Each month, we showcase a service to let you know how they are supporting people across our five boroughs. This month, we caught up with Bea Doherty from Twining Enterprise.

Since 1995, Twining Enterprise have been providing employment support to individuals with mental health challenges across London. Today, they remain at the forefront, constantly evolving to meet future and existing challenges. Originally formed out of a local mental health day service in the 1990s by staff and service users who wanted to develop support into employment for people with mental health challenges, their mission remains the same.

Twining Enterprise’s Barnet and Haringey employment support services are designed to help individuals with severe and enduring mental health challenges find and sustain positive work. They strongly believe in the healing power of good work, and the critical role it plays in mental health recovery.

Using the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model, their Employment Specialists meet regularly with clients experiencing mental health challenges to identify any barriers, create work and life goals, and work towards achieving those in a way that empowers and supports clients to thrive. Twining Enterprise also work closely with local employers to find suitable job opportunities, help clients understand how paid work may impact on any benefits received, and unlike some other similar services, continue to provide in-work support for as long as the client needs.

Service benefits to clients include a greater sense of purpose and wellbeing, as well as an all-important income during a ‘cost of living’ crisis.  The NHS also benefits with an overall reduction in the use of primary and secondary mental health services, leading to improved efficiency and financial savings.  There is also a benefit to wider society, by minimising spending from the public purse, helping to extend resources to other public health services.

Service Director, Bea Doherty, (pictured) commented, “We have an excellent track record in helping clients with complex needs gain and retain work, and our experienced team of Employment Specialists are always standing by to help.  If you live in Barnet or Haringey, are unemployed and currently receiving support from an NHS secondary care mental health team, then we can help you.”

If you would like more information, please contact Twining Enterprise on info@twiningenterprise.org.uk or call 020 8840 8833. We look forward to hearing from you!

As part of our community transformation programme 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 Toni Wilkley, (pictured) from Likewise.

“Hello, my name is Toni. I work for Likewise, a wellbeing charity based in Swiss Cottage. We work in partnership with Mind in Camden to offer 1-to-1 support work and community development work across the three Camden Core Teams. In doing so, we offer a relational, person-centred and community-based approach to mental health support.”

“In my role, I’m the Likewise Strategy Lead for the Core Teams. Part of this role involves developing transformative ways of working within the Camden core teams to live out the values outlined in the Community Mental Health Framework.” 

“Working closely with other services and staff within the Core Teams means that there are opportunities for shared learning and collaborative thinking about a person’s support. Joint assessments and Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) meetings provide opportunities for a more holistic approach to supporting someone’s wellbeing.”

She added: “We are able to work together with clinical staff to bring out the unique experiences and perspectives of clients referred to the core team. This offers a more holistic type of support that considers the role of psychosocial issues and other mental health determinants. By focusing on the powerful role of community, we are able to work with staff to develop a preventative model of place-based care that serves the complex needs of clients in non-clinical spaces such as community centres and hubs, where they can feel relaxed and comfortable.”

To find out more about Likewise and the support they offer, visit their website: https://likewise.org.uk/

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.

We've been training our staff across the five boroughs over the last 18 months and started rolling out use across our community teams from June. We are pleased to see its use increasing with our service users. 

Please email beh-tr.dialogbeh@nhs.net if you are:

• wanting to find out more about DIALOG+
• a clinician wanting to be trained on how to conduct a DIALOG+ assessment 
• would like to refer a service user for a DIALOG+ assessment

Our teams across Barnet, Enfield and Haringey are now using a Management and Supervision Tool (MaST). MaST supports our staff within community mental health teams as they deal with rising caseloads and increasing numbers of service users with complex mental health problems.

Management and Supervision Tool (MaST) has a powerful and easy to use dashboard which uses predictive analytics to identify those people who are most likely to require crisis services such as A&E, community crisis services or inpatient care. MaST supports improved caseload management.  It also ensures decision-making about resource allocation is based on service user needs.

By providing insight into people’s risk of using crisis services and identifying those who may benefit from a review of their care, this more structured approach to decision-making improves resource management and supports better care.

Please watch this video to hear our Enfield Core Team’s experience of using MaST.

Read more about MaST here.

As the UK becomes ‘digital by default’, where certain services are only available to access online and no longer in paper format, millions of older people are being excluded from being able to access and use the essential public services they need, such as booking medical appointments and paying for parking, as they may not have access to, or the skills to use, technology.

Age UK want to end the discrimination against older people who are not online and ensure that everyone has a choice of using services by phone, by post or in person. So far, 33,000 people have signed their petition to ask that all public services must offer accessible offline alternatives.

If you would like to view the petition and add your own name, click the links below for both the online and offline versions. Feel free to circulate amongst your own networks. 

View and sign the digital version

Download a paper version to print off

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. Following the launch of the Mayor's Age Friendly Action Plan, this article addresses the areas of housing, transportation, public spaces and employment and skills where change is needed and details the initiatives already put in place. You can also read a blog written by Pippa Mannerings, Age-friendly coordinator at Age UK Barnet, the most recent borough to announce they had become age-friendly.

2. Interested in learning a new skill, getting active, and meeting new people? There is a weekly social tennis session in Haringey. There is a weekly session on Tuesdays from 1.30pm - 3.30pm. During the winter months, this will take place indoors, at Chestnuts Community Centre, 280 St Ann's Road, London N15 5BN. When the weather is warmer and it's dry, the sessions will take place outdoors. The events are free to attend. View the poster and complete the application form. 

3. Healthwatch Islington would like to share with you their December newsletter detailing what they've been working on in partnership with The North London Mental Health Partnership. Click here for important updates on White Ribbon Day, Minority Matters, Community ‘upcycling’, NRPF - Asylum support, Youth safety strategy, and the latest developments at the Arsenal community hub.

4. Good Thinking UK have released a guide to winter wellbeing, offering practical tips to help you stay mentally healthy in the months ahead. Click here to read it.