Welcome to another quick blog by carer activist Matthew McKenzie. I run many carer groups aimed at those caring for someone with mental ill health, most of the groups are voluntary, but there are a few that are co-run with NHS trusts for partnership working and carer empowerment.

I do a lot of carer engagement at West London NHS trust and was delighted to participate in the Forensic Carers Conference held at Conway Hall. The conference was a showcase of what is happening for those who care for someone using Forensice services, it was also to allow carers to promote their lived experience and raise their profile. We also heard from various researchers both national and international.

The event was funded by North London Forensic Consortium. The North London Forensic Consortium consists of the following NHS trusts:

Barnet, Enfield & Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust
Central and North West London Foundation Trust
East London Foundation Trust
North East London Foundation Trust
West London Trust

The North London Forensic Consortium’s core aim was to reduce the number of people who were cared for out of area and create the services their population.

• Forensic Carers Conference throughout the day

The conference was very well attended and was opened by David Cochrane who is Head of Forensic Social Work at West London NHS trust high secure unit being Broadmoor.

We then had opening remarks from Leanne McGee who is the Chief Operating Officer for High Secure & Forensic services. Next I read one of my carer poems from my book “The mental health carer poetry book”.

I spent a good 10 minutes getting feedback from the audience on what the poem could mean to them and why families and carers would be anxious of the mental health of their loved ones.

We then had a presentation from Dr Sara Rowart from the University of Ghent (Belgium). Dr Sara presentated on “Family perspectives in forensic care trajectories in Belgium”. This then led onto a discussion of learning and comparison of forensic services in the England.

After the coffee break, we heard from Dr Ruth Naughton-Doe (University of York). She and her team presented on “What Support is Provided to families of detained patients, what do families want and what are the challenges?”. We also got to watch a video on the work the team has done so far.

You can also view the research paper of the work in the link below.

https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-024-05602-9

The Forensic Carers conference was useful for getting feedback from carers, professionals and researchers. So there were several feedback and discussion sessions.

We then heard from sibling link CiC who run peer support groups for adults; one for those who are caring for, affected by or worried about their sibling who is experiencing mental ill health. We heard from co-founders Tash Warburton and Bex King who both presented on “Sibling Link: Support through Connection”.

You can view their website from the link below.

Sibling Link

Next we had Raf speaking about expert by experience from Cygnet, unfortunately Laura Sheridan who oversees the Cygnet Carers Network was not able to be in attendance.

I help closed the event with a Joint poem from another Carer who attends my carer forensic group over at West London. My thoughts of the Forensic Carers event are that it was excellent and I am impressed they managed to make the event hybrid so others can join online to even contribute.

I will wait to see how the other NHS trusts promote their carer forensic events