Hi, I am Susan Tilley, and I am the Veteran Lead Mental Health Practitioner for SABP, yes, I know the title is very long, and it is a bit of a mouthful! I am a Registered Mental Health Nurse, and have been qualified for such a long time, answers on an email re how long you think that may be (be gentle though).
I have experience of working for the NHS as well as with the Charity Combat Stress, whilst working with the Charity it was there that I found my true passion for supporting those who have served and their families with mental health needs and continue to find this so rewarding. 
So, what exactly do I do? My role is very varied, no two days are the same, but our team’s main role is to understand the Armed Forces Covenant (AFC) and to train our staff about what this is and to ensure those who have served or continue to serve, and family members including their dependants and the bereaved from the British Armed Forces, do not face disadvantage when accessing our services.
So how do we do this, well we deliver staff training on (AFC), we work with people who use our services who identify as part of this wonderful community to support their mental health and look at any unmet needs. We are constantly searching for information and support that is around and pass on the information to the relevant teams. We are also here to support those who work with us, who come under this AFC, this may include acting as their advocate or sign posting to charities etc. 
In essence we are trying to raise the profile of the Armed Forces within our trust, and to encourage those who have served that we are a place that is Armed Forces Friendly and a great place to work when leaving the service. To raise the awareness of the Families and children’s needs when their parents may be serving and the impact that this can have. 
Since receiving the Veteran Aware Accreditation, we are now engaging with Step Into Health and have become a Bronze Award Holder with the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme. We are encouraging more staff to become Armed Forces Champions for their areas, and we are working with our recovery college on a Pilot course for Veterans which will be starting in June 2022. 
If you would like any more information on our service and other services specific for the Armed Forces, then check out our trust website https://www.sabp.nhs.uk/veterans 

Over the last year SABP CYPs Mental Health services has transformed the way we work with children and families by adopting the Thrive Framework for System Change. Part of that transformation work has reflected in the new way of working adopted by specialist teams working with children in care, care leavers and children who have been adopted or subject to Special Guardianship Order.   


New Leaf Service is the new name for what was previously known as Children in Care, Care Leavers and Post Order Team (for children who have been adopted and subject to SGOs).  As part of the transformation journey within Intensive Interventions those three teams merged in September 2021 and at that time were referred to as the Care Experienced Service.  However, staff and our young people who come to Ramsay House for therapy felt that we could do better with the new name and so we spent time thinking about a more appropriate name. During the consultation period we involved children and young people who use the service, staff members and the Users Voice and Participation Team, who all came up with a number of brilliant suggestions.   After much deliberation and consideration of what the service represents and how we would like young people to see it, the decision was made that New Leaf Service was the most fitting name. 

Our New Leaf service supports and provides assessment and intervention for children and young people who are in care, care leavers, adopted and/or under Special Guardianship Orders, who are affected by developmental trauma and attachment difficulties. We also offer support to unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) in the above-mentioned categories, and support and monitor funding agreements for children and young people in care who are placed outside of Surrey so they can access local services.

3 Teams within the New Leaf Service now hold weekly joint allocation meetings and will prioritise allocations based on the level of risk/need for any young person referred, whether they are a looked after child, care leaver or an adopted child. This allows the service to better work within the Thrive framework of joint working, sharing knowledge and skills available within the service so that we can offer the best possible service to children and families.  

Alongside this, and as part of the transformation journey, we have introduced a new referral system for social workers only, referring looked after children to the New Leaf Service.  Social workers are now able to refer looked after children directly into the New Leaf Service, rather than doing so via Access and Advice. Social workers are also able to contact duty clinician within the New Leaf Service between the hours 9am – 5pm Monday - Friday if they wish to have a consultation about the possible referral.  We are hoping that this is going to help us to further embed the Thrive framework within the service, skilling up clinicians to offer advice, support and signposting as well as continuing to provide therapy to children and young people and offer ‘risk support’ to the network around the child. 

The Woking Prototype was set up in January 2022 with the aim of strengthening our collective understanding and articulation of how THRIVE-like ways of working play out in practical, everyday decisions and behaviours of people in the network. For 3 months (to March 2022) practitioners representing a range of Mindworks services and partner agencies met in a safe ‘learning space’ to experiment on behalf of the wider system.

Participants were given permission to explore issues that felt important to them, known as “sprints”, and supported to bring these, along with pen portraits of conversations with children, young people and families from Woking and with their peers to a fortnightly meeting.

The accumulation of efforts was celebrated at an event at Eastwood Leisure Centre on Wednesday 30th March, attended by over 35 practitioners, managers and senior leaders across the children's system where the prototype model and the learning could be shared. The prototype team shared learning in 3 areas of focus:

  • Growing relational infrastructure through school-based clusters and improved communications
  • Putting CYP needs and goals at the heart of Discovery conversations and other interactions
  • Growing opportunities for joint working, sharing and collaborating

Prototype participants feedback on the process saying:  “It has been really inspiring think of idea of change and opportunity to do things differently”; “ I have love the “little projects” every couple of weeks, feel like we can make progress and its ok to try something”; “Small change is powerful – I got to try something, then I shared it with my team, it spilled over” and “We can all be implementors of change, this is the very start ……”

The event also proved an invaluable opportunity for networking - as a couple of attendees put it, it "contextualised how we all fit together" and "The art of possible is being developed in the room".

The Woking prototype might have come to an end, but the work carries on with an “All Partner” network meeting planned quarterly, chaired by Woking Borough Council. If you would like to attend please email adam.thomas@woking.gov.uk

The Tavistock and Portman Clinical Programme team are delivering a series of face-to-face training sessions for staff across the entire Mindworks Surrey Alliance. These will cover key elements of the THRIVE Framework (Wolpert et al., 2019) including getting advice and signposting; risk support; building confidence and letting go; using i-THRIVE grids to improve shared decision-making.

These sessions are strongly recommended for all staff across the Mindworks Surrey Alliance.

‘Risk support’ is a full-day training session. ‘Getting advice and signposting’, ‘Building confident and letting go’, and ‘Using i-THRIVE grids to improve shared decision-making’ are half-day training sessions.

Each training session will have a maximum capacity of 35 participants, and will take place at a venue in Surrey (to be confirmed).

A selection of dates, from June 2022 to February 2023, are available for each training. Please book online via Eventbrite ASAP to secure your preferred dates, and please ensure that you obtain approval from your line manager before booking your place.

If you have any questions about these training sessions please contact the Tavistock and Portman THRIVE clinical programmes team on TPMindworks@tavi-port.nhs.uk

Using I-THRIVE Grids to improve Shared Decision Making: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/318767902377

In spring 2021, Mindworks Surrey, young people and their families (CYPF) was launched. Our new model of service delivery is underpinned by the THRIVE Framework for System Change (Wolpert et al., 2019), a framework designed to transform the way we conceptualise how we deliver services to respond to the EWMH needs of children and young people.

The THRIVE Framework for system change (PDF)(Wolpert et al., 2019) is an integrated, person-centred and needs-led approach to delivering mental health services for children, young people and their families. It was developed by a collaboration of authors from the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families and the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust.

It conceptualises need in five categories; 
•    Thriving
•    Getting Advice and Signposting
•    Getting Help 
•    Getting More Help 
•    Getting Risk Support. 


Emphasis is placed on prevention and the promotion of EWMH across the whole population. Fundamental to the THRIVE Framework is that children, young people and their families are empowered through active involvement in decisions about their care through shared decision-making.


The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust is also part of the Mindworks Surrey Alliance partnership. Its role involves supporting the implementation of the THRIVE Framework.  Our focus for the Mindworks Surrey service is to work closely with our wider system partners including Education, Primary Care and the Local Authority to provide a service based on integration and innovation in line with the Integrated Care Systems ambition (PDF).

 
The Thrive Approach is one of the wellbeing interventions that schools in localities implementing the THRIVE Framework for system change (Wolpert et al., 2019) can adapt to support the optimal social and emotional development of children and young people, so reducing the need for more specialist interventions. The Thrive Approach delivers interventions that are aligned with the ‘Thriving’, ‘Getting Advice and Signposting’ and ‘Getting Help’ needs-based groupings. 

Dr Tosin Bowen-Wright, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, and Clinical Programme Lead for the Tavistock and Portman Surrey Mindworks Clinical Programme Team