Get involved: Participation

People who use our services and their carers and families have the chance to sign up for training to be involved in recruiting new staff.

The values-based recruitment training is being held to give service users and their families the skills to be involved in interviews and shape the future of NSFT.

We are committed to involving people who use mental health services and their carers or families through the People Participation. 

Sessions are capped at eight people so spaces are limited, and they will be booked on a first come-first served basis.

The training will be via Microsoft Teams and anyone who has difficulties accessing this or needs further support can email people.participation@nsft.nhs.uk.

New training dates can be found below: 

• Wednesday, 8 May, 10:00 - 13:00
• Tuesday, 6 June, 13:00 — 16:00 
• Monday, 8 July, 10:00 — 13:00
• Wednesday, 7 August, 13:00 — 16:00
• Thursday, 5 September, 10:00 — 13:00
• Monday, 7 October, 13:00 — 16:00
• Tuesday, 5 November, 10:00 — 13:00
• Wednesday, 4 Deccember, 13:00 — 16:00  

To sign up go to https://forms.office.com/r/HSEfWeW0Sp.

Are you under the age of 25?

Are you a parent/carer of a young person under the age of 25?

Do you like designing things?

We are developing a new website to improve mental health services for Children, Families and Young People and we want to hear what is important to you. 

Our Website Working Together Group meets the third Monday of the month 6-7pm via Microsoft Teams.

Upcoming dates:

• 15 April (cancelled)
• 20 May
• 17 June
• 15 July
• 19 August
• 16 September
• 21 October
• 18 November
• 16 December

To join the next meeting please click on the date you want to join.

For more information:  Contact Andrea Bland, People Participation Co-ordinator People.Participation@nsft.nhs.uk

If you can’t make the date or have no internet access, please get in contact and we can make other arrangements.

If you are under the age of 25 with a lived experience of an Eating Disorder, or care for someone under the age of 25 who does, we would like to invite you to join our Young Person and Carer Forum with our Norfolk and Waveney Child and Adolescent Eating Disorder Services.

The forum will bring together staff and those with lived experience to help improve and develop the service.

We value your views and ideas, and are looking for people who are interested in supporting us with suggestions and feedback to enhance our new and existing services.

The forum will work together to consider areas such as:

• Development and Feedback on projects
• Co-producing training materials
• Reviewing and producing service literature

Other ways for people to get involved in participation are:

• Speaking with our service manager and lead clinicians
• Speaking with our People Participation Lead
• Supporting us with staff interviews - Values Based Recruitment (VBR) training is offered to support this process
• Carer feedback events
• Co-facilitating groups e.g. carer support groups.

To find out more about participation, you can visit the teams webpage: www.nsft.nhs.uk/participation 

If you decide to get involved and are currently receiving support from our service, this will not affect the care you or your loved one is receiving.

If you are interested in getting involved, please complete this form.

Alternatively, you can contact us on 01603 421127 and ask for a call back regarding participation or you can email the team at Caeds.participation@nsft.nhs.uk. 

We look forward to hearing from you.

Do you support someone With Personality Disorder or Complex Emotional and Relational Needs?

If yes, please consider joining us on our Workshop for Carers, Family and Friends Personality Disorder and Complex Emotional and Relational Needs. 

This is a 6-part online workshop, on Zoom, that runs over 6 consecutive weeks. (Future dates currently being arranged.) The workshop has been designed for family, friends, and partners (18+), who are supporting other adults (18+) with, or awaiting assessment for, Personality Disorder / Complex Emotional & Relational Needs, in Norfolk or Suffolk.

The workshop has been developed in collaboration with carers and people with lived experience throughout. We aim to bring people together to support and learn from one another in an inclusive atmosphere, explore topics and skills of interest, and offer a space for meaningful conversations about the experience of caring for someone.

Topics we will cover include:

• Exploring personality, personality disorder and complex emotional & relational needs
• Supporting someone experiencing difficult emotions
• Validation and containment
• Recovery, discovery, and management
• Walking the middle path
• Boundaries
• Advocacy
• Sharing resources, ideas, and advice
• Looking after ourselves in the short and long term
• And much more…

Emotive subjects often come up in these workshops, so please bear this in mind. Although we aim to support each other, this is not a crisis or emergency service for urgent issues.

If you are interested, please email KUFtraining@nsft.nhs.uk with your name, contact details, the reason you wish to join, and confirming you and your person are over 18.

The project aims to ensure we have those who have experience of our services 
working alongside us to monitor our improvements.

This Evidence Assurance Group has been set up to ensure our services are making the improvements needed and that those improvements are sustainable. We value the involvement of those who access our service and their supporters, and is important that together we work together to get things right. We know that the unique perspective of service users and their supporters will drive the improvement in quality that will be beneficial for all.

The EAG will be a supportive, multi-stakeholder, group which will check, challenge and discuss progress with services.

Each EAG session will be focused on a specific service. The expectation will be that each service will present a summary of the improvement undertaken, supported by evidence that demonstrates the progress made.

Services will also be expected to be able to explain how there is a focus on outcomes, as well as service user and staff experience. 

Services will be able to report progress and challenges. The group can then support in terms of testing this progress and completeness/sustainability of the proposed actions and mitigations to any improvement work. 

To ensure we have diverse representation within the Evidence Assurance Group we will ask interested individuals to attend a maximum of six meetings in total.

Names and contact details of those supporting the project: 

• Robyn Ward - Senior People Participation lead 
• Jodie Butcher - Senior People Participation Lead

The group will meet fortnightly.

Expenses: 

You can claim £10 an hour attending meetings. Meetings will mostly be held online but travel expenses and refreshments costs will be covered if they are held face to face. Please remember to check how payment may affect your tax or benefits. You can choose not to claim the involvement payment and take part voluntarily.

How to express your interest in the role

We are seeking individuals who from a variety of backgrounds (e.g. age, gender, ethnicity, geographical location) and a range of lived experiences to join the project. We are inviting people with lived experience of accessing or supporting someone to access, Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust, within the last five years to collaborate with us. 

When you are completing the expression of interest form it would be helpful if you could briefly tell us what attracts you to the role.

Your answer could also include any skills you have gained professionally, through voluntary work, and through experience of mental health challenges (your lived experience, or in those you care for).

Please let us know if you have any questions, would like support completing the form or would prefer to send us a video or audio response to the questions on the form.

You can complete the form here.

We will look at the expression of interest forms to ensure that people with a range of experiences are recruited to join the Project. Individuals who may be suitable for the role will be contacted for an informal (online) conversation soon afterwards. 

If you would like further information or have any queries, please email:
People.Participation@nsft.nhs.uk

Join us on a Wednesday morning at 10.30am-noon for a cuppa and a chat.

Just turn up and meet like-minded people in a relaxed, informal chat setting, meeting at a different Ipswich coffee shop each week.

Mental Health Awareness Week

The theme this year is ‘Movement: Moving more for our mental health’.

Join us for a programme of fun activities to help people to find moments of movement in their daily routines.

• May 13 - Walk & Talk with ActivWalks in Christchurch Park, Ipswich 10:30 – 1pm. (Meeting at the Soane Street Entrance) Please wear suitable shoes. Stopping at the Mansion Tea Room for a cuppa (optional).
• May 15 - Coffee Crawl meet up for a cuppa and chat at Geek Retreat, 41a Upper Street, Ipswich IP4 1DU 10:30 – 1pm. Includes an Art Workshop exploring Movement in Art (optional).
• May 17 - Chair Yoga session with Yogability, 524 Woodbridge Road, Ipswich IP4 4 PN, 2pm. Please wear comfortable loose-fitting clothing. Free entry – Spaces are limited please contact Debbie on 07795267227 for more information and to book a space.

Regular schedule of events:

April 2024

• 3 - The Hold 131 Fore Street, Ipswich IP4 1LN
• 10 - The New Wolsey Theatre Café Civic Drive, Ipswich IP1 2AS 
• 17 - Coffee Cell Combat2Coffee 8 Northgate Street, Ipswich IP1 1EA
• 24 - Applaud Coffee 19 St Peter’s Street, Ipswich IP1 1XF 

May 2024

• 1 - Bon Bon, 19 Buttermarket, Ipswich IP1 1BQ
• 8 - Honey & Harvey, 4-6 Queen Street, Ipswich IP1 1SS
• 15 - Geek Retreat, 41a Upper Brook Street, Ipswich IP4 1DU - Celebrating Mental Health Awareness Week & Art Workshop exploring ‘Movement’. (Optional).
• 22 - Waffle & More, 41 Carr Street, Ipswich IP4 1HA
• 29 - The Mix, James Hehir Building, University Avenue IP3 0FS

June 2024

• 5 - Christchurch Mansion Tea Room, Christchurch Park, Ipswich IP4 2EE
• 12 - Moments Coffee Shop, Town Hall, Cornhill, Ipswich IP1 1DH – Celebrating Carers Week
• 19 - Isaacs on the Quay, 7 Wherry Quay, Ipswich IP4 1AS
• 26 - The New Wolsey Theatre Café, Civic Drive, Ipswich IP1 2AS 

July 2024

• 3 - Applaud Coffee, 19 St Peter’s Street, Ipswich IP1 1XF
• 10 - The Hold, 131 Fore Street, Ipswich IP4 1LN
• 17 - Bon Bon, 19 Buttermarket, Ipswich IP1 1BQ
• 24 - Geek Retreat, 41a Upper Brook Street, Ipswich IP4 1DU
• 31 - The Mix, James Hehir Building, University Avenue IP3 0FS

August 2024 

• 7 - Waffle & More, 41 Carr Street, Ipswich IP4 1HA  
• 14 - Isaacs on the Quay, 7 Wherry Quay, Ipswich IP4 1AS
• 21 - Christchurch Mansion Tea Room, Christchurch Park, Ipswich IP4 2EE – Summer group picnic – weather permitting. (Optional).
• 28 - Honey & Harvey, 4-6 Queen Street, Ipswich IP1 1SS

For more information please contact Debbie Atkinson - People Participation Co-ordinator PeopleParticipationEastSuf@nsft.nhs.uk 

The Being Together Group is for adults, with a Learning Disability and/or Autism, carers or others who are interested in our services in Suffolk.

The group meet on Zoom, on the fourth Friday of each month, 11-12.

Join the group on Zoom to find out about how you can get involved in improving our services, talk to others and share your ideas.

Email Margaret.Tanner@nsft.nhs.uk for the Zoom link.

Help share the group with this poster: Being Together group promotional poster [pdf] 392KB

Do you support someone with Personality Disorder or Complex Emotional Needs?

If yes, please consider joining us on our: Workshop for Carers, Family and Friends Personality Disorder and Complex Emotional Needs.

This is a 6-part online workshop on Zoom. It will run on Monday evenings 6pm - 8.30pm, starting 30th January 2023. The workshop has been designed for family, friends, and partners (18+), who are supporting other adults (18+) with, or awaiting assessment for, Personality Disorder otherwise known as Complex Emotional Needs. 

The workshop has been developed in collaboration with carers and people with lived experience throughout. We aim to bring people together to support and learn from one another in an inclusive atmosphere, explore topics and skills of interest, and offer a space for meaningful conversations about the experience of caring for someone. 

Topics we will cover include: 

• Exploring personality, Personality Disorder, and Complex Emotional Needs
• Supporting someone with difficult emotions
• Skills for managing strong emotion
• Looking after ourselves in the short and long term
• Recovery, discovery, and management
• Walking the middle path
• Boundaries
• Advocacy
• Sharing resources, ideas, and advice
• And much more…

Emotive subjects often come up in these workshops, so please bear this in mind. Although we aim to support each other, this is not a crisis or emergency service for urgent issues.  

The next course will take place on the following dates at 18:00 — 20:00:

• Part 1 - Mon 12th Feb
• Part 2 – Mon 19th Feb
• Part 3 – Mon 26th Feb
• Part 4 – Mon 4th Mar
• Part 5 – Mon 11th Mar
• Part 6 – Tues 19th Mar

If you are interested, please email KUFtraining@nsft.nhs.uk with your name, contact details, the reason you wish to join, and confirming you and your person are over 18. 

Have you used the DIALOG scale with your mental health professional and planned goals and actions with them? Or has the person you care for/support done this and you are aware of their goals and actions?

The Care Planning team are currently looking for service user and carers/family of service users who would like to participate in a focus group to improve training and co-production for NSFT DIALOG+ staff training. Sharing your views with us and help us to improve the training we provide for NSFT staff.

Sign-up here. 

There are a few ways to be involved:

• Attend the monthly focus group and share your experience and views as often as you can
• Joining training and co- production meetings – (optional)
• Get involved by sharing views in short videos – (optional)
• Participation with staff training online (and at training venues to be confirmed) – (optional)
• You can give as much or as little of your time as you like
• If you change your mind and want to opt out that is okay

What are the aims:

• We aim to be a respectful group of people who can share experiences in a space which is safe to do so.
• We aim to improve the quality of training for staff by sharing your experiences and views.
• The experience and views you share will help to improve the quality-of-care planning and improve goal setting and make goals more person centred and be meaningful and purposeful for what services user’s want to achieve.
• Your experience will be invaluable for ongoing training of staff in DIALOG+, and co-production of the training.

About you:

• You are a current service user/ or have been, who either has a My Recovery Plan which includes completing a DIALOG scale or you have completed a DIALOG scale with a mental health care professional, and you have planned goals and actions with them.
• You are a carer/supporter of a service user who you are aware has completed a DIALOG scale and has planned goals and actions with their mental health care professional.
• You feel comfortable sharing your own views and experience and representing the views of others within the group setting.
• You approach engagement with others in an empathetic, compassionate and supportive way.
• You have time to carry out this activity.

What can you expect from us:

• Elizabeth Doolan, Care Program Approach Practitioner, will organise and attend each meeting and will be available to support the group.
• Meetings will be held monthly on Microsoft Teams or Zoom; you are not expected to attend all meetings.
• We will discuss your views and experience of your involvement in care planning process using DIALOG. With your participation we can discuss how to implement your views and experience into the training we provide to staff.
• If access to a computer or internet is an issue for you, we are happy to discuss ways to overcome this barrier
• This is a voluntary role.

If you decide you would like to participate in training sessions and share your lived experience and views, you will be paid for time/ travel. Elizabeth will provide you with the claim’s forms and information regarding payments. What to do next If you are interested in participating in this opportunity, please tell us a bit about you by filling in this form. We will contact you when the group begins.

*Please note that by completing this form you are consenting for us to hold your details for as long as necessary for the project and for us to contact you using the email and phone number you have given. If you have any questions, please contact elizabeth.doolan@nsft.nhs.uk.

We are asking service users and carers with recent experience of our inpatient wards to help us design new wards. This will further improve quality and safety at Hellesdon Hospital in Norwich. 

Find out more about this opportunity.

Our Veteran's wellbeing support group is designed to stop social isolation and give veterans a sense of belonging, similar to the close bond they had whilst serving. 

These events will be taking place in a non-clinical environment but Veteran's are welcome to discuss any mental health concerns they may have.

Please see below for locations, times and the days of our wellbeing support group:

• Norwich: Monday 11:00 - 13:00, The Matthew Project 70 – 80- Oaks Street Norwich NR3 3AQ, Tel: 07584316272
• Sudbury: Monday 11:00 - 13:00, Sudbury/Toast Café (Winter) or Long Melford Country Park (Summer), Tel: 07584316272
• Bury St Edmunds: Tuesday 11:00 - 13:00, Combat 2 Coffee , Con Club, Guildhall Street, IP33 1PR, Tel: 07584316272
• Ipswich: Wednesday 11:00 - 13:00, Combat 2 Coffee , Whitton Clinic, Meredith Road, IP1 6ED, Tel: 07584316272
• Thetford: Monday 11:00 - 13:00, Steam, Tanner Court, Tanner Street, IP24 2BQ, Tel: 07584316272

You can watch a video, featuring some of our service users, who have used the service and their thoughts on it below.

Listen to their podcast episodes on spotify below: 

• Growing the Veteran's support service
• Leaving the Armed Forces and Mental Health

NSFT's online forum for women who have served in the military has new dates and times for the autumn/winter season.

The forum is open to women who are serving in the British Armed Forces and about to leave the military, Reservists, and Veterans. It has been developed so that women can share life experiences and build a support network.

Michelle Firmin, senior armed forces and veteran’s practitioner in the Veterans Integrated Service (VIS), decided to set up the forum after working for the Ministry of Defence, where she witnessed a number of the difficulties women can face when returning to civilian life after serving in the armed forces."

The meeting time has recently been changed to evening to make it easier for people to attend.

Topics of discussion may be about concerns and frustrations experienced in transitioning from the military to civilian life which may include experiences that occurred during service that have remained unresolved; work in civilian life, family life and building friendships; and specific women’s health concerns such as, fertility, family planning, menopause, childcare and general concerns about getting older.

Michelle said: “It's important to acknowledge the high levels of anxiety that may be suffered by people transitioning out of the military, that can be triggered by the need to find new employment, meet like-minded people, be part of a community and make new friends.”

The forum meets on the fourth Tuesday of the month, 7-8pm

Dates:

• 26 March

To attend, email nsftvis@nsft.nhs.uk for a Microsoft Teams invitation to join.

Would you like to be involved in improving our mental health services for yourself and others? Your voice deserves to be heard!

Particip8! are a group of people with a personal interest in mental health for young people and a passion for improving mental health services.

Whether you’d prefer to be part of a group, have one-to-one sessions, or share your ideas and experience by email, Whatsapp or phone, we would love for you to join us.

You can be involved as little or as much as you would like and with the things that are important to you.

• Using lived experience, we have led on projects such as:
• The language of letters and ensuring these are young person and carer friendly
• Interviewing staff
• Sharing our experience of crisis services
• Art projects
• Development of educational courses and many more.

To find out more, email Sophie.davies@nsft.nhs.uk. You can also text or call 07342 066589 or use Whatsapp.