Autumn 2014
NEWSLETTER OF THE RECOVERY ACADEMY
Branching Out
Our Autumn/Winter term prospectus is out now The Recovery Academy’s Autumn/Winter term prospectus for courses from October 2014 – March 2015 is out now!
which are held in community centres, local hospitals, theatres and learning centres across Greater Manchester.
Recovery Academy
prospectus
‘‘
...had a major impact on turning my life around”
There are around 39 free courses available for anyone with mental health and substance misuse problems, their families and carers as well as health care professionals,
This term’s prospectus introduces nine new courses – Deaf Awareness Training, Living with Blood Bourne Viruses, Living with Body Dysmorphic Disorder, Living with Dual Diagnosis,
grow
October 2014 - March 2015
recovery
It will be useful if you are looking to increase your knowledge and understanding of mental health, Autumn/Winter Term improve your mental wellbeing, or simply want to meet new people while learning something new.
All the courses are co-written and co-delivered by professionals and people with mental health and/ hope or substance misuse believe problems, which learn means the courses are enriched by professional expertise and lived experience.
Branching Out Recovery, Health and Wellbeing Academy Newsletter Autumn 2014
Inside: this issue Celebrating Older People ..................
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World Mental Health Day .................
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Looking at the effect of the Academy ................................
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Our work with HMP Haverigg ..........
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Marking Adult Learners’ Week .........
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Forthcoming courses .........................
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Women and Mental Health, An Introduction to Life Story Work, Creative Writing, Mindfulness and Compassion Focussed Therapy and Essential Life Skills. GMW’s Recovery Academy has been delivering high-quality courses since May 2013, with more than 1,000 students currently enrolled on courses. Availability is (...continued on Page 2) Page
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on a first come first served basis, so make sure you apply for a Recovery Academy course now. Claire Watson, Recovery Academy Lead for the Trust, said: “We believe recovery education not only equips people with new skills to support the recovery process and an understanding of mental health challenges, but provides people with the confidence to get back into work or go on to further study. “We offer accredited courses and collaborate with partners like The University of Manchester, Alzheimer’s Society, the National Personality Disorder Development Programme, The Reader Organisation, the Octagon Theatre Bolton and Start in Salford.” Printed supplies of the prospectus are winging their way to services across the Trust’s patch. To get your personal copy, together with information you need about the Recovery Academy experience, visit www.gmw.nhs.uk/recovery. If you’d prefer a copy in the post, please contact us and we’ll get one out to you right away. For further information, contact recoveryacademy@gmw.nhs.uk or call 0161 772 3782.
Celebrating Older People Wednesday 1 October 2014 is Older People’s Day and this year’s theme is ‘Full of Life’. To mark the day we wanted to raise awareness of our Recovery Academy courses, which aim to improve the lives of older people; helping them to stay healthy and reducing loneliness and isolation. Our Dementia Friends sessions aim to inspire others to make the lives of those with dementia a little bit easier. The sessions are run by Dementia Friends Champions and are fully endorsed by the Alzheimer’s Society.
An Introduction to Life Story Work provides individuals with the opportunity to talk about their life experiences, memories and hopes for the future and records this in a creative way. This course will help you to share your life experiences and provide you with the opportunity to create a Life Story piece of work. The course is also open to carers and staff to learn about how to create pieces of life story work in order to improve communication between themselves and the people they care for.
Living Well with Dementia is a course for people with a recent diagnosis of dementia, their carers, relatives, friends and healthcare professionals who support people with dementia.
Courses, Dates and Times
The aim of this course is to provide you with facts about dementia, common symptoms, treatments available, and techniques that will help you to cope with the effects of dementia.
An Introduction to Life Story Work, 16 December 2014, 1pm – 4.30pm
Dementia Friends, 30 October 2014, 2.30pm – 4pm Living Well with Dementia, 21 November 2014, 9.30am – 3.30pm
See the prospectus for more information about these courses, more dates and the venues they take place: www.gmw.nhs.uk/recovery.
World Mental Health Day 2014 World Mental Health Day is a day for global mental health education, awareness and advocacy, celebrated on 10 October every year. Mental health organisations join together in shining the spotlight on a particular aspect of mental ill health each year and the theme in 2014 is “Living with Schizophrenia”. From those who face every day of their lives with it, to their families, friends, doctors and even society as a whole, we all have a part to play in raising awareness of what it is like to live with schizophrenia. We offer a range of courses designed Page
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to help people understand what it is like to live with mental health and/or substance misuse problems, and learn about different recovery strategies to promote hope, choice and optimism. We want to make the Recovery Academy’s “Living with...” courses available to everyone who wants or needs them, and are urging people this Mental Health Day to help spread the word about our courses and their benefits for people’s health and wellbeing. Don’t let stress and anxiety harm your mental health. If you want to discover a positive way of
reducing stress, sign up for our new Mindfulness and Compassion Focussed Therapy course, which starts in November 2014. Mindfulness can help us enjoy the world more and understand ourselves better by changing the way we think, feel and act. Mindfulness and compassion are psychological skills, which we can all develop.
Greater Manchester West Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust
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Just one of the extremely positive comments from the focus groups:
We’ve had a fantastic response to the Recovery Academy research project since it began earlier this year. Over 60 students have taken part by filling out our questionnaires and we hope this number will increase as more and more people enrol with the Academy. Just to recap, we are looking at how the Academy can affect the personal journey of recovery, attitudes towards recovery, stigma and whether it can have an impact on services. We are asking anyone who enrols if they would like to fill out questionnaires before they attend their first course and at different time points so we can look at the results over time. If you have any questions about the study, please feel free to contact Elisabeth Zabel, Research Assistant, on Tel: 0161 358 1397 or email: Elisabeth.Zabel@gmw.nhs.uk. As part of the research project, we held a series of focus groups in August 2014, so we could gather some rich detail about people’s experiences of the courses. We would just like to say another massive thank you to all the people who attended the focus groups, they were a great success! We are currently analysing the information and will be submitting the results to an academic journal which will add to the Recovery College evidence base.
Our work with HMP Haverigg This year, the Recovery Academy was successful in securing money from the Trust’s Dragon’s Den, an initiative which funds small innovative projects across our services, to develop a prospectus for Haverigg Prison in Cumbria. Work started in July to recruit Peer Navigators who will work with our staff to produce the prospectus. Seven prisoners were successful in securing the role and the prison has recognised this role as a paid job.
Training Programme for Peer Navigators September to December 2014
Looking at the effect of the Academy
I took my parents on the courses with me, it was my CPN’s idea…For my dad there was just no understanding and he just didn’t have the time of day, but after this! We have been on one about self-harm… my dad just couldn’t understand it, couldn’t communicate with me about it or anything, but after that he’s completely changed…”
The following training programme has been established to develop the knowledge and skills of Peer Navigators working within Haverigg Prison: Course Title: Understanding Different Mental Health Conditions
Course Aim: To develop your understanding of the different mental health conditions that Haverigg inmates live with on a daily basis
Understanding To develop your understanding of addiction Addiction and how to support people to recover
By the end of this course, you will: • understand what it’s like to live with anxiety and depression • understand what it’s like to live with Personality Disorder • know about the different ways peer navigators can support other prisoners living with a mental health condition. • understand what it’s like to live with an addiction • appreciate the range of experiences someone may have • understand what recovery is, how recovery comes about, and how it is maintained • know about the different ways peer navigators can support other prisoners living with an addiction.
As the role of Peer Navigators is new to the prison, the Peer Navigators have started a training programme to develop their knowledge and skills to be able to support other prisoners with any mental health and/or substance misuse problems, and to be able to co-facilitate therapeutic groups and educational programmes with other prisoners once the prospectus is developed.
Training Programme for Peer Navigators Recovery, Health and Wellbeing Academy
When the Peer Navigators have finished their training, they will work with us to develop a prospectus which will be available to all prisoners by March 2015. We hope to offer courses within
Branching Out Recovery, Health and Wellbeing Academy Newsletter Autumn 2014
this prospectus that will prepare inmates for adjusting to the prison environment, coping with stress and managing anger, staying well, providing them with independent living skills and preparing for discharge. As always, the Academy will fully evaluate this project, but our overall aim is to promote recovery within the secure environment and support prisons to better prepare individuals for release, as well as reducing reoffending. If the project is successful, we hope to roll it out to other prisons that the Trust works with in the future. Page
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Recovery, Health and Wellbeing Academy Bury New Road, Prestwich, Manchester M25 3BL Tel: 0161 772 3782 Email: recoveryacademy@gmw.nhs.uk Website: www.gmw.nhs.uk/recovery
Marking Adult Learners’ Week GMW joined in celebrations for this years’ Adult Learners’ Week in June by inviting our staff, service users and people living in Greater Manchester to find out about all the learning opportunities available at the Trust. The event took place at the Bolton Whites Hotel and celebrated the learning achievements of our staff and service users and the difference this makes to individual, to patient and to organisational wellbeing. Students from our different learning programmes – Health and Social Care Apprenticeships, Leadership and Management, Recovery Academy, Alcohol & Substance Misuse Specialist Training, British Sign Language Training, Mental Health Nurse, Assistant Practitioner and Mentorship Training, and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Training - who had achieved a qualification in the past 12 months, were awarded with a certificate of achievement. Page
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During the event, delegates heard from tutors about the different learning opportunities that are available to staff, service users and the general public across the Trust. The event raised awareness about the Recovery Academy as well as
the apprenticeships and training available for people looking to begin or develop their career in the NHS. Run by NIACE, Adult Learners’ Week forms part of a Festival of Learning; an initiative from the wider education sector that offers thousands of opportunities to learn something new and discover how learning can transform lives. Why not take on a challenge to learn something new, and then pass it on to others by talking about your experience?
Have a look at our free courses on offer this term: Course: Read to Lead Dementia Friends PD, National KUF Prog – Day 1 Node Link Mapping Living with OCD IT Skills – Day 1 Living with Eating Disorders An Introduction to Mindfulness Living with Dual Diagnosis Solution Focused Therapy Living with Addiction Advocacy in Mental Health IT Skills – Day 2 PD, National KUF Prog – Day 2
Date: 16, 23, & 30 October 2014 30 October 2014 3 November 2014 4 & 5 November 7 November 2014 7 November 2014 10 November 2014 11 November 2014 12 November 2014 12 November 2014 14 November 2014 14 November 2014 14 November 2014 17 November 2014
Phone 0161 772 3782, email recoveryacademy@gmw.nhs.uk or visit www.gmw.nhs.uk/recovery to book your place or find out about other courses available. Greater Manchester West Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust