Alice Smith

Clinical Team Leader, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Creating Caring Cultures for CAMHS clinical in-patient team leaders

The practical tools and sharing had an impact on the whole team. Previously it was said that we were quite a challenging team to work with. Working with the team in new ways helped the team reflect a lot and work better together. I feel like there has been a really positive shift. We have had quite a lot of new starters recently and every single one of them has said that the team are very welcoming, supportive and inclusive of all new staff members. It was really nice to hear this because sometimes the feedback that we got from people coming into the team wasn’t always positive. Over the last six months our retention rates have greatly improved. This means that rather than having to focus as much on staffing issues, I can focus more on quality of care and facilitating improvements which ultimately benefit the young people.

I also think that, although the care we provided to young people has never been questioned, the staff are happier and that definitely shows in the general atmosphere on the ward and the ward environment which then makes it a friendlier and happier place for the young people to be. In the past I have seen staff having disagreements in front of the young people which would then have an impact on them. The ward is now calmer and more settled which makes it a more recovery focused environment.

I’ve always been passionate about the importance of mental health in your working life as well as for the people we care for. The FoNS programmes helped me with the knowledge and skills to find a way that I could aim to achieve this in practice.