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Providing Mental Health First Aid Training to Hatzola
- Ailbhe Brennan, Jack Hubbett, Rosalyn Buckland, Hugh Grant-Peterkin
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- Journal:
- BJPsych Open / Volume 8 / Issue S1 / June 2022
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 20 June 2022, p. S18
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- Article
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Aims
Hackney is home to the largest Charedi Orthodox Jewish community in Europe. According to the Census 2011, 7% of the population of Hackney are Charedi. Hatzola is a non-profit, volunteer organisation established in 1979 to provide pre-hospital emergency medical response and transportation to acute hospitals at no cost, to those living in and around the North London Charedi community. Given the large Charedi population served by Homerton University Hospital it is a common occurrence for psychiatry liaison staff to work side by side with Hatzola in delivering care to those in mental health crisis. Our aim was to create and nurture a professional relationship between Homerton University Hospital Psychiatry Liaison Service and Hatzola ambulance. We wanted to gain an understanding of the perception of mental illness within the Charedi community, and identify issues faced by members of Hatzola when working with those with mental illness. We wanted to identify the learning needs of Hatzola around psychiatric illness as well as increasing confidence within team members when called to manage mental health crises.
MethodsWe scheduled an initial meeting with Hatzola to gain an understanding of their service. We used questionnaires to ascertain their level of knowledge on managing mental health patients. We set out to provide teaching sessions to address Hatzola's learning needs.
We designed interactive teaching sessions based on providing mental health first aid, discussing case studies, considering the legal framework around emergency mental health. We ensured coverage of working with both adults and children with mental health difficulties. We delivered these teaching sessions in person over four consecutive weekly meetings, with the sessions being recorded to serve as an educational resource.
ResultsWe gathered qualitative evidence reflecting the impact of our intervention. We were able to compare levels of confidence among Hatzola members before and after our teaching programme.
ConclusionOur training programme was well received by Hatzola, and it was an excellent opportunity to develop links with members of the community.
We have learned that mental health is a taboo subject for members of the Charedi community, and have identified a need for more support to Hatzola in coping with the emotional toll working with mental health patients can take. There may be scope for providing further training on developing reflective practice and more emotional support for Hatzola members in future.
Referrals to liaison services for older adults with deliberate self harm during the SARS-CoV-2 national lockdown - a collaborative service evaluation using liaison referral data
- Josie Jenkinson, Kehinde Junaid, Sara Ormerod, Sunita Sahu, Hugh Grant-Peterkin, Mazen Daher, James Lee-Davey, Atilla Yetkil, Julian Beezhold, Adrian Leddy, Elizabeth Sampson, Tasnia Chowdhury, Bushra Babar, Parrthiepan Visvaratnam, Divya Vamathevan, Rogin Deylami, Tristan Sawle, Mollie Delaney, Ahoane Qureshi, Rabeya Rahman, Neelam Sharma, Kareem Pabani, Jack Hubbett, Yuki Takao, Ellie Hanton
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- Journal:
- BJPsych Open / Volume 7 / Issue S1 / June 2021
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 18 June 2021, p. S33
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- Article
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Aims
Social isolation and living alone have been associated with increased suicidality in older adults. During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, older adults were advised to keep isolated and maintain social distancing. Lockdown periods in England may have led to increased isolation and loneliness in older people, possibly resulting in an increased rates of DSH and suicide. This study aimed to explore whether numbers of older adults referred to liaison services with deliberate self harm changed during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
MethodReason for referral and total number of referrals to liaison services for older adults data were collected across 6 mental health trusts who had access to robust data sets. Data were collected prospectively for three months from the start of the UK national lockdown and for the corresponding 3 month period in 2019, via trust reporting systems. This study was registered as service evaluation within each of the participating mental health trusts.
ResultOverall numbers of referrals to older adult liaison services went down, but the proportion of referrals for older adults with DSH increased. Across the six mental health trusts there there were a total of 2167 referrals over the first three month lockdown period in 2020, and 170 (7.84%) of these referrals were for deliberate self harm. During a corresponding time period in 2019, there were a total of 3416 referrals and 155 (4.54%) of these referrals were for deliberate self harm
ConclusionAlthough numbers of referrals for older adults with delberate self harm appeared to stay the same, the severity of these presentations is not clear. Outcomes of referrals and severity of self harm could be explored by examining individual case records. As there have been subsequent lockdowns the data collection period should also be extended to include these. Triangulation with national and local datasets on completed suicide is planned.