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Read the latest news and updates at the North London NHS Foundation Trust.
It’s Mental Health Awareness Week
This year, Mental Health Awareness Week is taking place from 12 to 18 May.
The theme for this year is 'Community', and the aim is to celebrate the power and importance of community.
According to the Mental Health Foundation, being part of a safe, positive community is vital for our mental health and wellbeing. We thrive when we have strong connections with other people and supportive communities that remind us, we are not alone. Communities can provide a sense of belonging, safety, support in hard times, and give us a sense purpose.
To celebrate this week at NLFT, we’ll be spotlighting our community services to celebrate and recognise the amazing work colleagues do in the community across the five boroughs we serve.
You will learn more about our community services and the teams that work with local communities.
We're spotlighting different community colleagues and teams this week, so be sure to revisit this page throughout the week and help us celebrate what we do in the community.
Our Wednesday spotlight: Olubenga Adewumi
I am Olubenga Adewumi, a community matron in Barnet with a passion for ensuring patient safety and the provision of quality care and services.
Community mental health care and services enable staff to support patients, their friends and families. I believe it is one the best ways to care for patients on their ways to recovery.
It is beneficial for patients because it brings the care to them in their homes and helps us understand someone’s wellbeing when they’re in the community. This means that we, the practitioners, have awareness of how the environment and society can affect someone’s mental state.
To summarise, this is clear evidence that community mental health services facilitate better mental health, better lives and better community.
Our Tuesday spotlight: Devi Bhugoowan
"My name is Devi Bhugoowan, and I am proud to manage the newly established Community Engagement Team (CET) and Step and Thrive, which is part of our exciting transformation initiative in Enfield.
"I come from a nursing background and have been a registered nurse for over 20 years. Throughout my career, I have worked in various NHS trusts, served as a school nurse in international schools, travelled extensively, and volunteered with several charities supporting children from less privileged backgrounds and assisting the elderly in local communities."
CET is a new model of care, shifting the focus towards health promotion and the wellbeing of individuals in the community. The service Devi manages conceptualises support around the people who have mental health needs by providing preventative, early intervention-based support and by prevent ing relapse.
The multidisciplinary team includes a lead psychologist, lead occupational therapist, assistant psychologist, associate mental health workers, and a community engagement practitioner with lived experience from the voluntary sector.
Join our free webinars
To mark this week, our Talking Therapies teams will be hosting a series of mental health webinars.
Join the free, bite-sized webinars exploring key mental health topics. Each webinar is just 30 minutes – perfect for a lunchtime or evening check-in.
More information and how to sign up, here.
More resources and information
Our research partner, University College London (UCL) will be sharing throughout the week lots of resources, videos and podcast episodes to showcase their interdisciplinary research in mental health and wellbeing. Visit their website to find out more.
You can also visit the Mental Health Foundation website for more tips and helpful information on how you can improve and look after your mental health.
