Bereaved father is helping mental health trust move forward with care
On Carers’ Rights Day, Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) focuses on the work it is doing to include carers in all stages of a service user’s care and treatment.
The father of a teenage girl who took her own life is working with mental health services to improve how it includes carers and families in care planning.
NSFT’s Think Family and Carer project is looking at “life-saving” work to improve awareness of how carers can give valuable insight into a person’s mental health and break down any barriers to their involvement.
Trevor Stevens’ daughter Tobi took her own life in December 2020 aged 19. Since then, he has been campaigning for parents to be informed when their children, of any age, are involved in a mental health crisis or suicide attempt.
His message is: "The question should not be 'is there a good enough reason to involve parents' - but 'is there a good enough reason not to?’”
With this year’s Carers’ Rights Day theme set as “recognising your rights”, it is a timely reminder of the importance of carer and family input into care planning.
Carers lead Jill Curtis said: “Service users may have several people in their lives who know them from different perspectives - friends, families, carers - so we must make sure we know who they are and get any insight we can when considering treatment and ongoing care”.
NSFT is using the national Listening into Action (LiA) programme to embed improvements. The Think Family LiA group has been working on improving information the Trust obtains and records from carers and families.
NSFT psychologist Deidre Williams said: “We are talking to teams to improve awareness and overcome any barriers they may have with carers and families. We want this to be life-saving work.”
Trevor said he would like to see all NHS organisations working together to save lives. “It is the family who have to pick up the pieces after this kind of tragedy so we should be informed if there is concern for someone’s safety.”
He never thought Tobi would take her own life. “All the signs we saw made it seem she was over the worst. If we had been made aware of Tobi’s deteriorating mental health, we may have been able to save her.”
He said friends and family should not be scared about talking to someone about their mental health and suicide. “Be brave. There is no evidence that talking to someone who is thinking about suicide will make them go ahead.”
Most people at some point in their life will become an unpaid carer in one way or another. They may need to juggle several roles, requiring help to connect them to opportunities and support available.
There are approximately 250,000 unpaid carers across Norfolk and Suffolk. Carers lead Neil Broadway said: “Carer’s Rights Day is an important reminder, but the support and recognition carers deserve should extend far beyond just one day. Every day, unpaid carers make an incredible impact, and we must ensure they receive the rights, resources and respect they need, all year round.”
NSFT Chief Nurse Anthony Deery recognised the importance of meaningfully engaging with carers to obtain their knowledge of the person as part of care planning. “Carers and families are the closest people to those who are using our services so their views are vital as we work towards making what we do safer, kinder and better,” he said.
Mr Top Hat
Mr Top Hat was a little man Tobi drew on birthday and Christmas cards when she was a girl. They were all signed ‘from Tobi and Mr Top Hat’ and were accompanied by this illustration.
Trevor uses the Mr Top Hat sticker to remind people of what happened and says:
‘Mr Top Hat wants to encourage you to talk to parents and keep them informed even if you’ve been asked not to do so and may be breaching confidentiality. If you are sitting with a young person and you’re hesitant about doing so, Mr Top Hat would urge you to think this:
The question to ask yourself should not be: ‘Is there a good enough reason to involve parents?’ BUT: ‘Is there a good enough reason not to?’
NSFT Carer Ambassador programme
Carer Ambassadors at NSFT ensure the voices of carers are heard and valued by focusing on enhancing contact and involvement and good communication between staff, families and carers.
Lucia Hanning became an ambassador in August 2023 in the Secure Service Community Team for Norfolk and Suffolk.
She said: “I believe that it is vital that, as a community team manager, I should be an ambassador and understand all aspects of working with identified carers.
“I work closely with the lead nurse and have regular support sessions to ensure staff understand the process of involving carers as well as monthly ambassador team meetings, monthly locality meetings and monthly carer network meetings.”
“In the last 15 months we have improved our processes and support for carers and service users. This has been evident from feedback and audits. We have developed support catch-ups and continue to review and identify other improvements,” she said. This has also included using The Triangle of Care (TOC) assessment/audit which helps review and support the work.