Cardiff & Vale Health Charity has recently supported a bid for funds to help improve the environment for service users, their families and staff at the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) at St. David’s Hospital.
The bid enabled the CAMHS service to provide new decoration, furniture and accessories for their communal areas and therapy rooms from charitable funds. The aim of this project was to help facilitate a more relaxed, modern, safe and welcoming environment for all service users, their families and staff.
Twelve months ago, a group of 12 young people volunteered to review the accommodation and facilities at the CAMHS service. The young people were members of the Health Board’s Youth Board or Cardiff Council Youth Council and the majority had lived experience of the CAMHS service.
The group did a full walk around of the accommodation and facilities to assess the environment, identifying opportunities and making suggesting ideas for improvement to the environmental experience which provided the basis for the bid application.
Before:
Mental health and emotional wellbeing are such important issues in adolescent development, supporting young people to maintain good mental health is becoming a challenge that society as a whole is facing. Those that are referred into the CAMHS service are some of the most vulnerable young people, experiencing severe mental health difficulties which will be impacting on all facets of their lives.
At such a vulnerable time in their lives, it is important that young people feel safe and comfortable to share their inner most thoughts and difficult experiences. Their time and experience with the service is a really important part of their recovery journey.
The facilities play such an important part in the overall experience of a young person in the CAMHS service, if they don’t feel comfortable in their environment, they may not feel comfortable to truly open up about the issues they are experiencing.
The Health Charity was proud to support this project and help make a difference to the environment for service users, their families and staff. Here are some photos to show the improvements to the environment.
After:
Katie Simpson, Service Manager for CYP Emotional Wellbeing & Mental Health and Lindsay Lowe, Care Group Administration/Operational Manager for Children, Young People and Families Health Services worked closely together with the Health Charity Team, Engie and Poppi Contract Furniture to make these improvements and were delighted with how the project has dramatically improved the CAMHS Service area.
Lindsay said “As you can see from the before and after pictures; the waiting area and clinic rooms within the CAMHS service have seen a dramatic improvement thanks to the support of the Health Charity.
“The previous furnishings did not provide service users and their families with a relaxed, comfortable, safe environment which is important to the type of care required. The overall experience with our service is a really important part of the recovery journey and if service users do not feel comfortable in their environment, they may not feel comfortable to truly open up about the issues they are experiencing.
“The new furniture, painted walls and potted plants now provide a relaxed / modern theme that is more appealing and relevant to the age of services users which has been expressed in the amazing feedback received. Staff are also delighted with their new and improved clinic rooms.
“We would like to thank the Health Charity and all those who have supported and helped us achieve this amazing transformation”.
The Health Charity have also funded a new water refill station which will be installed in the CAMHS area later this month and then the project will be complete.
To find out more about how the Health Charity can help make a difference in your area please visit: www.healthcharity.wales or email fundraising.cav@wales.nhs.uk