The National Service User Awards are an annual celebration of the achievements of those accessing mental health, learning disability and autism services nationwide. This year the awards ceremony was held in the Treetops Pavilion at the West Midlands Safari Park.
Vicki was nominated in the Hope and Positivity category for her Makaton Training.
Vicki has been working hard since being at Cygnet Elms to teach other service users and staff the sign language Makaton. Vicki set up weekly sessions with both service users and staff in group settings and in 1:1 tutorials. Vicki is very patient and is a great teacher and leader.
After winning the award Vicki said: “It is really overwhelming, but in a really good way. It just makes me feel proud of what I’ve done and proud of all the patients and staff that I’ve taught.”
On what inspired her to begin teaching Makaton, Vicki said: “I feel like the world should be more accessible to everybody and I really think that even in schools they should teach Makaton rather than foreign languages because people are more likely to meet someone who is deaf, autistic or learning disabled than they are to go to France.”
Rebecca Sewell, Occupational Therapist at Cygnet Elms, said: “Everyone at Cygnet Elms is very proud of what Vicki has achieved. Her Makaton Training has had a real positive impact on the service users and the staff at the service. Her knowledge and teaching is helping Elms to become a more inclusive service catering to everyone’s communication needs. It is great that her hard work has been recognised by the National Service User Awards.”
In addition to Vicki there were also four other projects from Cygnet services that made it to the final, including two others from Cygnet Elms. These were:
Autism Training, Cygnet Elms – Finalist in the Lived Experience Leader Award category
An autism awareness training package has been co-produced for all Cygnet staff and service users. The training covers how people with autism are affected and how staff can best support them. The training is currently being delivered to Cygnet staff, facilitated by the service user and assistant psychologist.
Cygnet celebrating Diversity and Culture, East Hampton Ward, Cygnet Hospital Bury – Finalist in the Celebrating Diversity Award category
Cygnet employs staff from various countries from around the world and a service user on East Hampton Ward thought it would be a good idea if all of these staff were recognized, for the goodness they bring with them to service users within Cygnet. During one of the service user’s IT sessions they decided to look at the many flags of the world to see whether they could paint these up within the boundaries of the ward garden and make it visible.
Lee Millington-Millar, Cygnet Hospital Kewstoke – Finalist in the Lived Experience Leader Award category
Lee has commenced as an Expert by Experience and within a year has grown his reach to four hospitals spanning across the South West. Lee is working collaboratively alongside clinical teams at sites enhancing service user voice. He has helped elevate People’s Council and bridge the gap between service user feedback and our actions to respond.
Man Chat, Phoenix Ward, Cygnet Hospital Wyke – Finalist in the Community and Collaboration Award category
Service users at Cygnet Hospital Wyke have formed a support group called “Man chat,” which has been entirely led by service users, from the idea, name of the group, rules, posters, independently coming up with group questions/topics, and nominating different service users to lead the group each week.
Charity Car Wash, Cygnet Elms – Finalist in the Hope and Positivity Award category
A fund raising event for Guide Dogs for the Blind raised £150 for the charity. Hard work through valeting cars generated the donations. The fund raiser was the service user’s own initiative and was ran independently, seeking her own participants.
Congratulations again to Vicki and to all of our finalists.
Well done and thank you also to all the Cygnet service users and residents who took part in the awards as members of the event planning team, as service user judges and also those who took part on the day as speakers and in the entertainment slots.