Autumn 2015 Membership Matters In this issue • Lunar cycle and expressions • Honouring a pioneer of human nature in mental health • Street Triage - joining forces • Alzheimer’s research on across Sussex verge of breakthrough The newsletter for members of Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust Welcome Dear Member, I would like to welcome you to the autumn edition of Membership Matters. It is also with great pleasure that I offer a warm welcome to our new Governors who were successful in the recent elections and who have now taken a seat on the Council. I hope you enjoy what is a challenging but exciting role within our organisation. In this edition, I’m sure you will be as thrilled as I am to read about the recognition we’re receiving for our award winning work, which is having a direct impact on the experience of our service users. We’re delighted to have four entries shortlisted for this year’s national Positive Practice in Mental Health Awards. The winners will be announced at a ceremony in October (see page 9 for more details). Also earning plaudits is our partnership work to support people when they’re at their most vulnerable, with our Stay Alive suicide prevention app receiving a prestigious Patient Safety Award (see page 8). Our ground-breaking research in the field of dementia took centre stage this summer with the release of drug data which suggests it could slow the advancement of early stage Alzheimer’s. We hope to hear of more positive developments on this in months to come. On the theme of recognition, Sussex Partnership recently unveiled a blue plaque at Aldrington House, honouring the work of Dr Helen Boyle and the contribution she made in the field of mental health treatment (see page 10). Her pioneering work led to a shift in attitudes towards the early detection and treatment of mental health issues in women, particularly those living in poverty. I would like to give special thanks to Karen Braysher for all she has done to acknowledge Dr Boyle’s work and leave this lasting legacy. Caroline Armitage Chair 2 3 Governors News Introducing your new Governors Following our recent Governor election we would like to congratulate and welcome our successful members on their appointment. Elected Constituency Category Val Armstrong East Sussex Service User Gabrielle Gardner West Sussex Service User Michael Decker West Sussex Service User Amy Mary Rose Herring Outside of Sussex Service User Claire Quigley Brighton and Hove Public Liz Sikora West Sussex Public Terence Pither - Carer Simon Street - Staff Governor departures Special thanks to Emma Fordham for her excellent work as Lead Governor along with Graham Taylor, Appointed Governor, for their contributions and support during their time as a Governor. Should you wish to contact any of your Governors please email: [email protected] More information on all our Governors can be found online at: www.sussexpartnership.nhs.uk/council-governors 4 Star Letter Dear Members, Growing and eating fresh produce is good for you but not everyone has the luxury of being able to for a variety of reasons I started my community project (East Hoathly & Halland Community Garden Plot) in January this year with two main objectives. Firstly to supply fresh vegetables to those households who have to use the food bank and secondly to provide a safe space for those with mental and physical health problems, to learn about growing vegetables and the health benefits of eating them. In addition to the documented benefits to wellbeing for working outside. This project was very much fuelled by my personal lived experience. I have a neurological disease that first manifested itself just over 5 years ago and as a result had a breakdown in my marriage and consequently a catastrophic mental breakdown in January 2014. I feel that the community garden project has been fundamental to my mental health recovery. I am evangelical in helping and encouraging those with a broad range of mental health issues and actively encourage volunteers to talk about their mental health. James For more information on the project and how you can get involved please contact James Hamilton-Andrews on 07500 965530 Star letter or e-mail [email protected] We would really like to hear what made a positive difference to your mental health, or that of someone you care for. Of course we won’t be able to publish everything that comes in but we guarantee all letters will get a personal reply. Please email your letters to [email protected] or post them to Freepost-RTBT-JXKX-AURH, Membership office, Aldrington House, 35 New Church Road, Hove BN3 4AG 5 Patient Experience From one lunar-tic to another… By Giles Wright, Service User Governor (Brighton & Hove) A semi-serious look at the lunar cycle constructions, to an and expressions of human nature… agrarian-based culture. In the context of this publication, it You may be seems inappropriate to start this article wondering what with the dictionary definition of lunacy. the relevance is. Well the connection I’m pretty sure everyone reading this is simple: to a hunter-gatherer, the will already be aware, and probably moon always represented a very useful have spent much time subsequently, light source and a means of measuring developing their own opinions on the the days and seasons of the yearly subject! So let’s just jump right in... calendar. And though we may have radically changed our lifestyles and For instance, Chuck Lorre can be quoted surroundings since, we have actually saying that we are all descended from changed ourselves very little from the a race of beings that went completely hunter-gatherers we used to be. Our insane over 10,000 years ago! Though instincts and our nature or psyche, have clearly tongue-in-cheek, he is referring evolved and changed very little over to the time when we started to that relatively short blip in time... transition from being mere hunter- gatherers living on our wits and our So in these very real senses, the waxing adrenaline, with minimal tools and built and waning of the moon has always 6 Patient Experience been, and still is, a significant and Similarly full moon provided longer days intrinsic part of humanity’s existence. with light for extended social or visceral Hence it isn’t difficult to understand activities: celebrations, ritual combat, why we may witness abnormal extremes etc. Times when people were positively of behaviour that we loosely associate encouraged to express themselves – and with a full moon. allowances made for excess! We can still see the evidence in much of our Hunting and conflict were always culture today. Many religious festivals precarious tasks, and by their very were purposefully placed in the calendar nature, violent acts. Enabled by the to directly replace their pagan forebears, light of the full moon, it doesn’t seem which had followed the lunar cycle… unreasonable to think there would have been a cyclical pattern to any nocturnal So next time you find yourself losing activities. Nocturnal hunting may not sleep and barking at the moon, or have been the majority provider – but watching a fellow human struggling to during lean times when the significance contain his/her emotions, or another’s of any food source was heightened, seeming excess – all drenched in lunar I can imagine groups of humans avidly light - just remember that all expression awaiting the fullness of the moon to is influenced by our deeply entrenched be able to better nourish themselves; human nature and instincts, which have and surely rallying the associated violent been molded by over 2 million years of traits in an effort to sustain themselves human evolution and culture to ACT-UP physically and spiritually, through the for the full moon! cold nights of hunting or conflict. 7 Trust News App that hopes to help people stay alive Did you know there’s a free, award- reasons to live and a mini safety plan winning app available that offers for times of crisis. life-saving support to people who are Other features include a myth-busting thinking about section about suicide and strategies suicide? for coping. Stay Alive is the If you’re working with someone who is first app of its kind at risk of suicide, why not recommend to offer UK-wide the app to them? It’s available to information on download now for free on Android and where to get help iOS via www.sussexpartnership.nhs. if you are thinking uk/urgent-help-crisis about suicide. It’s also a useful Stay Alive recently won a prestigious resource for Patient Safety Award from the HSJ people who are and has been shortlisted for a national worried about Positive Practice Award. someone else. We have worked with Brighton- based charity Grassroots Suicide Prevention to develop the app, which launched on World Suicide Prevention Day in 2014. Since then it has been downloaded more than 4,000 times, with a number of users describing it as a ‘life-saver’. It includes contact details for helplines and a ‘Lifebox’ where users can upload pictures which remind them of reasons Stay Alive recently won a prestigious Patient Safety Award to stay alive. It also holds a list of from the HSJ 8 Trust News Four front runners Four entries from Sussex Partnership have been shortlisted for a national Good luck to… mental health awards scheme that will be decided next month. • The EYE project, shortlisted in the ‘patient experience’ The National Positive Practice in Mental category Health Awards has received hundreds of nominations for services and projects • Grassroots Suicide Prevention from across the country that all aim to and the team involved in identify, celebrate and share examples developing the ‘stay alive’ suicide prevention app, of best practice.