Spring 2014
NEWSLETTER OF THE RECOVERY ACADEMY
Branching Out
Our brand new-look prospectus is out now The Recovery Academy’s Spring/Summer term prospectus for courses from May – September 2014 is out now!
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It will be useful if you are looking to increase your knowledge and understanding of mental health, hope improve your believe mental wellbeing, learn or simply want to meet new people while learning something new. There are around 35 free courses available, which are held in community centres, local hospitals, theatres and learning centres across Greater Manchester.
This term’s prospectus introduces seven new courses.
In response to feedback from students, photography showing the tutors, courses and venues has been added, along with quotes from students who’ve attended Spring/Summer Term courses to give new students a feel for what they might get out of attending a course.
Inside: this issue Celebration of learning event ...........
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Offender rehabilitation ......................
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Dementia awareness ........................
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New study – the effects of learning on wellbeing .......................
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We care. Do you? .............................
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Recovery and beyond .......................
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University collaboration .....................
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April 2014 - September 2014
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
Branching Out Recovery, Health and Wellbeing Academy Newsletter Spring 2014
Recovery Academy experience and our new research study, 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. Page
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Offender Celebration of learning event are currently rehabilitation We organising an event We are really pleased to announce that we will soon be expanding the remit of the Recovery Academy by offering courses to the inmates of HMP Haverigg in Cumbria. We currently provide mental health and substance misuse services within the prison so it was a natural step for the Academy to create the opportunity for offenders to transform their attitudes, thinking and behaviour. Professor Paul French and Rory Byrne, a service user researcher, presented their bid to GMW’s Dragon’s Den, an initiative which funds small innovative projects across our services and helps achieve our Quality Account priorities, and secured £17,000, which will pay for a member of staff to deliver the courses over 12 months. A range of programmes will complement the current work ongoing in the prison and support offenders so they will become better prepared for release and be less likely to reoffend.
to celebrate lifelong learning as part of Adult Learners’ Week. We know that adults who continue to learn throughout their lives are healthier, happier and have greater selfconfidence and selfesteem. We wanted to hold an event that celebrates and recognises the achievements of people who find the time and energy to learn something new each year and whose stories provide the inspiration to encourage others to give learning a go.
opportunities and recognise the contribution that adult learning makes to individual, to patient and to organisational wellbeing.
Adult Learners Week will take place from 14 – 20 June 2014 and our event will be held on Wednesday 18 June 2014 from 10am to 1pm.
GMW Staff, service users, volunteers and carers who have taken part in learning activities between May 2013 - May 2014 will be invited to the event to celebrate their achievements.
We are working with training leads from across the Trust to shape the event, which will promote all our learning
For more information, contact Clare Thompson, Communications Officer, on 0161 772 3986 or email clare.thompson@gmw.nhs.uk.
Dementia awareness It’s Dementia Awareness Week next month (18-24 May 2014) and this year’s campaign is all about opening up. There are lots of ways you can get involved in the week to help anyone who’s concerned about dementia to stop bottling it up and talk about it.
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understand what it might be like to live with dementia and how you can help someone with dementia living in your community. Course dates & times 14 May – 1.30pm to 3pm 30 May – 10am to 11.30am
Why not attend one of our Dementia Friends sessions so you feel confident answering people’s questions about dementia?
26 June – 10am to 11.30am
Dementia Friends will help you
20 Aug – 10am to 11.30am
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23 July – 9.30am to 11am 30 July – 2pm to 3.30pm
See the Recovery Academy prospectus for more information about the session and the venues it takes place: www.gmw.nhs.uk/recovery
Greater Manchester West Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust
Ground-breaking new study will explore the effects of learning on wellbeing
We care. Do you? There are over one million people caring for someone with a mental health problem in the UK. We support carers in a variety of ways from employing Carer Champions, who help carers both practically and emotionally, to ensuring carers are offered assessments and know about local carer groups. Our staff attend carer awareness training so they know how to identify carers and help them in their crucial role, but learning new skills and increasing knowledge can make life as a carer much easier too. The Recovery Academy’s free Caring with Confidence course gives carers a better understanding of the problems they face and helps them find new ways to tackle them. Caring with Confidence is available to anyone caring for someone with a mental health or substance misuse problem. The course sessions are from 1-4pm at Eccles Gateway in Salford on the following dates: 10, 17, 24, 31 July and 7, 14 August 2014. See the Recovery Academy prospectus for more information about the course: www.gmw.nhs.uk/recovery.
We are launching a research study to investigate the impact students attending courses at the Recovery Academy may have on their recovery from mental health or substance misuse problems. The two year study is launched in our new Spring/Summer term prospectus and will look at how the Recovery Academy can affect the personal journey of students attending courses and what impact attending courses may have on services as well as on the stigma of mental health and substance misuse problems. Led by Professor Paul French, Associate Director of Early Intervention for the Trust and Honorary Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at the University of Liverpool, the team will recruit 175 volunteers who have enrolled with the Academy and are about to attend their first course. Anyone who enrols with the Academy, from March 2014, is invited to take part. Volunteers will be asked to fill out questionnaires before they attend a course and at different time points so that researchers can look at the results over time. Focus group interviews will also be held with registered students who have already attended
courses to get their views and experiences. The study is entirely voluntary and will not affect student’s experience of the Academy or our courses. For those students who want to take part, you’ll be sent a research study pack when you register, which will include information about the study, instructions and questionnaires to complete. If you are interested in attending courses at the Recovery Academy and would like to take part in the study, please visit www.gmw.nhs.uk/recovery to register. If you have already enrolled with the Recovery Academy but have not yet attended your first course and would be interested in receiving a research study pack, please contact Elisabeth Zabel, Research Assistant, on Tel 0161 358 1397 or email: elisabeth.zabel@gmw.nhs.uk for more information or to register your interest.
Get involved: Mental Health Awareness Week 12-18 May 2014: Anxiety • www.mentalhealth.org.uk
Branching Out Recovery, Health and Wellbeing Academy Newsletter Spring 2014
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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
Recovery and beyond University collaboration The Recovery Academy was established at the beginning of 2013, since then we have produced three prospectuses and increased the courses we offer from 11 to 35 with more courses being developed each term. We offer students a range of learning opportunities to equip them with the knowledge and skills to become experts in their own care. The Academy complements other services the Trust provides by helping people to understand their problems, learn the skills to manage them better, and build a life beyond their mental health conditions. With your help we are turning the Academy into something that is truly inspiring and creating a learning environment, which provides people with the tools and skills for taking their first step towards further education and employment. We now have over 550 people registered as students, from a range of backgrounds. Of those 550 registered students, Page
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140 are service users, 36 are supporters (family members/carers), 276 are GMW staff and 98 are professionals from other organisations. We also have 48 Tutors delivering courses – 23 of whom are people with lived experience of mental health and/or substance misuse problems. Claire Watson, Recovery Academy Lead, said: “A huge big thankyou to all the tutors who have made our second (Autumn/Spring Term) prospectus such a success.
We are really keen to work with different partners to develop Recovery Academy courses and have recently teamed-up with The University of Manchester for our ‘Supporting the Recovery Process’ course. As well as the five classroom sessions to explore issues that affect recovery such as labelling, personal circumstances, and different service models, there is also an opportunity to visit Manchester Museum to explore our human history and mental health from different perspectives, both past and present.
“I am overwhelmed by the amount of hard work and commitment everyone has put into co-producing and co-delivering courses and I’m looking forward to seeing everyone back in the ‘classroom’ over the coming months.
The museum’s ‘Objects in Mind’ two hour tour has been developed to encourage visitors to use the museum in a way that promotes and aids their recovery from mental health problems. Travelling through the museum galleries you will explore the theme of personal experience, how we view ourselves, and the journey’s we take through life that reveal a sense of identity.
“We have a really great range of courses on offer; where our students can learn something different and new to increase their awareness of mental health and substance misuse problems, meet new people or learn new skills to help them get back into work.”
The course sessions are from 1.30-4pm at the Waterdale Restaurant at Prestwich Hospital on the following dates: 16, 23, 30 May and 6 and 20 June 2014. The trip to Manchester Museum takes place on 13 June 2014 from 1.30pm – 4pm. See the Recovery Academy prospectus for more information about the course: www.gmw.nhs.uk/recovery. Greater Manchester West Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust