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Staff, volunteers and people we support recognised at ENRICH Awards 2019

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Winning Kensington and Chelsea team

Staff, volunteers and people we support at Richmond Fellowship came together to celebrate the outstanding work happening across the organisation at the ENRICH Awards.

The awards, which took place on Thursday 21 March at London Metropolitan University, are based on Richmond Fellowship’s six organisational values (Enabling, Networking, Respect, Inclusion, Community and Hope).

Over 124 nominations were received across 10 categories – with over 50 nominations alone for the Inspiring Individual Staff Award category.

The winners:

Excellence in Innovation
Winner: Lowther Street Crisis House
Highly Commended: Macclesfield Homeless and Complex Needs Service and Trevayler Care Home

The nominees enjoying some Bhangra Drumming

Excellence in Partnership Working
Winner: East Surrey Work Programme
Highly Commended: My Time Domestic Violence Perpetrator Programme and Tyne, Wear and Northumberland Liaison and Diversion Service

Excellence in Engagement
Winner: RF Connect (Internal case management system)
Highly Commended: Pele Tower and Wiltshire Recovery and Social Inclusion Service

Excellence in Inclusion
Winner: Kensington and Chelsea Supported Housing Service
Highly Commended: Suffolk Recovery and The Old Moat

Hope Award: Nominated by the People We Support
Winner: Leicestershire Life Links
Highly Commended: Mid and West Surrey Employment Service and North West Surrey Employment Service

Ayesha receiving her Chief Executive’s Award from Derek Caren

Central Services Team Recognition Award
Winner: Communications and Marketing
Highly Commended: Learning and Development and Business Development

Inspiring Individual Staff Award
Winners: Christine (Locality Manager, Midlands), Simon (Employment Advisor, Mid and West Surrey Employment Service)
Highly Commended: Damian (Recovery Worker, Kensington and Chelsea Supported Housing Service), Emily (Group Internal Communications Officer), Hannah (Employment Advisor, Kirklees Employment Service), Rachael (Community Link Worker, Tyne, Wear and Northumberland Liaison and Diversion Service) and Stephen (Recovery Worker, Tower House)

Inspiring Individual People We Support Award
Winner: Angela (Suffolk Recovery)
Highly Commended: Berenice (Cambridge Employment Service) and Ethan (Redcar and Cleveland Supported Housing Service)

Volunteer Recognition Award
Winners: Ste (Working Together Committee) and Miriam (Funding and Development Volunteer, DVIP)
Highly Commended: Elizabeth (Recovery Workshops Assistant, Wiltshire Recovery and Social Inclusion Service)

Chief Executive’s Award
Winner: Ayesha (Recovery Worker, Moorview Supported Housing Service)

Derek Caren, Chief Executive of Richmond Fellowship said:

‘The ENRICH Awards celebrate the outstanding work and achievements that take place across Richmond Fellowship. This year was made extra special as we are celebrating 60 years of Richmond Fellowship. As a member of the judging panel, I was blown away by all of the nominations we received and I would like to congratulate each and every individual and team who were nominated. I would also like to personally thank our sponsors: Bob Rehill, CDP Soft, Energycentic, Castleton, uMarketeers, Yuuzuu, MEA, Kainos and Lloyds Bank for helping to make the awards so special’.

Richmond Fellowship recognised for promoting equality and diversity

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Richmond Fellowship has once again been placed in the top 100 organisations for promoting diversity, equality and inclusion by the National Centre for Diversity (NCFD).

Richmond Fellowship was ranked number 92 in the country, in recognition of its work to promote diversity, inclusiveness and equality across the organisation.

Tracey Bell, Director of Performance, Quality and Innovation at Richmond Fellowship said:

“It’s great news that in 2019 we are again ranked in the top 100. We’re incredibly proud of our diverse workforce and the range of experience our staff bring to supporting people using our services. This achievement is down to the hard work and commitment of everyone in Richmond Fellowship to promoting diversity and inclusion and to working together with the people we support to shape our services.

I am particularly proud that Richmond Fellowship’s mean gender pay gap, at 5.93%, is significantly lower that the not for profit sector average of 19.4%. Also that, while we recognise there is always more for us to do, 82% of staff in Richmond Fellowship feel that their colleagues work in accordance with the principles of Fairness, Respect, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.”

Richmond Fellowship also holds Investors in Diversity status in recognition of its work to provide opportunities for people living with mental ill health and to ensure diversity right across the organisation.

NHS Long Term Plan Comment

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In response to the publication of the NHS Long Term Plan, Derek Caren, Chief Executive of Richmond Fellowship said:

We welcome the focus on mental ill health in the long term funding plan. Currently, there is massive pressure on facilities with the result that many people are not getting the help they need quickly enough or near enough to their families and friends.

For example, only last week, a woman in one of our crisis services who needed to be accommodated under the Mental Health Act had to go over 300 miles away from home to get a bed.

We hope that this plan will result in a real step change in the way mental health services are viewed and resourced.

Independent Review of the Mental Health Act

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Last year the Prime Minister announced an Independent Review of the Mental Health Act – which sets out when a person can be detained and treated in hospital against their wishes – to look at how it is used and how it can be improved.

Over the course of 2018, the Review has heard from thousands of people who have been detained under the Act, and from their families and carers, about their experiences.

The Independent Review has now published its final report with around 150 recommendations for change. The Prime Minister has welcomed the report and announced that the Government plans to bring forward a new mental health bill.

Derek Caren, Chief Executive of Richmond Fellowship commented:

As Richmond Fellowship approaches its 60th anniversary in 2019, we’re celebrating our history and looking forward to positive changes ahead.

The development of our community based services coincided with a previous Mental Health Act of 1959, which helped establish the pathway for many people to leave hospital and live in the community. We strongly welcome and endorse the recommendations of the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act of 1983.

Strengthening people’s rights and their ability to challenge decisions under the Act when people are at their most vulnerable is a key development and necessary improvement to deliver better mental health services. We want to see these changes enacted by the Government as soon as possible alongside further investment in community based preventative services to reduce the number of people who are being detained.

Read more →

Good employment is good for mental health

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Blog post by Steve Smith-Trask, Managing Director, Richmond Fellowship (South)

Everyone likes to complain about work – yet employment is proven to give us many personal benefits beyond a salary. From a social network to social status, developing self-esteem to developing new skills, employment is good for us. Being out of work can increase the risks of ill health and disease, and can have a particularly negative effect on an individual’s mental health.

Yet, studies have also shown that 1 in 6 employees are currently living with mental health problems; a study by Mind shows that fewer than half of these people feel able to tell their employers. The theme for World Mental Health Day 2017 is mental health and work, a pressing issue in today’s society.

That’s why employment services are one of the five types of support we provide at Richmond Fellowship. With 28 employment services across England, whether someone needs support to find work or to retain employment, our employment advisors provide individualised support for people living with mental health problems.

What does that mean in practice?

Our employment advisors get to know the person, not the CV.

It means that we don’t have targets to meet or quotas to fill. Instead, our focus is on the individual. We work with each person who uses our service to develop a plan based on their own strengths, experiences and goals, being mindful of the mental health problems they are living with. Our employment advisors get to know the person, not the CV. We believe that people using our services can achieve their goals, and we see our role as supporting them. It’s not a tick box exercise. It’s about working together to achieve each person’s goals.

At Richmond Fellowship, we believe that good employment is good for health. What that looks like will be different for each person. We don’t make assumptions about the kind of work that would be suitable for them. For some people that may mean an entry-level job; for others, that may mean a senior management position. Part-time or full-time, permanent or contract work – we work with you to help you achieve the outcome that is right for you.

Good employment is good for health.

It’s crucial that the people who use our services guide their own experience with Richmond Fellowship and have full ownership over their action plan. To help achieve this, we have recently developed a new web app called Aspire. Created by digital production company Mindwave Ventures, Aspire is a flexible, intuitive, and easy to use online portal to help us better support people in the digital age. Aspire allows people who use our services to work collaboratively with their employment advisor to build their action plan, track the steps they are taking, and tick off goals as they are achieved. We’ve had really positive feedback from our piloting of the scheme, and are rolling out across all of our employment services soon.

At the heart of everything we do is the belief that good employment is good for mental health. Our role is to empower the people who use our services to achieve their employment goals, and live their best life.

 

Isle of Wight Opens New Mental Health Community Safe Haven

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The first Isle of Wight Community Safe Haven service has been launched in Newport.  The service, which will initially run as a one-year pilot, has been developed in response to community feedback as part of the work to look at redesigning health and care services last year under the My Life a Full Life new care model. Read more →

Sky dive for mental health awareness

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emma-sky-diveAn Isle of Wight Woman will jump 10,000ft to raise money and awareness for mental health services on the island with a charity sky dive.

Emma Gerring, 31, from Cowes is the registered manager of a local care home and is taking on her challenge to support national mental health charity Richmond Fellowship and their services on the island. Read more →

New service to improve mental wellbeing in Wiltshire

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We’ve launched a new ‘one stop shop’ service to support people with mental health problems in Wiltshire.Wiltshire council

The Wiltshire Recovery and Social Inclusion Service will support people living with mental health problems to improve their wellbeing through a combination of community and specialist support. It’s being funded by Wiltshire Council and NHS Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group. Read more →

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Richmond Fellowship is part of Recovery Focus, a group of charities with the shared aim to Inspire Recovery Together www.recoveryfocus.org.uk

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