To mark World Mental Health Day on 10th October 2019, Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (LPT) is supporting local mental health events to raise public awareness of mental health issues and support and also highlighting the career opportunities for mental health nurses to join the Trust.
On World Mental Health Day, staff from LPT will volunteer their time and take part in the RUOKToday? campaign. The campaign is an initiative that started in Leicester as the result of a conversation between Eddie Carlin from the British Transport Police and Matthew Wakely, Team Manager at LPT in 2015. Today it is a multi-agency mental health awareness campaign, which involves partners from the NHS, local authority, private and third sector organisations. As part the campaign, events will be taking place on the station and in the city centre.
Staff from LPT will be talking to members of the public and asking them “Are you OK Today?” to try to encourage conversations about mental health issues, provide advice on mental wellbeing and signpost mental health support.
Other events on 10th October include an interactive drop in session on positive thinking which will be hosted by Leicestershire Recovery College & Life Links at Glenfield Hospital between 2pm and 4pm. The event will take place in the Involvement Centre (a community hub in the heart of the Bradgate Unit used by staff, patients and service users). Everyone is welcome to attend on a drop-in basis and free tea, coffee and cookies will be provided.
Daniel Norbury, Head of Employment Services at Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust said, “We’re proud that our staff will be volunteering their time at railway stations on World Mental Health Day and speaking to people and suggesting simple ways they can find support or help others who might be struggling with their feelings.”
“We also want to highlight we have several vacancies for staff nurses to join the Bradgate Mental Health Unit in Leicester where nurses provide high quality care for acutely unwell patients aged 18 to 65 years on mixed and single-sexed wards. There are also opportunities for nurses to join an expanding team which will be working at a new purpose built unit, opening next year at the Bradgate Mental Health Unit and will treat 15 acute and eating disorder patients aged 13-18. We offer exceptional training and support for all our nurses.”
LPT is also recruiting Band 6 nurses to work in the CAMSH Crisis Team, working with children, young people and their families/carers (up to 18 years) in the Leicestershire area, providing crisis assessment and short term intensive, therapeutic interventions.
Joanne Lock is a Ward Matron at the Bradgate Mental Health Unit, part of Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust. She works on a short-term acute ward for women with conditions such as paranoid schizophrenia, bipolar and severe depression or severe anxiety. Joanne has been working as a mental health nurse for 16 years and loves her job.
She says, “My role is hugely varied. I love building relationships with patients and their families and supporting them to get better. We work with some of the most vulnerable people in society and one of the most rewarding things is seeing patients progress and go home.”
Joanne says there are great opportunities for career development and training. She says, “There is a big focus on training and development here. As well as mandatory courses, staff can choose courses that will progress their careers. I’ve been on several leadership courses, and we are supporting one member of staff to do her degree. We have good links with the universities which means this is a good place to start you career too.”
The Trust also has a focus on health and wellbeing. Joanne says, “Mental health nursing is a highly pressurized and challenging role, but the Trust works hard to promote health and wellbeing. There are part-time and flexible roles, plus staff at my unit work three days on, four days off shift pattern. The Trust is a strong advocate of achieving a good work life balance and this really helps with recruitment and retention.”
LPT is part of the recruitment campaign Y/Our Future that unites five major health and social care employers – University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust, LOROS Hospice, Rutland County Council and Leicester City Council – to recruit doctors, nurses and health and social care workers to work in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.
Y/Our Future aims to promote Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland as a leading career destination for health and social care professionals, with great career and lifestyle opportunities.
For more information on the vacancies visit: https://www.your-future.co.uk/