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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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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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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New Webinar series from East of England Clinical Network – Save the Dates

by Monica Lee Comment Closed
The East of England Clinical Networks group have organised a series of webinars across a range of current issues from Self harm care in A & E and GPs to best practice in neurodevelopmental disorders. You can access the list of dates and topics here and contact the organisers to book on... Don't miss this great opportunity to share good practice and take new ideas into your own service....
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Looking for support with transformation?

by Monica Lee1 Comment
For Service providers: If you are already part of the South West Collaborative, you can access outreach support in a number of ways: Consultation: Our Clinical Lead is Jonathan Parker (J.Parker5@exeter.ac.uk), whose role is to support you in embedding training and service development. Workshops: If you are having specific difficulties in embedding any of the CYP IAPT principles and practices, our Clinical Leads can set a date with you to come and work with your staff team to help move things forward Outreach training: If you are new to our service, or you've never received our outreach training, we provide 4 days of training for your staff team to support you to embed all of the CYP IAPT principles and practices, as well as day for managers to support workforce development. subscribe to the calendar to find more information and detailed flyers on the forthcoming outreach training. Outreach supervision training: As a new service provider, even before your staff come on our rigorous supervision...
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Want to join the Community of Practice as a new service?

by Monica Lee Comment Closed
Do you provide an emotional wellbeing service to children, young people, families or carers? Are you based in the south west between Hereford to Cornwall? Do you want to be able to provide a more effective and efficient service in partnership with young people and families? Would you like to access the very best evidence-based training for your staff? Do you want to demonstrate your effectiveness to funders? If you answered yes to the questions above then it's likely that you will find huge benefits in joining the South West Community of Practice. Since 2012 we have been growing our membership to now over 20 service providers across the south west. Hosted by the University of Exeter CEDAR department, the collaborative supports services to implement the Child and Young Person's Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (CYP-IAPT) principles and practices; helping services to deliver easier access to evidence-based psychological therapies, based on clinically meaningful outcomes and authentic participation from young people...
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