Welcome back to another update of carer engagement at Cygnet’s Carers, Families and Friends network event.

As one of the carer ambassadors for cygnet, I find these events an excellent way of engaging and networking with staff and carers whose loved ones use the services of Cygnet. There is always a great line up of speakers and I enjoy hearing questions and experiences of staff and carers.

We have done many carer network events so far and it was time to visit Cygnet Kewstoke based over at Weston-Super-Mare.

The journey was pleasant getting to the Premier Inn hotel where staff were friendly and the room was super relaxing were I felt prepared for the next day. Julian another carer ambassador along with myself went exploring the area for a while to see what the community is like.

Apart from the rain, I certainly enjoyed walking around to explore. It was not long until we headed back to the hotel to prepare for the big event tomorrow.

It was not long before we headed to Kewstoke which sits on a massive site. The area is far from the noise of city where you are surrounded by peace and nature. You can see how massive the site is by the picture I took from the car.

Once inside the hospital, we noticed the staff eagerly waiting to see how the event would progress. I was glad to see a good turnout including carers.

The event was opened by David Wilmott who is cygnet’s Director of Nursing. He has a passion to include families and carers as we heard from David why such events are so important. Cygnet was working hard on the triangle of care and want their hospitals and sites to make a difference for families and carers. Its about following the guidelines of the triangle of care and applying it to Cygnet services.

Next to speak was Laura Sheridan who is the group service improvement manager she has done amazing work bringing carer ambassadors together and she has an excellent focus on connecting to the community. Its not only about families and carers, its all about community in the end. We want better health and mental wellbeing for the community, but we have to listen and in order to listen we need to connect.

Laura spoke about more initiatives that Cygnet was working hard to archieve. We then heard from Josh who is the hospital manager for cygnet kewstoke.

As the first speaker I spoke about the importance of carer empowerment. Health services cannot always lay down rules and policies. Families and carers must be empowered to give views, ideas and opinions, but before that they must be empowered to do so. I have always thought the those who connect to others tend to cope better as carers. Carer empowerment is not an easy task, in fact carer networking is a lot easier to focus on, but if a carer chooses they can learn from each other, form groups and work along with health care services.

One form of carer empowerment is through creativity. I use poems to connect to carers and sometimes professionals. You dont have to read a whole book to understand the mental health carer’s experience. A good poem can lead to solidarity where there should be a common interest, a common experience and a a place where we belong and feel invited.

Speaking about my journey as carer ambassador I felt supported as staff and carer engaged and feedback to questions I raised at the event. I ended my talk with a poem aimed at carers, which is quite a dark be realistic poem on the need to care for someone with mental ill health. The poem is not meant to frighten carers, but does appeal to urgency regarding the task a carer will have to take up.

Still there is hope, that hope is down to how professionals engage with the carer. The hope is making sure the carer understands what services are provided, but also the carer needs to be empowered.

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YOU BETTER LEARN

You better learn
There is not much time
You just don’t want to be left behind

You better learn
Just do it fast
Provide that care and better do it fast

You better learn
When they fall sick
The pain of failure will hit you like a brick

You better learn
About the system
It might not work, so develop all that wisdom

You better learn
Just look around
Prepare to complain and refuse to back down

You better learn
Beware of the cost
The person you care for life could be at loss

You better learn
Just don’t sit there
I am warning you and trying to be clear

You better learn
Just learn from me
Unpaid carers can so suffer easily

You better learn
Take up the fight
A little learning can help with foresight

You better learn
Just better learn
Just keeping on learning
Learning and Learning

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• Dr Sharon Collins and Josh Jones presents

We then had a focus on Psychology and Occupational therapy. This was presented by Dr Sharon Collins who is Head of Psychology and also Josh Jones who is Head of Occupational therapy. Both presenters are regional leads.

The presentation outline was on what are these two fields and how can they assist the patient and family. Dr Sharon mentioned that psychologists are actively involved in studying and understanding mental processes, brain functions and behaviour. Psychology is not Psychiatry, which is a branch of medicine.

Dr Sharon spoke about the role psychologists play and what they offer which is listed below.

Aimed at Service users/patients
Assessments
Psychometrics
Individual therapy
Group Therapy

Aimed at Staff
Reflective Practice
Additional support
Supervision

Dr Sharon also spoke about the types of therapies

CBT – Cognitive behaviour therapy
DBT – dialectical behavioural therapy
EMDR – Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing
Psychodynamic
CFT – Compassion focussed therapy
MBT – Mentalisation based therapy
BFT – behavioural family therapy

There was lots for families and carers to learn about the mental health profession. We then had a talk from Josh Jones on occupational therapy. Josh explained and example of Occupational therapy in that it is not just about doing things, it is enabling the person to be themselves and find meanding and purpose in life.

We were presented with the toolkits of Occupational therapy on individual therapy techniques

Activity Analysis
Coping Strategies
Sensory Integration
Cognitive Stimulation
Emptional Regulation
Social Skills
Self-Care
Leisure Activities

• Lesley Mellor the next carer amabassador presented

There are four carer ambassadors at Cygnet who are all very talented with their lived experience backgrounds. Lesley Mellor was next to present on her journey as a carer. Lesley is the founder and chair of the Dorset Parent Council. This is a charity aimed at parent carers of young people with special educational needs.

Lesley understand a common experience of carers, this is down to trying to understanding about the conditions of their loved ones. She understands carers can feel isolated with the cared for’s condition. With Carers Week 2024 fast approaching Lesley will be launching the Cygnet Carers Peer group and Cygnet staff carer network. We then had more updates from Laura on cygnet services for carers.

We then had a lunch break and a chance to network with carers and cygnet staff before we heard from Kate Mercer who provides advocacy for carers at cygnet. Kate Mercer ran an interactive discussion session on the importance of human rights and why it is so important to offer carers the choice of advocacy

The last to present was the third Cygnet carer amabassador Julian Dr Takats. Julian spoke about the importance of the carer network, his journey as a carer and an explanation of what Carer Ambassadors do in their role.

All in all I enjoyed being part of the event. I will never forget how I felt welcomed by the staff at Cygnet, there is much work to do and even more to understand. We need ideas, views and opinions from families and carers whose loved ones use Cygnet services. I want carers to feel empowered and more.