Two international visits to our Recovery Academy
Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust’s Edenfield Centre and The Curve in Prestwich played host to medical professionals from a Norwegian high secure hospital and a mental health service in the Czech Republic recently (17 & 18 April).
The visit from Helse Bergen, which is the national high secure hospital in Bergen in South West Norway, was organised by Dr Caroline Logan, Lead Consultant Forensic Clinical Psychologist at GMMH, who has a long standing association with the hospital. Caroline is involved with research, training and lecturing in the forensic mental health field internationally and was keen for the visitors to get a flavour of recovery at GMMH and our Recovery Academy in particular.
Caroline said: “Helse Bergen on behalf of all the Helse hospitals requested an opportunity to visit the Recovery Academy in order that they could understand better how it works, how it was established and embedded, and how it is supported and maintained within the Trust, with a view to replicating that process in Norway.
“The practitioners - psychologists, a psychiatrist and a team of senior nurses - who visited the Recovery Academy, have been very excited by what they have seen and are full of ideas about how to take things forward in Bergen and across the Helse chain. I will be keeping in close contact with them in the coming months, and have suggested - and they are receptive to - the value of a return visit, from members of the Recovery Academy to Bergen.”
The visit from Fokus, which is a mental health service who are part of the International Mental Health Collaborating Network (IMHCN), was organised by Claire Watson, Recovery Academy Lead at GMMH. IMHCN approached Claire directly with a request to visit the Recovery Academy to learn how it provides learning opportunities for everyone to manage and promote recovery, health and wellbeing.
Claire said: “The visit was intended to assist the professionals in their role in implementing a new national strategy in the Czech Republic to reform and modernise mental health services. The party included social workers, community psychiatric nurses, psychiatrists and psychologists who were all keen to learn how we use recovery principles to equip students with the knowledge, understanding, behaviours and skills to enable people with mental health and/or alcohol and drug problems to gain a greater ability to manage their own lives.
“It was a privilege to host them and we hope the visitors will return home with some new ideas and best practice, to help them in their drive to improve recovery and mental health services in their respective countries.”
The Recovery Academy’s Spring/Summer term prospectus is available to download from www.gmmh.nhs.uk/recovery.
To book a place, either visit www.gmmh.nhs.uk/recovery or ring the Recovery Academy on 0161 358 1771.
