Tag: Mental Health

Mental Health

Impact on children and young people in England

Mental Health of Children and Young People in England, 2020: Wave 1 follow up to the 2017 survey.
NHS Digital; 2020.
[This is the first in a series of follow up reports to the Mental Health and Young People Survey (MHCYP) 2017, exploring the mental health of children and young people in July 2020, during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and changes since 2017. Experiences of family life, education and services, and worries and anxieties during the COVID-19 pandemic are also examined.]

Peer support models for children and young people with mental health problems.
Centre for Mental Health; 2020.
[Centre for Mental Health was commissioned by Health Education England to explore the implications of expanding mental health peer support for specific groups of people. Peer support offers the potential for children and young people to develop the resilience needed to reduce mental health needs and to recognise their wellbeing needs at an early stage.]

Mental Health

Current Awareness Updates

Inquiry into the support available for young people who self-harm  This inquiry, led by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Suicide and Self-Harm Prevention and supported by Samaritans, explored the experiences of young people who self-harm in accessing support services. In particular, it examined: support services currently available in both clinical and the wider community settings (including schools); plans for improving and expanding this support; and the changes needed to ensure that support is made more effective and widely available. It concludes that young people who self-harm are often made to wait until they reach crisis point before receiving support.

How are UK adults managing stress during the pandemic? A survey from the Mental Health Foundation looks at how people are managing their stress during the pandemic. The most popular coping mechanisms were walking, visiting green spaces and contacting family and friends.

Laying foundations: attitudes and access to mental health nurse education Mental health nurses account for over a third of the mental health workforce in England and work across a wide range of health and care settings. However, this report finds that the pipeline of people choosing to study and qualify to become a mental health nurse is unable to meet sharply rising demand for this service. It looks at ways more people might be attracted to apply to study mental health nursing – and reasons why numbers are currently limited.

Digital interventions for suicidal thinking: a tale of two reviews.
In his debut blog, Wouter van Ballegooijen summarises two recent systematic reviews on digital interventions for suicidal thinking, which include more or less the same research, but come to quite different conclusions.

Reducing demand for inpatient mental health beds evidence review
This evidence review explores the evidence for initiatives and interventions which aim to avoid mental health inpatient admissions and re-admissions and reduce inpatient length of stay.

Should European cities be going green for our mental health?
Eleana Frisira summarises a recent scoping review on the impact that green spaces can have on the mental health of people living in urban settings.

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Mental Health Day

10th October 2020

This year’s theme is; ‘Mental health for all’

Mental health can affect anybody at any time. Mental health day is about showing support for better mental health. Why not take some time today for your own wellbeing.

Mind offers some top tips to improve your mental health and wellbeing:

  • only try what feels comfortable
  • give yourself time to figure out what works for you, going at your own pace
  • take small steps. Pick one or two things that feel achievable at first, before moving on to try other ideas.

So why not get involved:

  • have a virtual tea and chat with a friend
  • talk about your and your family’s wellbeing and create plans to involve everyone’s ideas
  • get moving for mental health
  • celebrate your differences

To read some personal stories about World Mental Health Day click here.

For more ideas or to find out more visit the Mental Health Foundation.

Mental Health and Wellbeing

Support resources for challenging times

More than six months after the Covid-19 pandemic began many of us are feeling exhausted, anxious and overwhelmed. Now, more than ever, it’s so important to take some time to look after your wellbeing. King’s Fund have put together some useful resources, from ‘wellbeing plans’ to useful toolkits.

Click here to access.

They also offer some top tips for dealing with anxiety and encourage you to think about your breathing:

  • Notice your breathing.  
  • In noticing your breathing connect with how you are feeling physically. 
  • Take a moment to take some deep and slow breaths in and out and count them as you do this. 
  • Ask yourself how aware you are of your breathing patterns.   
  • Our breathing helps inform us of how stressed and/or anxious we might be if we allow ourselves to notice it.  
  • A greater awareness of our breathing can help anchor ourselves in our roles as leaders in these difficult to navigate times.   

Managing anxiety: breathing | The King’s Fund

Festival of celebrations

A week celebrating our achievements over the year

Hosted by Chief Executive, Caroline Donovan and her team of directors, the festivals have focused on the improvements made since the CQC inspection and the commitment of staff during this unprecedented year. What soon became clear, was the overwhelming sense of teamwork, commitment and dedication from each and every staff member, both clinical and non-clinical.

Each day celebrated a different network including;

  • Community and well-being
  • Children and young people
  • South Cumbria
  • Mental Health
  • Corporate services

What was evident was how each team adapted to the new way of working, ensuring safety was at the forefront of everything. Even through the pandemic, support has still been offered to patients and families, providing excellent patient care each and every day. Every network has embraced the use of digital software, from attend anywhere to Microsoft Teams, allowing people and patients to stay connected.

Congratulations to all those individuals and teams who were nominated and of course to the winners. To watch the videos click here.

Evidence updates

Recommendations for continued care and support of people who are clinically extremely vulnerable
Royal College of Physicians (RCP); 2020.
(Statement from the Royal College of Physicians, Royal College of Emergency Medicine, Royal College of General Practitioners, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, National Voices and specialist societies highlighting the challenges faced by both doctors and patients in identifying and reducing the risks associated with COVID-19 for the most clinically vulnerable people.)

Expanding the primary care workforce in 2020/21 .
NHS England & NHS Improvement; 2020.
(Actions for CCGs, PCNs and STPs resulting from People Plan and Third phase of NHS response to covid-19.)

Reintroduction of NHS continuing healthcare.
Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC); 2020.
(Sets out how clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) will restart NHS continuing healthcare (CHC) assessment processes from 1 September 2020.Published 21 August 2020.)

Virtual training for midwives during a pandemic.
Abramson P. British Journal of Midwifery 2020;28(8):502–503.
(When a baby dies, it is a tragedy at any time but during the COVID-19 pandemic, bereaved families and the professionals supporting them have been faced with additional and often distressing challenges. Restrictions have made access to hospitals difficult for partners and other family members, while support services that would normally be provided for bereaved parents have been unavailable or severely limited.)

Ketamine as a mental health treatment: Are acute psychoactive effects associated with outcomes? A systematic review.
Grabski M. Behavioural Brain Research 2020;392:112629.
(The databases Medline, Embase and PsycInfo were searched. The studies reviewed displayed great variability in methodology and quality of reporting. The most commonly assessed effect was dissociation, measured by the CADSS. Our results suggest that the CADSS total is not consistently associated with antidepressant outcomes. Apart from this, the current literature is too limited to draw definite conclusions on an association between acute psychoactive effects and mental health outcomes.)


Returning to school after lockdown

Top tips for parents

With many children going back to school, there may be mixed emotions and feelings from different family members. The Mental Health Foundation have some practical advice to make the transition from home to school as smooth as possible. Their top tips include:

  • Talking – talk about their worries/concerns about going back to school
  • Get your children into a good sleep routine
  • Talk about the daily routines of school life
  • Develop coping strategies including breathing exercises, seeing friends or exercise
  • Make yourself available as much as possible, even simple things like going for a walk or baking may allow your child opportunities to talk rather than asking them directly
  • Be positive and discuss all the good things that are happening

For more details or resources to use at home click here.

NHS Reset

A campaign to shape what the health and care system could look life post COVID

Mental health services have faced unprecedented challenges due to COVID-19. They quickly and effectively moved to different ways of working to protect service users and staff. As we move to the next phase of the pandemic, we expect demand for mental health support to increase and to remain high for some time. This will have serious implications on resourcing and staff wellbeing.

This report from the NHS Reset campaign considers what mental health services need to prepare for, for the expected surge in demand. It also highlights how the health and care system can ‘reset’ the way care and support are planned and delivered in aftermath of COVID-19.

To find out more about the campaign click here.