Project of the Year 2023

"Menopause usually affects women between the ages of 45 and 55, but it can happen earlier.

Menopause and perimenopause can cause symptoms like anxiety, mood swings, low self-esteem, brain fog, hot flushes, difficulty sleeping, headaches, and irregular periods.  These symptoms can start years before your periods stop and carry on afterwards and can have a big impact on your life, including relationships and work.  These symptoms can last for months or years.

We believe an effective solution is to create a menopause support group that can be accessed by service users and staff. A group created to support each other and discuss their own personal experiences would create an environment to speak freely and comfortably without having to hide any emotions and would be greatly beneficial and reduce the risk of increased poor mental health. We are really excited that this programme will make a difference to so many."

Project proposed by Jenny Yardley, staff member

"RISE is a step-down programme providing a ‘gentle discharge’. It prevents self-sabotage of recovery by children and young people who are at the end of their therapeutic journey with NAViGO Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).

Building a community for children and young people, it offers a lifeline in the form of fortnightly group sessions, providing a mix of life skills and peer support. The aim of the programme is to strengthen recovery and prevent relapse either close to or following discharge and, in tandem, reduce reliance on services.

RISE will help children and young people develop positive habits, grow life skills and develop peer relationships. It will help individuals break the cycle of self-sabotage by replacing negative behaviours with healthier ones and building coping strategies towards self-management.

RISE will be open to existing CAMHS service users only.

Sessions will be facilitated and risk-managed from within services and there will be no additional staffing cost associated with the proposal. As discharge approaches, clinicians will identify young people who it is felt will benefit from this type of intervention."

Project proposed by Laura Johnson and Katie Fletcher, staff members

"Everyone thinks and experiences the world in a different way, and with the growing onus on organisations to have a more neuro-inclusive culture, we must focus on the growing awareness of neurodiversity among the workforce and create more inclusive, neurodiverse workplaces. 

We know, more than ever post-lockdown, what an important role our working environments play in our productivity and our wellbeing. Designing for such a wide spectrum of neurodiversity can be a challenge, but one we should make if we are to make our workplaces truly equal, diverse, and inclusive – and to fully take advantage of the skills neurodiverse people have to offer. Neurodivergent-friendly workspaces – which accommodate and embrace the varied sensorial responses people have to a shared environment – ultimately benefit the health and wellbeing of all employees.

Short term aims:

• Mandatory neurodiversity training for all staff.
• Form a Neurodiversity Employee Resource Group which would create an inclusive community where we can raise awareness, offer unique insights, challenges assumptions and help to pinpoint areas for change.
• Create sensory spaces/wellness rooms – a place to pause and recharge.
• Be part of the neurodiversity Umbrella Project by putting up our own mini-installation at NAViGO House and Harrison House and becoming a national sponsor (if finances allow).

Long term aims:

• Moving forward, ensure all new and current working environments are neuro-inclusive. We would like to see this included in the Estates Strategy.
• Ensure we are as good at considering cognitive accessibility as we are at physical accessibility."

Project proposed by Zach Clarke, Fiona Clarke and Lisa Johnson, staff members