Next week is Mental Health Awareness Week, and in preparation, a new Mental Health Care section is now available on the intranet, and you can also book onto training sessions for Making Every Contact Count for Mental Health.

On the new Mental Health Care intranet page, you can find information about all of the mental health services at and linked with CHFT. Colleagues are invited to explore the page to see what resource might be most useful to you or your team. If there is a resource or some information that you would like to be included, but is not there yet, please email ian.noonan@cht.nhs.uk with your ideas and requests.

Training sessions for Making Every Contact Count (MECC) are taking place over the next few months. Consultant Nurse for Mental Health, Ian Noonan, is one of our lead trainers and said: "The training provides practical skills that helps all of us to integrate conversations about our patients', carers', or colleagues' mental health and wellbeing, into our existing practice and interactions."

We currently have three trainers at CHFT: Ian, Senior Educator Rosie Bevan, and Sister Lesley Norcliffe. The training was recently evaluated by the Royal Society of Public Health (RSPH), and they confirmed that through a 'train the trainer' model, we have trained 117 colleagues and students at CHFT. Participant feedback included:

"I left feeling motivated and confident to offer space for mental health conversations as part of my work."

"I was able to identify several immediately implementable techniques I can use in my practice."

If you would like to do the one day training, please email ian.noonan@cht.nhs.uk to book on to one of the below training days. They run from 9am to 4pm and are delivered in person. If you are unable to get to one of the sessions, please check out the MECC Link website where you can quickly identify support for a wide range of needs and support for patients. You can search by region, topic, and find specific prompt questions to ask and details you can pass on to patients. 

Making Every Contact Count for Mental Health sessions:

Friday, 10th May at HRI Learning Centre

Wednesday, 22nd May at HRI Learning Centre

Monday, 24th June at HRI Learning Centre

Wednesday, 3rd July at CRH Learning Centre

Monday, 8th July at HRI Learning Centre