News

Our north London communities are benefitting from expertise which sets the national standard in mental health care, with two colleagues making their mark by sharing their knowledge, innovation and experience more widely. Their expertise is helping to influence best practice, shape services and showcase the outstanding work we give every day to our service users.

Dr Eilis Kennedy

Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist Dr Eilis Kennedy has been appointed a Presidential Lead at the Royal College of Psychiatrists. In addition to her substantive role at NLFT, Eilis will provide leadership, expertise and insight to the RCPsych and how it shapes policy and practice across early life health, her area of expertise.    

Eilis has a longstanding interest in early life health and how this influences trajectories across the life-course. She has been a lead and co-investigator on research studies which have evaluated interventions, across the prevention and treatment continuum, in pregnancy, infancy and early childhood.

As Presidential Lead she will support and advise the President and College Officers in all matters relating to early life health, as well as leading on the development and delivery of relevant projects.

Read more about her and the role: Dr Eilis Kennedy (Presidential Lead)

 

Dr Panos Vythoulkas

Perinatal clinical psychologist Dr Panos Vythoulkas spoke to The Guardian Latest news, sport and opinion from the Guardian about domestic abuse in pregnancy, following the release of new research estimating that 20,000 cases of domestic abuse are disclosed to maternity services in England each year.

Panos works in our Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Service Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Service | North London NHS Foundation Trust , a community based mental health service providing specialist assessment and treatment for women experiencing mental health difficulties during pregnancy and the postnatal period. 

He spoke about how pregnancy can intensify abusive behaviour when a controlling partner feels threatened by the arrival of a baby and the shift in attention, priorities and family dynamics. Panos noted that while some abusers may welcome a pregnancy initially, they can later exploit the increased financial, practical and emotional pressures that often come with parenthood by restricting access to money, support networks or healthcare.

Read the full article here: ‘I thought the baby would change him’: the women whose pregnancies are blighted by domestic abuse | Domestic violence | The Guardian

 

Congratulations to Eilis and Panos. Their contributions highlight the expertise that exists across NLFT and demonstrate the important role our colleagues play in advancing knowledge, setting the standard of best practice and improving outcomes for patients and communities. We are proud to see their work recognised on national platforms, helping to raise the profile of both their specialist fields and the high-quality care, research and innovation delivered across our Trust every day.