Artwork by people living with dementia and their carers has transformed a refurbished mental health centre on Brewery Road, creating a fresh vibrant space, which offers a new setting for health, wellbeing, and cognitive stimulation therapies.

The North London Mental Health Partnership has invested in new clinics in the community to provide localised care to those who need it.

Art therapy is one of the many activities older adults living with early-onset dementia can take part in.

Islington Memory Service worked with the charity Arts 4 Dementia, and local artist Melissa Fry, providing sessions for people with early stage Dementia, to produce artworks inspired by local Islington landmarks.

A team from Barry Morgan Limited, the building company who built the space, donated their time and expertise to install the artwork.

Ian Sherriffs, Head of Service for Ageing and Mental Health in the Camden Division of the North London Mental Health Partnership, said “The space was very white, very bland, very clinical. We wanted to create a different health setting, one that was welcoming, creative and service user led. The collaboration with Arts 4 Dementia and Melissa Fry has achieved this with great success and we now have a unique space for people to receive support with their mental health, assessments for memory concerns, cognitive stimulation therapy groups (to name a few) that can be celebrated.”

"The space now celebrates how you can live well with dementia. If your sense of belonging is diminishing, having a space that reminds you of your community, sense of self, and those around you, is extremely important. This is what we have tried to achieve with this space.

"As part of our Older Adult Clinical Strategy, the provision of flexible and responsive care until end of life is an essential element of the care offered. Within Camden and Islington Memory Services, this is central to everything we do.

“This is a really good example of service user involvement, collaboration with wider external partners, and not just a health project”

We are working closely with the voluntary sector to provide more joined-up and holistic care for our service users and carers. This month, we caught up with Roberta Mazur, pictured on the right, who is the Arts Manager, at Arts 4 Dementia.

Arts 4 Dementia is a UK charity, working with arts venues to provide training and develop arts programmes to people with early-stage dementia and their carers. Their ethos is empowerment through artistic stimulation.

Roberta said: "This has been the perfect collaboration.. The project is a service-user driven project, in a familiar care setting, using a holistic approach where everyone brings their own expertise to the table to create a powerful and inspiring message and leave a legacy.

"Eric and Jackie are a father and daughter who attended the sessions. They used to walk in Finsbury Park when Jackie was a child, now they walk there again on lunch breaks after Eric’s diagnosis. When creating her print, Jackie wanted to look at Finsbury Park in a new way and create a new memory with her dad, on top of the memories they had before from childhood."

"Following the overwhelming success of this project, we are hoping to do further work with the NHS."

"We want to empower and inspire people to learn something new. This is as much for the carers and the companions as it is for the people with Dementia. We encourage people to come to workshops with their loved ones. It creates something new within their daily routine, different from the monotony of their daily life.”

Click here to find out more about Arts 4 Dementia.

For the last 3 years, community teams in Enfield have been working on a new model of access and care for people experiencing mental health issues.  

Access into the service is now more integrated through closer working with external partners, such as the voluntary sector, to make sure service users and carers get the support they need.

The aim of the transformation is to move towards a “needs-based” point of entry into the service, so people have access to the right care depending on the complexity of their needs.

By offering those with mild to moderate levels mental health problems wellbeing and prevention options, the team is aiming to:

• Reduce waiting lists for specialists’ services
• Stop patients’ mental health from deteriorating while they wait for treatment
• Reduce the number of A&E attendances and hospital admissions
• support people in the community to prevent re-admission

The teams use DIALOG+ care planning tool, a management and supervision tool (MaST) to enable service users and carers to co-produce the service user’s journey, improve their experience.

Erika Paula, who is the Partnership's community transformation lead in Enfield said:

“This model is one of the first truly integrated front doors to community care. We have worked closely with service users and carers to co-produce the model so that it works for the people who need our support.

"Working closely with community organisations across Enfield means we look at care holistically and offer support in lots of different areas of their lives. For example, employment, relationships, and housing; all things that we know impact mental health.

"DIALOG+ is a great innovation to care planning that we use every day with our service users to look at the main areas in their lives that need improvement. Thank you to everyone who has been involved in this work, it is a fantastic achievement.”

If you would like more information on the model, please contact Erika Paula - e.paula@nhs.net

The Dalmar Heritage and Family Development Project invited DIALOG+ Lived Experience Facilitator Selina Aktar to share information about the DIALOG+ care planning tool with a Somali women's support group.

DIALOG+ is a holistic care plan which supports a guided conversation between a healthcare professional and a service user. The assessment entails a set of 13 questions, where a service user is asked to rate their satisfaction and their care across different parts of their life and treatment. It helps to guide a structured conversation between a health care professional and service user that is patient centred with a focus on change.

Aisha Mohamed, one of the project managers of the Dalmar Heritage and Family Development Project, organised a coffee morning with Selina and the women last month. The women engaged with the DIALOG+ tool by completing an assessment together. There were interesting conversations in the group around the stigmas associated with mental wellbeing. Faith and culture were also discussed.

Some attendees reflected that when they were younger they were told to “just get on with things” rather than accessing mental health support and that they didn’t want this for their children and families.

Selina said: "It felt good to be part of this group even for a short time as it was evident that the participants felt safe and reassured by each other. It left me thinking: how can we embed this within our services and make our environments more engaging and safe for all our communities."

Barnet Council has launched a Mental Health Charter, to actively support people living and working in the borough and foster a culture of well-being. 

The Charter has been designed with the Barnet Together Alliance and received input from over 200 residents and 30 organisations across the borough.  

Councillor Alison Moore, Cabinet Member for Health & Wellbeing and Chair of the Health & Wellbeing Board, said:

“The Charter is a key part of our shared work with our communities to make Barnet more inclusive and to tackle inequality. One in four people have mental health problems at some point in their lives, and it is often a hidden condition still seen by some in society as a stigma. We need to change attitudes about this, which will also help people feel comfortable and confident to get the help they need. The charter is an example of how we’re working with residents and partners to address this.”

Click here to find out more about the Barnet Mental Health Charter. 

Young people from North London who are recovering from poor mental health are being given the chance to design, create and sell a range of T-shirts as part of a project that sets them on course for a career in the fashion industry. 

Fashion-Enter Ltd (FEL) is working with North London Mental Health Partnership for the project, called Hope-FX, which gives ten young adults a chance to produce their own unique, t-shirt design and see it all the way from a sketch to the high street.

They will receive wrap-around support and tuition from the FEL team for up to six months, and will be given training in fashion illustration, pattern cutting, sewing skills, traditional and digital printing techniques, and state-of-the-art digital ethical technologies.

North London Mental Health Partnership is undergoing a community transformation of the services we provide for young people in North London. Part of this is about meaningful partnerships that empowers young people to have equal opportunities to access and be part of their communities. 

Dr Nina Browne, Clinical Community Psychologist for the North London Mental Health Partnership, said: “This is an incredible opportunity to work together to learn how we can build meaningful partnerships across our communities and industries. We want to create more capacity outside of our clinic settings for young people to thrive and develop in the real world.”

To find out more, please visit our website

There are lots of activities in and around our five boroughs, led by local council partners and community groups, to help support positive wellbeing and good mental health. Here’s a selection of some regular activities, online sessions or extra support currently available

1. The Age UK London team invite you to their online winter health event on Thursday 30 November from 11am-1pm. To find out more and book your free place, click here. If you are having any problems registering your details, then please email Sharon on stynan@ageuklondon.org.uk

2. Conversation Café is for people whose first language is not English and who would like to improve their speaking skills. The sessions cover a variety of subjects and topics to help you gain confidence in speaking English in a fun, relaxed and welcoming environment. Click here to find out more about these sessions, at Burnt Oak Library, Barnet

3. Kooth offers free, safe and anonymous online wellbeing and mental health support for young people aged 11 to 18 - and it's now available in Camden. If you live in Camden, you can sign up now for confidential support through a text-based conversation with a qualified counsellor.

4. Healthwatch Enfield will be holding an information event at Edmonton Green library on 4 December. The team will be stationed right by the entrance and people will be able to have a chat about current events and get a free blood pressure check if they like to. Click here for more. 

5. Whittington Health NHS Trust are developing plans for a new ‘Integrated Health Hub’ in Wood Green, offering a range of joined-up services to provide better access to care and support for Haringey residents. Click here to find out more about these two events, where you can tell them what you think...

6. Age UK Islington invite all over 50s to their weekly Lego Get Togethers on Thursdays from 1.30-3.30pm. Lego building is a fun and interactive activity, which can help build cognitive and motor skills, be a stress-buster that helps you feel more relaxed, and also help those with dementia. Click here to find out more!

7. Please don't forget your Autumn flu and COVID vaccine boosters! Find out if you're eligible and book here