And the winner is....

Hi everyone, hope you are all well. I have a few bits of great news to share with you since my last post.

As many of you will already know, over the past year or so, I have been working with the CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) team in Scunthorpe, on my mental health awareness campaign.

Well, on Friday, I attended a Volunteer Festive Lunch. This lunch was to focus on the work that all of the various volunteers do for the NHS. As part of this lunch, three volunteers were especially commended for their work for the Trust, and I just happened to be one of those said volunteers! Me and the Hit Squad (The Hit Squad are a team of young children that went around CAMHS and told us all of the things that they thought needed improving from the point of view of somebody who the service is aimed at) were voted 2nd place Volunteers of the Year, for all of the work that we have done over the past year or so.

The certificate presented to me by the Chair of the Trust

Me and the Hit Squad

Lets just say, that Friday was a great day!

So, onto the next bit of good news. As the work that we have been doing over the past year or so is really coming into effect, stories and publications are starting to produced about said work. I have been featured on the trust website, along with the Hit Squad, about the work that we have been doing. Here is the link: http://www.rdash.nhs.uk/8919/a-warm-welcome-in-scunthorpe/

Story Screenshot

And, here is the first publication that the work has featured in. The policy is called 'Room for Improvement'. This policy is basically a bunch of guidelines that the Trust has to work towards with regards to the service and waiting area etc. This publication goes into details about said policy, and the work that we have done to work towards meeting the criteria. I haven't copied every page, just the pages that I am featured (I don't think I would have enough space to feature every page!)

Front Cover

Just a few of the pages of the publication

Now, I just want to say a few thank yous, so here goes.

First of all, I want to thank my old college tutors who encouraged me to start this campaign in the first place.

I want to thank everyone who has modelled or taken photos for me, including Emma, Sian, Amy and Helen, without you guys, I wouldn't have very many pieces to display!

I want to thank every person that I have encountered over the past couple of years who has been continually encouraging of the campaign, including David at Volunteer Action, and Jane and George at CAMHS.

But most of all, my biggest thanks goes to my parents and my brother. If it wasn't for them and their continuing encouragement and support (and everything else!) I don't think I would be where I am now with the campaign.

So thank you to every one, without you all and everything that you have done etc, I wouldn't be able to turn around and say that I have won an award, and am being published in various NHS publications for what I do!