Getting Used to the New Normal

by Monica Lee Comment Closed
This piece was written by Nik Harwood, Chief Executive, Young Somerset. “Never waste a good crisis” That’s an advice I learnt a long time ago from a very wise colleague who supported me in my development as a leader. When Covid-19 led us to lockdown, it quickly became apparent that at Young Somerset we had both a crisis, and an opportunity, on our hands – and that we needed to deal with both. We quickly established baseline methodologies for internal and external communications, mobilised staff resource and capacity to move our organisational and business infrastructure entirely into the digital realm and began discussions with senior staff about operational delivery capability and capacity. How were we going to continue to provide support to Somerset’s young people across all our work (open access youth work, skills development & enterprise, music, and mental health and wellbeing) – at a time when restrictions meant that any semblance of normality for them had disappeared. Young people were experiencing...
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Participation Matters – An Interview with Wellspring

by Monica Lee Comment Closed
This month we are thinking about the CYP IAPT principle of participation, and how important it is to get young people and families involved in local mental health services. Krissie Ivanova is a Children's Wellbeing Practitioner (CWP) who works for our partner Wellspring Counselling, one of the newest members of the collaborative. Krissie has recently taken on the role of Participation Officer so we caught up with her to chat about her experience so far... First of all, congratulations on your new role! What has been your experience of participation in your service so far? Thank you! Wellspring is one of the most recent services to join the Community of Practice. As such, we have a long way to go before we fully adhere to the IAPT principles. My experience with participation within Wellspring has been limited. So far, we have been able to seek feedback from all our clients (both young people using the WP service, as well as young people and adults receiving...
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Parent and Carer Participation – a blog by Debbie Frances

by Monica Lee Comment Closed
"There is nothing in the parenting manuals that tells you what to do when your child is impacted by mental health issues" Debbie Frances As part of the University of Exeter's new CYP IAPT Inpatient CAMHS (Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services) Training Programme, trainees have been looking at the importance of parent and carer participation within Inpatient Units. Debbie Frances has been supporting the first three cohorts of Inpatient Training. Debbie is founder of The Project, a successful early intervention support network for young people affected by mental health issues based in East Devon. Since opening in 2013, The Project has been nominated for and won awards, and been recognised as an example of best practice at Government level for its innovative and effective approach to supporting young people. Debbie also facilitated a Parent & Carer Support Group for five years, and continues to provide support to parents of young people affected by mental illness. Debbie has been writing a blog about her...
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An Interview with WP-CWPs

by Monica Lee Comment Closed
As cohort 3 approach the beginning of the CWP programme, we have taken the opportunity to interview 2 trainee CWP’s.  Ed and Samantha are based at Somerset Rural Youth Project (SRYP).  SRYP have rebranded to Young Somerset so as to better reflect their growing reach and remit across the county. So, Ed and Sam, why did you apply to become a WP-CWP? S: It felt like a really good opportunity to undertake training and gain experience and expertise for working with children and young people. E: The role and training fit really well with what I had wanted to do for a career and represented a great opportunity to take the next steps. How have you found the training? E: Really good – Lots of chance for learning and reflection. S: It has been a real privilege to be learning and working with people with such expertise, something which I didn’t think I would ever have the opportunity. Both: It has been more challenging than we thought...
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ProReal: A Virtual Therapy Tool

by Monica Lee Comment Closed
This month we interviewed Marie from Off the Record in Bristol, to find out more about how they are using ProReal; how the project came about and the success its been having. So, what is ProReal?  ProReal is an immersive, avatar-based virtual world platform that helps people communicate in a dynamic and visual way. Built using 3D gaming technology, this virtual reality communication tool is independently evidenced to accelerate insight and change. You can read more about the evidence base here. How did this project come about at Off the Record?  A campaign from our participation project led to a theme around improving access for males, and supporting the right side brain's role in therapy. We wanted to find a way to practice what happens in session in a safe and playful way using a platform that young people feel is fun and are comfortable with. Can you explain a little about a 'trialogue' approach?  The trialogue approach is the understanding that in the room during...
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What is the CYP-IAPT Self-Assessment Risk Register?

by Monica Lee Comment Closed
The risk register is a tool in risk management and project management. It is used to identify potential risks in the implementation of the values and principles of CYP-IAPT in your organisation and partnership and can be used alongside the self-assessment. The risk register includes all information about each identified risk, such as the nature of that risk, level of risk, who owns it and what are the mitigation measures in place to respond to it. Having a list to track risk, whether by a simple spreadsheet or as part of a more robust PM software solution, is a good idea to tackle in any project plan/service development. There is risk inherent in everything, and that goes doubly for managing a project with lots of moving parts. You’ll never be able to anticipate everything that could go astray in a project, but by doing the due diligence, you’re able to have a plan in place to respond quickly before risks become real problems and sidetrack...
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Welcome to 2018! – Important dates for the Calendar

by Monica Lee Comment Closed
Welcome to 2018! We have lots happening within the collaborative this year. We will be working with partner services to capture and highlight the experiences of young people, the impact and evaluation of CYP IAPT, as well as taking a closer look at the impact and evaluation of the CWP programme. One of the foundation blocks within CYP IAPT is Accountability - being able to demonstrate and evidence the work that we do, and the progress that we are making towards the quality of services that young people wanted. We use quarterly returns that help services to evidence their progress towards the quality standards and practices contained in the "Delivering with, Delivering well" paper. Each quarter they measure their progress, and each quarter the collaborative exec team work with services to support them to keep improving. Here is the table of important dates that you need for your diary to get your Quarterly Returns in on time Quarter Service Data return to collaborative Collaborative return to HEE Date...
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Our partner OTR shares great practice around participation

by Monica Lee Comment Closed
OTR CEO Simon, shares his thoughts about participation at OTR and in the wider sector   For several years here at OTR we have tried (and tried again) to get young people involved in decision-making at the highest levels of the organisation. Specifically, we have grappled with trying to achieve meaningful representation and voice at board level. It’s never really succeeded against any basic definition of the word ‘meaningful’, despite our best efforts and intent. Participation in this form is something that charities are supposed to be good at, and ‘service user participation’ is a buzz-phrase that has been flying around for some years now. Conventional wisdom says you can’t stay faithful to your mission, attract funding, or make credible operational decisions without it. Public bodies now insist on it; grant making trusts too. And there are numerous quality marks and unending guidance papers produced by well-meaning policy wonks in distant think tanks. Then there are the army of professionals whose job it is to make...
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