assistant: Candy Day Telephone: 020 8354 8737

Find us on facebook and twitter www.facebook.com/supportopenminds www.twitter.com/openminds1

This year’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) will take place on Wednesday 19 September, at Watermans, Brentford, promoting the theme ‘Making recovery a reality.’ Hosted by our Chairman, Nigel McCorkell, the event will include service user and carer recovery stories, presentations from the Executive Team and Q&A time for members and guests. More information will be providied closer to the date on our website www.wlmht.nhs.uk.

AGM

2012B-block undergoes

refurbishment

Tamil conference

Rabhika Krishahn Unni entertains through cultural dancing

In partnership with Central & North West London Mental Health Trust and the Tamil Community Centre, we welcomed over 100 guests to our ‘Promoting well-being in the Tamil Community’ conference.

There were a number of presentations throughout the day that helped community members understand the psychological effects of war trauma and encourage them to access the services available. Guests were also treated to a display of the vibrant dancing and music of the Tamil people, an important part of their creative culture.

Clinicians working closely with the Tamil people also

attended and took part in workshops designed to help them understand issues facing the community and how to overcome obstacles of communication.

Dr Angela Manning, one of our Consultant Psychologists, told us, “The event was a step towards helping clinicians and the Tamil community understand the effects of war trauma and reduce the stigma of mental ill health. We were pleased to have over 20 organisations join us at the event and were supported by Mind and the IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Therapies) service who offered advice to the community. It was a great collaboration.”

Trust News

We’ve launched a new 24/7 telephone support line for service users – offering around the clock telephone support accessible through a single telephone number via the Trust’s Contact Centre.

The number – 020 8354 8404 – is designed to replace all existing service user telephone support numbers.

It’s been developed with the help of the Contact Centre – it receives the initial call and redirects it to the service user’s local Home Treatment Team

or an A&E nurse. It means service users can talk on the phone to a trained Band 6 Mental Health Nurse at any time of the day or night, rather than having to speak to their GP, NHS Direct or attend A&E departments.

The new support line service launched on 2 April 2012. It follows work by a small steering group made up of representatives from across local services.

Mental Health Matters4 Mental Health Matters 5

Up to 70% of people who use services for the homeless in England have a mental health problem, according to a new report by the NHS Confederation’s Mental Health Network and the homeless charity, St Mungo’s.

“Mental Health and Homelessness”, highlights the difficulties homeless people face accessing mental health support and calls on the NHS to improve.

Homeless people are 40 times more likely not to be registered with a GP than

the general population, the report says, making referral to specialist mental health services more difficult.

At this Trust we’ve helped increase access for homeless people by having a single point of referral to our services, enabling them to seek help without a GP’s involvement. Our assessment teams also offer a walk-in service, so if someone’s in a crisis, they can get help immediately.

We know that mental health problems are both a cause and effect of homelessness and so we’re working closely with local government and other partners to make sure we provide the support and care that’s needed.

Mental health

and homelessness

Homeless people are 70% more likely to have mental health problems

Two services in the the John Conolly Wing have received “excellent” ratings from the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Centre for Quality Improvement. The Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) achieved an excellent accreditation rating following a rigorous period of self review and an external peer review visit by the Accreditation for Inpatient Mental Health Services (AIMS) in February. The Electro-convulsive Therapy (ECT) clinic was accredited with continuing excellence by the ECT Accreditation Service in April. Congratulations to them both.

Team success

New 24/7 telephone

support for service users

24-hour support: Contact Centre staff redirect calls to local Home Treatment Team Nurses

The “Excellent” PICU Team

Service users and carers told us that they wanted more information about mental health conditions and said films were a great way of sharing information. So we’ve developed six

films in conjunction with service users, carers and staff.

Three films focus on schizophrenia and three on bipolar. The films explain symptoms and treatments from the perspective of the service user, carer and medical professional. View the films on our website, www.wlmht.nhs.uk/understanding-mental-health/conditions.

‘Psychiatry Conference Companion’ is a free, educational website run by one of our staff, Dr Sam Nayrouz, Consultant Psychiatrist, and his colleagues, Dr Carten Grimm and Dr Dan Meron. The site provides an overview of the most clinically relevant data presented at the world’s leading psychiatry conferences. Visit www.psychiatry.conference-companion.com to find out more.

Throughout May, over 1,300 members of staff took part in the Trust’s pedometer challenge. During this time, competitors walked over 5,300 miles (that’s further than London to Beijing!) and burnt over 397,717 calories, the equivalent of 2,000 chocolate bars!

We met with Pam Scott from Trust Headquarters who took part in the challenge to improve her fitness. After committing herself to walk a minimum of 10,000 steps per day, Pam has clocked up over 253,500 steps.

Pam told us that simple changes to her daily routine, such as going for an hour’s walk every day after work, has not only helped increase her daily steps, but has also helped her to wind down after a busy day.

She said, “I was on holiday in Turkey for the first week of the challenge. I motivated myself to take a long walk every morning knowing I would reward myself by relaxing on the beach in the afternoon! I’m also a member of a Saturday morning walking club - we all pay £1 to ‘fast walk’ for an hour and give the money we collect to charity.”

“Being part of this challenge has been great. I get out every day, my energy levels have gone up and

I’ve been able to enjoy the summer evenings. I’m going to keep using my pedometer even though the challenge has come to an end.”

Congratulations to our winner, Kalwant Grewal, Financial Controller, who has walked 544,711 steps; our runner up, Jeanette Coogan, Accounts Payable Officer, who walked 525,496 steps, and to the Broadmoor Physical Health team who together have walked over 917 miles, averaging 152 miles each.

Watch the films on our website

Pam Scott, from Trust Headquarters, embraces the challenge

Keep up to date with psychiatry conferences from around the world

Schizophrenia and bipolar films

Staff step up to the pedometer challenge

International online psychiatry companion

Mental Health Matters6 Mental Health Matters 7

“It’s quiet here,” says BBC Berkshire presenter, Andrew Peach as Broadmoor Hospital goes live on air for the first time in its history.

Here’s how the three hour broadcast was put together on Tuesday 3 April…

BBC Berkshire Radio’s production team arrive at Broadmoor Hospital’s Learning and Development Centre (LDC) and begin setting up for the breakfast show, scheduled to start in an hour. They’re excited about today’s programme – the first ever live broadcast from the Hospital.

Hospital security staff, Paul Eastwell and Geno Mason, open the building, check all is working and no alarms are set off. Brenda Taylor, Catering Services Supervisor and Jill Stone, Front of House Coordinator, are already preparing bacon rolls and refreshments for the production team and 15 Hospital staff who will be interviewed during the show.

The first staff interviewees start to arrive. Andrew Peach, breakfast show presenter, chats with them and decides who will be first on air.

The BBC production team of two are checking the links to the studio in Caversham, near Reading, and carrying out sound checks on Andrew’s microphone. They’ve pre-recorded several interviews ahead of today’s show and they line these up ready to go.

One minute to go. The tension mounts as Andrew prepares to welcome listeners from across the county.

We’re on air. Suddenly it’s live from the Broadmoor Hospital Education Centre and Andrew’s talking, heard by an unseen audience of up to 30,000. He sets the scene: a hospital and its patients at the centre of much media attention and national interest and a story you don’t often hear. He welcomes his first guest – Vivienne Mowatt, Redevelopment Programme Manager.

It’s going swimmingly. Andrew’s calm interviewing settles the nerves. Vivienne speaks eloquently about the Hospital’s work and how staff care for patients. The myths are already starting to lift! One down, 14 to go…

Several interviews later, some of them pre-recorded a couple of days before, we’re still going strong. We hear from a patient’s mother who explains how her son’s illness has affected her and how much she’s appreciated the support and professionalism of Hospital staff.

A marathon three hours of broadcasting later. Our staff have done us proud. They’ve explained their work, demystified the place and explained how the planned redevelopment will help make the Hospital even better. It’s time to wrap up.

Andrew tells listeners of his overall impression of the Hospital’s dedicated staff and the tranquillity. “It’s calm here”, he says. “When you look out of the window, walk around the place, on the wards, the grounds, wherever you go there’s a sense of quiet and security.”

We’re off air.

Vivienne Mowatt, Redevelopment Programme Manager says, “I’m delighted with the way the programme highlighted the difficulties and challenges staff face daily as a result of the Hospital’s current infrastructure. With the Department of Health’s decision on our Outline Business Case imminent, we need to do everything we can to help people understand the differences and huge improvements this project is going to make.” Leeanne McGee, Executive Director of High Secure Services, has also taken part and is pleased how it went. “Such a radio programme is unprecedented. It’s been a fantastic opportunity to dispel myths about our Hospital, explain the rationale behind the redevelopment project and challenge preconceptions about our patients. It’s a different way of communicating with the public and working with the media to our advantage.”

Mental Health Matters 7 Mental Health Matters6

Alan Cohen, Broadmoor Hospital GP with Andrew Peach Ken Wakatama, Clinical Nurse Manager & Andrew Peach Fin Larkin, Consultant Psychiatrist & Andrew Peach

Gareth Kelly, Social Worker (left) and Paul Cruickshank-Inns, Technical Instructor

Kevin Murray, Clinical Director & Andrew Peach

Leeanne McGee, Executive Director of High Secure Services

Estelle Moore, Lead Psychologist

Vivienne Mowatt, Redevelopment Manager & Andrew Peach

BBC Radio live from

Broadmoor Hospital

6am6.59am

6.30am

7am

7.07am

10am

9.59am

8.30am

Mental Health Matters8 Mental Health Matters 9

I began working for the NHS 35 years ago as a domestic/nursing assistant. I became a nurse and then a cognitive therapist before going into management. I became chief executive for two mental health trusts in the North East of England. Since 2007 I’ve been Director of the Mental Health Network at the NHS Confederation, helping to raise the profile of mental health and to influence and shape national policy.

When I became a nursing assistant I worked with an amazing charge nurse, John Railton, who showed me that the elderly men we were caring for weren’t just patients but fathers, sons, brothers, husbands and friends. John showed me that dignity was at the centre of all the best care.

There are five key values:

• Staffinvolvement–it’sattheheartof everything we do.

• Recovery–treatingthewholepersonand building on their strengths.

• Listening–toserviceusers,carersandstaff.

• Involvement–ofusersandcarersinservice design and delivery.

• Dignity–inhowwetreatallourservice users.

To get staff to play a bigger role in building the quality of our service – they’re our greatest asset and we need to make full use of their knowledge, dedication and commitment.

Well on the way to becoming one of the leading mental health service providers in the country.

By walking my dog, listening to music and spending time with my family.

Fish and chips.

Bamburgh in Northumberland – the golden sands and a great castle.

Sir Steve Redgrave – former British rower and five times Olympic gold medallist – a straightforward guy with the will to win and win again.

Steve Shrubb, the Trust’s new Chief Executive, starts work at the end of June.

He’s already well known to many of us through his work as Director of the NHS Confederation’s Mental Health Network where he’s helped raise the profile of mental health, shaped national policy and services and campaigned in the media for greater awareness of the impact of homelessness.

So what’s his background and what makes him tick? We asked Steve to give us the low down on the man behind the headlines…

I’m 55 in October. I’m married to Christine who’s chief executive of a charity which provides support to people with learning difficulties.

I have four teenage children – two from my first marriage and two stepchildren – Nathan, Kathryn, Jessica and Caitlin and a beagle dog called Bonnie.

Our family home is in Northumberland just outside Newcastle. I’ve just rented a flat in Ealing, ready for my new role at the Trust.

I was born in Croydon and grew up in the East End of London.

Getting my first bike at Christmas. It was bright red and I loved that bike.

I was apparently fairly bright but never really put in the effort.

Well, if you don’t include my two paper rounds, it was as an apprentice electrician – there are still buildings in London where the lights don’t work!

In the hot seatSteve Shrubb – our

new Chief Executive

Tell us about your home and family

Where did you grow up?

What’s the biggest challenge

for our Trust?

Where do you want the Trust

to be in a year’s time?

How do you relax in your spare time?

What’s your favourite food?

What’s your favourite place?

What well known person

do you admire most?

How did you get interested

in mental health?

What was your first paid job?

What’s your most important

childhood memory?

Did you do well at school?

Steve in the media

Mental Health Matters8 Mental Health Matters 9

What values underlie good

mental health services?

What NHS roles

have you had?

Mali Arena, a member of our Trust, has turned her negative experience of being signed off work with a mental health issue into a positive one by writing a book to help others in her situation. Mali tells her story…

I am someone who suffered with a mental health issue and was signed off work for several months. This was more than a couple of years ago and it affected my entire life at the time, and still continues to affect what I do. I thoroughly struggled during that time and often found it difficult to find suitable coping strategies to help me deal with my time off effectively.

When I did reach a sense of ‘better days’, I desperately wanted do something to help others in a similar boat, so I wrote a guide book (easily the most difficult thing I’ve worked on in my life) to provide inspiration, support and direction for people who have primarily been signed off work

(but also for anyone experiencing time away from what they would normally be doing). It’s called Time Away from the Norm.

The guide exists on the absolute sole basis that I believe this is something that would have genuinely helped and been useful to me whilst I was signed off work; a resource that wasn’t there for me. My ultimate objective is for this guide to help as many people as possible to use their time away from the norm in a positive and fulfilling way.

- Mali Arena, member of West London Mental Health Trust

Mali’s book, Time Away from the Norm, was published in 2011, and can be purchased at www.amazon.co.uk.

Mental Health Matters10 Mental Health Matters 11

The countdown is on to the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and we’re hearing great stories about how our Trust staff and service users are getting involved. We met with Anna Smith, Physical Activity Coordinator at St Bernard’s, who, after being nominated by her father, has been chosen to carry the Olympic Torch.

Anna was nominated for this prestigious role after stepping in to help a neighbour who was being attacked. Anna was able to help her neighbour but sustained major injuries to her head and face and remained in intensive care for a week.

Her journey begins at 8.45am on 24 July, where she will run her 300 metre section of the relay. On hearing she had been selected to carry the Torch out of thousands of applicants, Anna said, “I’m absolutely delighted! It’s such an amazing opportunity and an honour to be involved in the world’s greatest sporting event.

“The fabulous part of the Torch Relay is that it involves every age and nationality. The Olympics will provide a legacy for sport and exercise for the nation and increase awareness of the benefits of physical activity, not just for elite athletes but for everyone. I might also add that our Trust does a fantastic job in promoting physical activity and we are holding a number of events in the run up to the Olympics for both service users and staff.”

London will be hosting the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games from the 27 July - 12 August and the 29 August - 9 September respectively. During this time, London’s population is expected to increase by 5%, creating a significant impact on travel services across the city.

It’s likely that these disruptions will begin to affect your travel on 24 July when the Olympic Torch visits Richmond, Hounslow and Ealing and again on Thursday 26 July when it passes through Hammersmith and Fulham.

Transport for London (TfL) has created a website called “Get ahead of the Games” to help you plan your journey during the Games. The site will provide up-to-date information on:

• Road& station closures• Extendedrail&undergroundservices• Travelhotspots• Busservices• Diversions• Parking suspensions

There’s also a section offering advice on alternative transport in London to make your journey easier.

Make sure you can get to your appointments, travel to work and visit our sites with minimal disruption during the Games – check out www.getaheadofthegames.com.

Local hero, Anna Smith, Physical Activity Coordinator

Are you ready for the Games?

Time Away from the Norm, by Mali Arena

A member’s story… Local hero to carry the Olympic flame

Travel advice during

the Olympics

Nine Broadmoor staff are cycling 55 miles in support of our membership and anti-stigma campaign, Open Minds. The riders, Andrew Fuller, Rod Ramsey, Dave Rogers, Michael Plumridge (aka Wolfie), Paul Cruickshank-Inns, Matthew Wilding, Brian Thomas, Gerry Pitman and Tracy Duke are participating in the London to Brighton bike ride on 16 September, raising awareness of mental health stigma. Our Open Minds campaign kindly donated their shirts and we say thank you and good luck!

Cycling for stigma

Cycling for stigma: (from left) Technical Instructors Rod Ramsey, Dave Rogers, Paul Cruickshank-Inns and Andrew Fuller, and (front) Tracy Duke, Administration Manager

Monique Newton’s story of recovery from mental illness is truly remarkable. Mental Health Matters went to meet her.

At 5’4” tall and weighing just 7½ stone (48kg), Monique Newton isn’t the kind of girl you’d expect to be a world champion powerlifter.

But, aged 19 – she turns 20 this month – Monique has taken the world of powerlifting by storm, winning 18 out of 19 of the national and international tournaments she’s competed in, including a second world championship last year in Latvia. She is the teenage and adult women’s world champion twice over.

Her improbable achievement is to be able to deadlift from the floor to waist height, a weighted metal bar equivalent to three times her body weight – 145kg to be precise – and to hold it there for a staggering, muscle trembling, five seconds before returning it, without dropping it, to rest – equivalent to lifting a baby elephant off the ground.

It’s a skill which requires iron muscles and supreme control and one that Monique, from Fulham, stumbled upon almost by chance after trying it out at a gym for the first time two years ago.

“I’ve always seen myself as a strong person mentally as well as physically,” explains Monique. “I just wanted to do something different and challenge myself. I walked into the gym and told the instructor that I wanted to do powerlifting properly and I wanted to compete. He gave me a go and after an hour he said ‘you’re quite strong – you can take part in a competition in a couple of months, if you want.’ And it went from there.”

She’s midway through her lunch break at the engineering firm in Hammersmith where she’s an administrator and AutoCad technician studying for a City and Guilds qualification in computer-aided design.

“It’s about willpower more than strength,“ she says simply. “Seventy percent mental strength, 30% physical strength.”

She trains four times a week, building the balance, muscle power and stamina she needs to be a world-class athlete.

She seems grounded and modest. Even some of her closest friends didn’t know until recently that she was a world champion. But in April this year her face appeared on billboards and bus stops across London as part of Adidas’ 2012 Olympic promotion. “My friends said ‘wow is that really you?’ It made me smile.”

World Champion!

The power of recovery

Monique’s story is all the more remarkable because only four years ago, at the age of 15, she’d left home and became severely depressed. She took an overdose of paracetamol and, after being rushed to hospital, had her stomach pumped to save her life.

It was the start of seven months of involuntary admission as an inpatient at The Priory in Roehampton. She was diagnosed as suffering from severe depression with episodes of psychosis.

Gradually, step by step, she battled her way back to health and life in the community – first at a hostel and then at a council flat in Fulham, supported by FIRST, our Community Mental Health Team which specialises in the care of younger service users who’ve experienced psychosis for the first time.

She learned coping strategies for managing her symptoms, set goals, identified her strengths and gradually built on them.

Social Worker Rachel Isidore, based at the Claybrook Centre, has worked with her for two years.

“She’s a remarkable person,” she said.“She’s really not an ordinary girl at all. But then none of our clients are. She has goals and has a life outside of being a psychiatric patient. She’s doing so well.”

In particular, Monique developed a technique known as mindfulness to help her focus on her more negative thoughts as if she was an observer.

Rather than being drawn into the feelings and compelled to act, she learned to stand back from them and to accept them as no more than an idea in her head.

It was a vital change that’s helped give her the winning composure she needs.

“I’m really proud of her,” said Rachel. “Her story is so inspiring to others. She has goals and she has her feet on the ground too. She builds on her strengths, has realistic aspirations, trains hard and she sticks at it.”

Monique agrees. “What I learned from Rachel and the team gave me a sense of calm and control,” she said. “I can stand back and look at my feelings and thoughts and say to myself ‘don’t worry about that one – just concentrate on something positive.’

“When it comes to powerlifting I do the same during a big lift. I clear my head and if there’s a negative thought that’s in the way telling me I can’t, I just brush it aside and tell myself ‘yes, I can do it’ and then I do. I start lifting and I carry on without a doubt that I will do my best. And if I do that I can win because I believe in myself – I know that it’s always mind over matter that really counts.”

Monique Newton, World Champion

The face of Adidas’ marketing campaign

“ It’s about willpower more than strength... Seventy percent mental strength, 30% physical strength.

“Mental Health Matters12 Mental Health Matters 13

We concluded our public consultation on becoming an FT at the end of last year. We were very pleased to receive overwhelmingly positive support for our future vision and our plans for setting up a Council of Governors, and are grateful to everyone who took the time to give us their views. Based on the feedback, we have made a few changes to our proposals, and will be consulting on these from 18 June.

You can read the summary of feedback and the new proposals, and provide us with any further comments on the Foundation Trust page of our website, www.wlmht.nhs.uk/ft.

Our application for FT status is progressing well. We’re currently preparing for the next stage of the process, a series of independent assessments of our ability to operate as an FT, which will happen this summer and early autumn.

At the beginning of next year, we’ll be looking to put in place a Shadow Council of Governors, with member representatives from our public, staff and partner-appointed constituencies. This Shadow Council will run like a Council of Governors, providing advice and assistance to the Trust Board, however it won’t have the associated rights and powers of elected Councils. In adopting a Shadow Council we hope to give members an opportunity to influence the final structure of the Council and

the way in which it interacts with the Trust and the public. The Council will remain in shadow form until we are authorised as an FT, and elections are held in late 2013.

We’ll be running Governor information sessions over the course of this year to provide information and support to members who are thinking about becoming a Governor. We’ll keep you updated about when these sessions will be happening.

Mental Health Matters 15 14

Our schools membership recruitment campaign has been included as a case study in the new Foundation Trust Network national publication as a positive example in how to engage youth. The campaign involved partnering with indie rockers, Storey, who wrote a song about mental health recovery called Wander Free. School students in our boroughs entered a competition to design the front cover for the single, and together with the band, we produced a music video.

Megan Singleton, Membership and Engagement Manager, spoke at two national conferences about the success of the campaign, and is quoted in the case study. She said, “The campaign has been a huge success. Not only did we recruit over 700 new members, we have a lasting legacy that promotes mental wellbeing, and helps reduce the stigma associated with mental illness.” The campaign was part of our wider membership and anti-stigma campaign, Open Minds. The song is available to download on iTunes, and you can check out the music video at www.youtube.com/storeymusic.

Earlier this year we joined up with a campaign company to deliver road shows, reaching out to the community and recruiting members to our Open Minds membership and anti-stigma campaign. We started in Hounslow and Hammersmith & Fulham, ending with Ealing in May. Achieving over 400 members, we’ll be working with the company again over the coming months to reach our 1250 member target.

We’re heading to the London Mela in August this year and need your help! We’ll be chatting to people about mental health, signing people up to our Open Minds membership and anti-stigma campaign and giving away goodie bags to all new members.

We’re looking for service users, carers, members and staff who are happy

to volunteer for three hours on Sunday 19 August. Shift times are 1-4pm, 3.30-6.30pm and 6-9pm. If you’re interested in helping out, please contact us on member@wlmht.nhs.uk or 020 8354 8325. All volunteers will receive free entry, and £5 for expenses.

Megan Singleton, Membership and Engagement Manager

Steve Trenchard, Director of Nursing and Patient Experience, volunteers at last year’s Mela

Youth member campaign

leads the way

Volunteers needed

for the London Mela

Foundation Trust (FT) update

Community roadshow

The Shadow Council

Mental Health Matters

We’ll be looking at putting the Shadow Council in place next year

Zahid Bhatti, one of five chaplains at St Bernard’s, provides support to service users, carers and staff of all religions as well as to those who have no faith but would still like to talk.

He’s also an Imam – an Islamic scholar and spiritual leader – one of the youngest in the country, aged just 32. We spoke to him about his work...

To meet Zahid Bhatti is to encounter a familiar friend – someone who seems to know you and who puts you instantly at ease.

“Are you alright?” he says in his chirpy, North London accent. He seems genuinely pleased to see me and we quickly slip into easy conversation.

One day a week Zahid’s at St Bernard’s, talking to, praying with, advising and counselling service users. The most common requests he gets are practical – a patient needs a copy of the Quran, a prayer mat, prayer hat or headscarf. He’s happy to oblige.

There’s plenty of reassurance too. Muslims ideally pray five times a day but if someone is unwell and misses prayer, Zahid reassures them, “God will forgive you and you’re excused from doing prayers.”

And then there are the questions. Some are relatively simple to answer, like a translation for a Quranic text. Zahid reads and speaks Arabic, as well as Urdu and Punjabi and he understands Bengali and Gujerati as well – his gift for languages is part of his family’s heritage.

Inevitably, many other questions like “Why am I ill?” have no simple answers – the Trust’s chaplains are clear that their role is not to seek converts to their faith, but to provide spiritual support that will help service users in their recovery.

One of Zahid’s most important roles is to help staff work with service users whose behaviour is sometimes challenging. A conversation with Zahid can often change things for the better.

“One service user had injured a member of staff and wouldn’t talk about it. It was hard for everyone to move on. But I was able to have a chat with her. I found out she was a Muslim and wanted to pray and needed a prayer mat.

“So I said ‘I’ll get you one, if you do something for me’. And she agreed she’d make an apology to the member of staff. She got her prayer mat and she’s talking to staff again. That’s how it should be,” he smiles.

For more information about the team contact The Revd Guy Harrison, Head of Spiritual and Pastoral Care on 020 8483 8864.

My

working

life

Mental Health Matters 17 Mental Health Matters16

Zahid Bhatti, part-time Muslim Chaplain

We’re implementing the recovery approach throughout the Trust, changing the way staff, patients and carers interact. It’s a positive culture change in our organisation and one that has been warmly welcomed.

So, what is recovery, and what does it mean for you?

Recovery is about a person’s right to build a meaningful and satisfying life, with or without their mental health symptoms, as defined by them. One service user described it as, “Recovery is building a life worth living.”

Recovery is not about what causes, or how to stop, a mental health problem, or about an absence of symptoms. It is a personal journey that the service user is responsible for and with support and coaching from staff, they can have hope, pursue opportunities and gain more control over their life, irrespective of their illness.

Steve Trenchard, Executive Director of Nursing and Patient Experience said, “For staff, it’s a movement away from an expert/patient role, into a coaching or partnering role where service users are

encouraged to self-manage and the focus of their recovery is based on health, strengths and wellness, rather than pathology, illness and symptoms.

“We’ll be sending recovery brochures out to all services soon, and we encourage service users and carers to speak to their care coordinator about recovery. We’ll also keep service users, carers and staff updated about recovery developments and future plans.”

For more information about the recovery approach visit www.wlmht.nhs.uk/recovery.

What is recovery?

The Recovery Hub

Service User, Marya Hamer receiving her

Peer Support Training certificate from Steve

Trenchard, Director of Nursing & Patient

Experience

As part of our commitment to recovery, we are in the process of developing a Recovery Hub. The Hub will be a centrally located service that will offer a range of programmes aimed at supporting service users, staff and carers. Some of the services that we hope to offer include a library, peer support workers with lived experience and a recovery education programme which will deliver a range of courses both within the centre and in venues across our boroughs.

The peer support and education programmes have already begun. Courses currently offered include:

• Introductiontorecovery

• Planningyourrecovery

• Implementingyourrecovery

• Youtheexpert

• Trainthetrainer

• Journaling&recovery

• Myths&realitiesofmentalhealth

• Makingacomplaint

• Buildinglifestories

• Livingwithanxiety

• GettingthebestoutofyourCPA

• Managingatenancy

New courses are always being developed and we look forward to seeing the Hub grow and expand over time. If you want to receive Hub updates and news, join up to their website at www.therecoveryhub.shutterfly.com or email margaret.smith@wlmht.nhs.uk or martin.morgan@wlmht.nhs.uk.

Thirty-one-year-old Peter Mark is growing peas again in his garden, thanks to a research project that’s underway at Brentford Lodge, the Trust’s clinical trials facility.

Peter, from Ealing, is among five triallists who are taking part in research into the effects of using monthly injections of a drug commonly used to treat schizophrenia.

It’s had a marked impact on his symptoms so far – enabling him to feel well enough to pursue his gardening hobby for the first time in over two years.

The research is part of a worldwide study comparing injections with the drug, paliperidone palmitate, which allows slow release into the body, rather than daily doses of other anti-psychotic drugs in tablet form.

Peter joined the six month, open label study in January following his admission last summer to the John Conolly Wing where he stayed for five months.

Following his discharge, he found it hard to remember to take the drugs he’d been prescribed in

tablet form every day. He became lethargic and found it hard to concentrate.

Since the monthly injections – carried out by nurses at Brentford Lodge – his symptoms have improved markedly.

He said,“The problem was that I kept forgetting to take the tablets. When I missed a tablet I felt really helpless and I had no energy. Now those feelings have gone away.

I am growing my peas and onions and it’s a good feeling.”

Peter’s Mum, Marilyn, agrees. “He used to forget everything all the time, now he’s much better and he can concentrate more on what you say and be more independent. It’s helping him and I hope it will help others too.”

Before patients join any trial study, the Brentford Lodge team of doctors and nurses explain how it works, what they will test and any possible side-effects.

“They explained everything,” said Marilyn.“There was no pressure to take part but I’m really pleased that he has because they think it will help him and so do I.“

Nurse Patricia Ndhlovu, Senior Clinical Trial Coordinator said, “We felt Peter was suitable for the trial. He’s visiting us every month and we’re assessing his overall mental health by asking him and his mother about it and getting our doctor to independently assess him.

“We’re really pleased with his progress. He’s sleeping better, his symptoms of schizophrenia have reduced and he seems to be enjoying life more again. It’s great to see that.”

To find out more about other studies open to patients, please contact the R&D CRaFT team on 020 8483 1833 or Lauren Pae at lauren.pae@wlmht.nhs.uk.

The Trust’s Director of Medical Education, Dr Michael Maier, a consultant psychiatrist at Mott House, is responsible for the quality of training and education of all training grade doctors who work for the Trust. He is also responsible for the delivery of Continued Professional Development for consultants and our doctors. MHM asked him about his work…

I am accountable to the Medical Director to provide high quality medical education, training and support to all doctors who work for the Trust, to standards set by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the London Deanery (the academic organisation which oversees doctors’ training in London) and other statutory bodies.

Any of the 300 trainees and specialists who work for the Trust – from a medical student on attachment, to a consultant psychiatrist.

In particular, we have about 120 trainee doctors who are qualified and who have chosen to specialise in psychiatry. It takes them six years of speciality training before they can become a consultant. While they are training with us, these trainee specialists provide most of the front-line medical care to patients, together with nurses. They specialise in one of six areas: general adult psychiatry, old age, child and adolescent, forensic, psychotherapy and learning disability.

Our consultants supervise and monitor the progress of trainee doctors and we ensure the consultants receive the training they need for this challenging role.

The system is designed to create the next generation of consultants and leaders in the NHS, so it’s incredibly important.

Consultants and non-training grade doctors all have Personal Development Plans and need to be involved in Continued Professional Development, in order to stay up to date. Ensuring this is in place is part of my role.

My team includes Annette Buckley (Psychiatry Training Scheme Manager), Rosita Wakelin (Medical Education Manager) and Dr Daniel Andrews (Deputy Director of Medical Education).

I’ve been the Head of the London Speciality School of Psychiatry since 2007 and in this role, for NHS London, I commission training from the 10 mental health trusts in London for about 1,000 trainee psychiatrists.

Services are moving to a more integrated model and there will be more community-based services and a stronger link with primary care.

We also need to address the challenges which continue to affect recruitment into the specialty because of the stigma mental ill health faces in society.

Dr Michael Maier, Director of Medical Education

Mental Health Matters18 Mental Health Matters 19

Research trial makes a difference

Patricia Ndhlovu, Senior Clinical Trial Coordinator

Service user Peter Mark and his mum, Marilyn

What does your role entail? How do we develop other medical staff?

Who else works with you?

What changes do you foresee

in the future?

What else do you do?

Who do we provide education

and training for?

Q&A with

Dr Michael Maier

Mental Health Matters 21 Mental Health Matters20

Across the Trust our dedicated staff are going the extra mile to do their best for service users, carers and colleagues, and each month we recognise their efforts in our Employee of the Month (EoM) awards.

Below, we talk to March and May’s winners, Dr Hanumantha Kichidi, Locum Consultant and Ginny Birrell, Performance Improvement Assistant to find out a little more about what they get up to at the Trust.

Tell me about your role?HK: I am a doctor currently working as a consultant forensic psychiatrist. GB: My role is a varied position and is often very busy! It involves providing and analysing performance data for High Secure Services.

What do you like most about your job? HK: I like the flexibility and challenges of the job.GB: It’s great seeing the changes we’ve implemented making a real difference to patient care and staff involvement.

What are the challenges? HK: Maintaining and providing an excellent standard of care to the patients in an ever changing organisation like ours. GB: Meeting the many and varied deadlines!

What are your best memories from your time in this job? HK: Being able to integrate patients back into their families. It is rewarding when you are able to make positive changes to people’s quality of life. GB: Working with a proactive team where innovation is encouraged.

What do you like doing when you aren’t at work?HK: I like to socialise and really enjoy gardening and travelling. Spending quality time with my family is also very important to me. GB: I love spending time with my family and friends.

What did you want to be when you were at school?HK: I wanted to be good at whatever I did. I just worked sincerely and I worked hard.GB: A police woman.

What would you do if you won the lottery? HK: Well that depends on how much I won! I’d include as many as possible in the celebration. GB: Spend it! A nice holiday would definitely be in order and a bigger house for our expanding family!

Tell us an interesting fact about you? HK: I like humour and my children think I make a living by telling people jokes (which really annoys my wife… I mean my jokes!). GB: I’m soon to become a mother of four – which in itself will be challenging.

The team on Aurora ward in the Orchard – our women’s medium secure unit – are committed to improving multi disciplinary working in order to best support service users’ recovery.

The team felt they could do more to support recovery. So, not afraid to confront difficult issues, they looked at how the team worked to find ways to improve. The team seized an opportunity and was successful in its application to become one of six teams within the Trust to be involved in the START project. START is part of our recovery strategy and offers six clinical teams extra resources and support to help staff work in a more recovery focused way.

The team had a very effective away day, facilitated by Dr Rachel Perkins, a Recovery Consultant. The away day involved a team building session and a session which focused on implementing recovery on the ward. The whole team signed up to a Team Recovery Implementation Plan and since the away day, recovery training has been delivered on the ward by experts by experience from Rethink, a service user led organisation.

In order to make sure multi disciplinary working remains at the heart of clinical practice on Aurora, a number of forums take place within the week.

These include Clinical Team Meetings, reflective practice and community meetings. In the community meetings, all members of the Multi Disciplinary Team (MDT) and service users are actively involved in discussions about issues on the ward such as activities, therapeutic groups and changes within the women’s directorate. All staff and service users are encouraged to contribute their views and opinions about the therapeutic environment. Differences of opinion are welcomed positively and everyone has a chance to be heard.

The MDT weekly ‘reflective practice’ meeting enhances relational security through a deeper understanding of staff and service user dynamics. The weekly Clinical Team Meetings are held with the service user present throughout, with members of the MDT directly engaging the service user about their progress and treatment.

The team now feels coherent, consistent and members are working well together, and the patients are reaping the benefits in terms of recovery. The work is being led by Ward Manager, Lilian Hove; Clinical Lead, Dr. Hayley Dare and Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist, Dr Carlo Longhitano. Health Care Assistant, Hardik Talati said, “It’s really changed the way we work since we’ve introduced true MDT working.”

Celebrating

our staff

May winner, Ginny Birrell, Performance Improvement Assistant

The Aurora ward Team working towards recovery. Front row from left: Nicole Brooke, Occupational

Therapist; Lilian Hove, Ward Manager; Nokupiwa Mabuse,

Staff Nurse; Hardick Talati, Health Care Assistant; Kim Amday,

Health Care Assistant. Standing from left: Hayley Dare, Clinical Lead Ward Psychologist; David Robert Phillips, Social Worker; Anne Kagumane, Health Care

Assistant; Dr Ahmed, Ward Doctor; Mopelola Adeife, Staff

Nurse; Wendy Mhandu, Staff Nurse and Barbara Otim,

Activity Coordinator.

March winner, Dr Hanumantha Kichidi, Locum Consultant with Barbara Byrne, Acting Chief Executive

Aurora ward A positive change

towards recovery

Every picture

tells a storyDJ turntables and

equipment

Gym equipment and new

kit for the football team

Nursing conference

at Broadmoor

Industrial juice and

blending machines

Triangle of Care

International

Nursing

Conference

A child friendly

visiting roomPatients in the John Conolly Wing have been laying down beats after Sandra Bailey, Senior Nurse Manager, successfully applied for a new sound system and iDJ turntable for the unit. Sandra told us, “Service users have become our in-house DJs and learnt how to create music they love. We now run regular music events at the unit, it’s made a real difference in their recovery.”

Walls across our specialist and forensic units have been covered in colourful and vibrant posters, created by service users for our Trust’s Recovery Poster Competition.

Service users were asked to create posters based on their definition of recovery and what it means to them, using the key recovery themes of hope, opportunity and control.

The competition ended in May with an exhibition at Tony Hillis Wing, St Bernard’s, where Rudy Perkins, guest speaker and judge, gave a speech about recovery from a historical perspective. All entries were displayed for staff and service users to see, and everyone enjoyed the evening event.

The winner of the competition was from Glyn ward. Garnet ward service users’ achieved second and fourth place and a service user from Russett ward came third. Congratulations to all involved!

From turntables to juicers, service users, staff and carers across the Trust are seeing the benefits of our Fix-it Fund, a pot of money that turns good ideas into action. MHM visited four services that were successful in their bids to find out what a difference the funding has made to them.

The gym equipment at H&F Mental Health Unit was basic until Jude Moore, Occupational Therapist, successfully applied for funding for new gym and health monitoring equipment and a match kit for the West London Football Team. She said, “We wanted to drive physical health care in the unit and monitor the success of our service users. Our gym users are becoming more active and the football team look fab in their new kit!”

Broadmoor Hospital successfully hosted our fifth annual nursing conference on 25 May 2012.

The conference focused on modernising nursing through career opportunities and explored how we can develop a skilled workforce within the context of the recovery approach.

Workshops ran throughout the day and attendees enjoyed sessions from Professor Trish Morris Thompson, Chief Nurse at NHS London and Dr Alison Barbban, Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) National Advisor and Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology at Durham University.

International nurses from across our Trust met in May to celebrate the richness and diversity of our workforce. Staff spoke about their experiences at the Trust and enjoyed a spread of food from around the world.

Fresh fruit and vegetables have a well known list of health benefits and Alison Sullivan, Chief Dietician, was on a mission to find new ways to increase our patients’ intake of healthy and nutritious food. She told us, “We’ve had a fantastic response to the new juicers which are also used in top restaurants and gyms. Staff are being trained on the new equipment and service users are enjoying our fruit and vegetable juices.”

A Triangle of Care launch event was held for our staff, service users and carers at St Andrew’s Church, Ealing in May.

Steve Shrubb, Director of NHS Confederation’s Mental Health Network, who becomes our Chief Executive on 25 June, was the guest speaker.

Over 111 people attended the event, organised by the Trust, including psychiatrists and nurses, carers and carers’ organisations, commissioners, voluntary sector organisations, a representative from the Princess Royal Trust for Carers and councils.

Steve explained that ‘triangle of care’ meant carers and families were better involved in the planning, treatment and care of people with mental health concerns in acute inpatient and home treatment services.

The Claybrook Centre in Hammersmith & Fulham has opened its doors to a child friendly visitor’s room thanks to Navin Rangolam, Service Manager, who applied to the fund. He told us, “We’ve recently increased our services however our waiting area remained the same. We turned an old stationery cupboard into a space where visitors and their children can feel safe and relaxed during their time here.”

If you’ve been inspired by our Fix-it Fund successes and have an idea that you think would improve our quality of care, we want to hear about it.

Youcanfindtheapplication form on the Exchange homepage under Trustwide Information.

Applications will be considered at a weekly executive meeting and you could get the go-ahead within a week!

Sandra Bailey, Senior Nurse Manager and Service User, Duane Balliston spin

the decks in the John Conolly Wing

What does recovery mean to you?

Alison Sullivan, Chief Dietician and Michael Ochana, Activities Coordinator enjoy a fresh

juice in the Regional Secure Unit

The new kit: Jude Moore, Occupational Therapist; Daniel Moriba, Activities

Coordinator; Service Users Youness Baalal and Locksley Rodney, and Jimmy Hicks,

Activities Coordinator

A successful event (from left): Ruth Hannan, Policy & Development Manager at The Princess Royal Trust for Carers; Mahbub Khan, Carers Lead; Steve Shrubb, our new Chief Executive and Barbara Byrne, Acting Chief Executive

Staff celebrate our diversity

Co-chair of the event and Service User, Jane

McGrath with Professor Trish Morris Thompson,

key speaker; Steve Trenchard, Director of

Nursing & Patient Experience and Dr

Alison Brabban, key speaker at the event

Service Manager, Navin Rangolam in the new visitor room

Fix-it Fund success!

Recovery Poster Competition

Mental Health Matters 23 Mental Health Matters22

The new kit: Jude Moore, OccupationalTherapist; Daniel Moriba, Activities Coordinator; Locksley Rodney; and Jimmy Hicks, Activities Coordinator

Mental Health Matters24MHM is produced by the Trust’s Communications Team. Call us on 020 8354 8737.

Mental Health Matters is printed on recycled paper

CAMHS visit

to the V&A

Service users and staff from the Hammersmith & Fulham Child and Adolescent Mental Health Unit (CAMHS) visited the Victoria & Albert museum earlier this year. The group were shown around by a curator and participated in a hat-making activity, inspired by some of the flamboyant costumes they’d seen. Suky Macpherson, Counselling Psychologist for Adolescents said, “It was such an enjoyable outing. The young people were so positive about what they had seen and made.”

Flowers are blooming in Glyn ward after their new courtyard redesign. Once over-grown and full of weeds, the garden is now colourful, overflowing with herbaceous plants, spring bulbs and even a veggie and herb patch. Service users and staff helped the Horticulture team make the space into a place of beauty and tranquillity.

Glyn Ward redesign

Send us your newsWe’re looking for news from service users, carers, members and staff, so if you have something to share, send it to communications@wlmht.nhs.uk or call 020 8354 8737.

Every picture

tells a story

In May, John Conolly Wing patients and staff enjoyed the sounds of Basel Zayed, a Palestinian musician. Currently training in England as a music therapist, Basel plays the Oud – the Arabic version of the guitar – and sings in Arabic. Staff were struck by the connection he made with patients who even asked for an encore. One patient said, “I felt very touched by that music. It reminded me of my happy times and good memories, listening to music and dancing.”

Basel Zayed

musician visits JCW

Basel Zayed connects with service users through his music

From weeds to seeds, Glyn ward staff admire their new garden: (from left) David Kadzutu, Nehal Parmar, Steph Moran, and Edward Keeya

Nice hat! Siobhan Bryant, Adolescent Outreach Nurse, Hammersmith & Fulham CAMHS