News Updates from our CEO

NEWS & UPDATE FROM OUR CEO

After the dual challenges of winter weather and social restrictions, most of us are relieved there is now a roadmap out of lockdown.

The difficulties we have all experienced, from isolation to financial worries, the stress of home-schooling and worry about elderly relatives, may have taken their toll on our mental health. For those with existing mental health issues, times will have been particularly tough. We know children and young people have been affected in different ways by the pandemic and there are serious concerns about their mental wellbeing. However, the popular narrative of a ‘lost generation’ can mean we lose focus on what’s needed: well-funded, evidence-based treatment when required, and good training and support for those with responsibility for young people, including parents, carers, teachers and health professionals. Children take their cues from the adults around them so it’s incredibly important that we convey hope and optimism in our work with them – it can have a truly positive and empowering effect.

CLARE STAFFORD CHIEF EXECUTIVE

A WARM WELCOME

The workplace programme

It is a pleasure to welcome Abigail Hirshman as our new Workplace Programme Director. Abigail started her career in crisis counselling before moving into counselling in the higher education sector. She joined ACAS in 2015 and created the ACAS Tripartite Model for Mental Health at Work.

Abigail is a highly experienced trainer and consultant, and her knowledge spans policy, practice and research. Abigail and the workplace trainer team are developing a paid-for model of training for the workplace that we can use in our offer to corporates. We will use the income from this to provide more free mental health training in schools, colleges and universities as they educate the workforce of the future.

We are expecting an increased demand for training in the workplace as employers are becoming more worried about the mental health of their employees, especially while they are working from home. A particular concern is the mental health of young people in the workplace and providing support for that will be a key feature of our bespoke offer to employers.

We’re delighted, too, to have appointed four new trainers to our Workplace Programme:

Sarah Duggan is an accredited organisational psychologist and has worked across a variety of sectors, including professional services, retail financial services and the NHS, where she was responsible for employee wellbeing and talent development initiatives.

Tracy Wright is a cognitive behavioural psychologist and coach, experienced in managing both child and adult psychology services in the NHS, charity and private sectors. Her special interests are organisational leadership, workplace mental health, and developing mental health cultures within organisations.

Dean Capon works as an integrative, compassion-focused counsellor, coach and personal consultant in private practice, following a long, senior career with Roche. He’s passionate about helping individuals and organisations engage with and alleviate their barriers to growth, wellbeing, mental health and productivity.

Mike Oliver is a chartered psychologist and registered health psychology practitioner, specialising in workplace health and wellbeing. He has experience of the commercial sector as well as running his own business and is a published author in ‘taking breaks at work’.

Charlie Waller Institute

We also welcome Professor Stella Chan, who has taken up the post as Chair in Evidence-based Psychological Treatments for CWI at the University of Reading. For the previous eight years Stella was an academic clinical psychologist at the University of Edinburgh, while remaining clinically active at the local NHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service. Stella’s work has a strong focus on young people’s mental health, with applications across the life span. She is the founder of Project Soothe, a global citizen science project that has collected soothing images from around the world. More than 100 young citizen scientists are currently co-producing wellbeing tools with the research team to promote young people’s mental health using the soothing images. We’ll be telling you more about this in a future edition.

The office team

A warm welcome to Natalie Norris, Martha Lee-Harris and Kirsty Osborn who have all recently joined the Charlie Waller office team.

Natalie joins us as Trusts and Grants Fundraising Officer. She has a background in events and has spent the last two years working in the Special Events Team at The Brain Tumour Charity, where she developed a love of fundraising for charities.

Martha is our new Training and Evaluation Assistant. Martha has a range of experience developing and delivering extra-curricular education projects and is dedicated to helping young people through this work.

Kirsty joins the team as our Office Assistant. Kirsty has almost 10 years’ experience in office environments, and, like Martha and Natalie, is passionate about spreading the knowledge of mental health and wellbeing in children and young people.

AU REVOIR TO ELINA

We are sorry to say that Elina Nesimioglu, our Fundraising Manager, left the Trust in February. A combination of COVID and Brexit led Elina and her husband to decide to relocate to the Netherlands, where she is working for their Make A Wish Foundation. It’s a great opportunity for her but a huge loss to the team.

HELP FOR STRUGGLING PARENTS

At the end of last year, we were given additional funding to develop a course for parents to become peer supporters for other parents struggling to cope with their child’s mental health issues. There’s nothing like being able to talk to people who have been through what you are going through, and this course will provide a professional foundation that equips parents with the basic skills and knowledge of children’s and young people’s mental health.

At Charlie Waller we strongly believe that health and social services need to employ parents as a valuable part of their workforce. There’s a lot that they can do, particularly in the early stages, and their support will add to the existing statutory services.

You may have read in the last edition about our rapidly expanding national network of parent support groups and training workshops, known as the PLACE Network. This work continues to grow and we are now seeking funding to provide regular clinical supervision to parents leading support groups, having received generous funding for a pilot supervision scheme from Hampstead Counselling Service.

SUPPORTING CHILDREN WITH ANXIETY

Supporting a child who is experiencing high levels of anxiety can be worrying for parents and carers. They often find it hard to understand the logic of their child’s behaviour and the choices they make, especially during adolescence.

We’ve produced a free downloadable guide, ‘Supporting a child with anxiety’, that helps parents understand anxiety more clearly and begin to address it.

As well as practical ideas for children, the guide also offers suggestions for parents on how they can support themselves. You can download the guide at charliewaller.org/resources/ supporting-a-child-with-anxiety

JONATHAN’S VOICE – A RESOURCE FOR SENIOR PATENT ATTORNEYS

In any organisation, managers are key to creating a good environment for mental health and wellbeing. However, in some industries, such as the trademark and patent profession, stress levels and pressure on individuals appear to be particularly high.

In response to this, we have been continuing our collaboration with the charity Jonathan’s Voice, which was set up in memory of Jonathan, a patent attorney who took his own life. We have produced a new resource to help senior leaders within the industry support mental health and wellbeing within their companies. The guide is available to download from our website at charliewaller.org/resources/advancing-themental-health-and-wellbeing-agenda

TALKING ABOUT SUICIDE: A GUIDE FOR COLLEGE STAFF

Colleges play a crucial role in educating people from disadvantaged groups who may be more vulnerable to mental health problems. The Trust’s partnership with the Association of Colleges is going from strength to strength.

Our latest joint initiative is a guide for college staff, many of whom have raised concerns about student suicide, feeling they were not always well equipped to respond.

Written by Dr Andrew Reeves, Kirsten Amis and Kath Caffrey, Charlie Waller experts on the subject, we hope the new resource will build confidence amongst the whole college community to talk openly about suicide, to know what to do in any given situation and help to keep everyone safe in challenging times.

IMPROVING THE PHYSICAL HEALTH OF PEOPLE WITH SEVERE MENTAL ILLNESS

People with severe mental illness are likely to die up to 25 years earlier than the general population. Research shows that 75% of these cases are caused by preventable physical illnesses.

To help address this shocking situation, Charlie Waller has joined forces with NHS England, NHS Improvement South East and Health Education England.

Our Nurse Lead, Dr Sheila Hardy, has led the production of free online training for primary care professionals, who are in a prime position to help reduce these unnecessary deaths, through annual physical health checks.

Sheila says: “It is incredibly sad that every year many people with severe mental illness are dying from preventable physical illnesses.

“We hope that this online training will enable healthcare professionals to access the information they need to provide ongoing support to those individuals who need it, and in turn reduce preventable illnesses and deaths.”

NEW VIDEOS TO HELP YOU LOOK AFTER YOUR MENTAL HEALTH

Our mental health experts have been producing new online guides and videos to help everyone take care of their mental health.

The videos, free for anyone to watch, include Managing Stress in Today’s World and Mental Health in the Workplace. We’ve also adapted many of our leaflets so the information they contain can be easily read online.

The information section on our website is designed to be searched by different groups, such as parents, students, teachers and employers. Topics include anxiety, Coronavirus and mental health, and mental wellbeing. Each section provides relevant downloadable resources, some of which can also be ordered as hard copies.

Our trainers have delivered a lot of content by webinar over the last year and we’re adding their highly informative and insightful videos to the website with a summary of the key points for those who don’t have time to watch the whole video.

CAROLINE GILBEY – A LASTING LEGACY

Caroline was a wonderful supporter of the Trust who generously devoted her time and enthusiasm to the Trust’s London Fundraising Committee. After her death last summer, her friends and family held a fundraising bike ride that will fund two scholarships at the Charlie Waller Institute within the University of Reading. The purpose of the scholarship is to train therapists in high intensity psychological treatments.

We’re delighted that psychology student Hewa Khalilifar has won the first scholarship. She says: “I felt a career as a therapist would allow me to continue learning about human nature, to hear other people’s stories, and ultimately be of service to others. I want to be the person that I needed back when I was in a difficult place.

“Sometimes it’s as simple as telling someone that it’s OK for them to feel the intensity of emotion and confusion, and convincing them that you believe they have the ability to endure and overcome."

BOYS IN MIND ON BLACK LIVES MATTER

The Trust is proud to support and part-fund Boys in Mind, Girls Mind Too, based in Bath and North East Somerset.

Boys in Mind aims to improve the mental health of boys and young men by addressing and understanding the particular barriers they face.

One of their latest projects is a film, ‘Black Lives Matter’, made by young people in partnership with Black Families Education Support Group and B&NES Council, in response to the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement.

The result is an incredibly powerful, moving and important piece which explores the racism and trauma experienced and observed by five young people. They discuss the lasting effects of racism, the importance of the BLM movement and what they feel needs to happen in the future, including in schools.

Eli Green, Youth Advisor at Boys in Mind and Project Lead for the film, said: “We are starting to see meaningful action taking place in schools to create an environment every young person deserves. We can only progress if we treat each other equally.”

Watch the film here: boysinmind.co.uk/ black-lives-matter/

MANAGING THE ANXIETY OF RETURNING TO THE OFFICE

Whilst many people have had to continue going to their normal place of work throughout the pandemic – frontline workers, for instance – others have had to get used to working from home.

Our new online guide offers a physical and psychological return-to-work plan for those who may feel anxious about returning to their normal place of work.

There will be some people who can’t wait to get back into the social environment of their workplace. Other people will need to feel physically safe (from catching coronavirus) before they can fully contribute at work.

Some people may have never actually met their colleagues, particularly if they have joined during lockdown. Remember how hard the first days in a new job can feel!

The guide offers practical tips on what employers can do to help reduce anxiety. You can find it here: charliewaller.org/ information/coronavirus-mental-health/ return-to-work-anxiety