Northamptonshire News

A new survey, commissioned by mental health charity St Andrew’s Healthcare, has revealed that, despite increased understanding of common mental health problems, complex conditions such as schizophrenia and borderline personality disorder (BPD) are still hugely misunderstood. Many of the people surveyed admitted they would be nervous, fearful, and in some cases stop seeing a person…

Keith Jenkins, Lead Psychologist for St. Andrew’s Hospital Brain Injury Rehabilitation and Care Integrated Practice Unit (IPU), has won this year’s Alyson Plummer Memorial Award. The Memorial Award – named after Alyson Plummer, a brilliant Occupational Therapist who passed away in 2005 – is given annually to a nominated member of staff to recognise brilliance…

At St Andrew’s Healthcare, we are focused on building our reputation for high quality care and treatment for patients with histories of offending and other risk behaviours. St Andrews is currently undergoing a major transformation to become a world leader in Value-Based Healthcare. As part of that programme we have established 15 Integrated Practice Units…

We’re proud to announce that St Andrew’s Healthcare has been shortlisted for two awards, recognising the support we give to our mental health students via the ASPIRE programme. The Student Nursing Times Awards 2018 has shortlisted St Andrew’s in two separate categories; ‘Nurse Education Provider of the year (pre-registration)’ and ‘Partnership of the Year’ for…

St Andrew’s recently held a magical event for the young people in our care at FitzRoy House in celebration of ‘Harry Potter Book Night,’ which encourages people to share their love of J.K Rowling’s popular novels. There is strong evidence that reading for pleasure has many mental health benefits, and we actively encourage the people…

Arts @ StAndrew’s are offering patients on our dementia wards opportunities to express themselves and get active, thanks to a 10-week programme of dance and movement sessions. Dance artist Lucy Knight, Co-Director of Wriggle Dance Theatre, has been visiting our Northampton site to deliver the dance workshops across two wards. Lucy’s fun, relaxed sessions include…

Exercise is known as one of the most effective ways to improve your mental health, as it relieves stress and boosts your mood. Within a secure hospital such as St Andrew’s, there are some structural barriers – locked doors and controlled access to facilities, for instance – which can make exercise a little more difficult,…

We’re proud to announce that evidence given by Liz Ritchie, a Self-Care Body Image Therapist at St Andrew’s Healthcare, has been published in a new report by the Parliamentary Youth Select Committee (YSC). The report, entitled ‘A Body Confident Future’ was published on 15 November, and details the impact body image has on the wellbeing of…

St Andrew’s Healthcare and East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) are working together to improve mental health nursing students training. While ambulance staff are trained primarily to deal with physical health emergencies, they are increasingly called out to assist people experiencing mental health crisis. For these patients, timely and appropriate support from the emergency services is…

A group created by a University of Northampton graduate to improve people’s breathing through singing has branched out with the instrumental addition of harmonica classes. Singing 4 Breathing was established in 2015 by Occupational Therapy (OT) alumni James Wyatt as a project for the second year of his course. The group helps people diagnosed with…

Sport can bring communities together, and football in particular can have change the way that people think, by bringing down barriers and encouraging people to mix and work together. As we celebrate Occupational Therapy Week 2017, it’s a great time to look back at the recent St Andrew’s Community Cup – a football tournament which…

Promoted by the Royal College of Occupational Therapists, OT Week aims to raise the profile of the profession which supports people to ‘live life their way’ despite any health or care needs they may be living with. Across St Andrew’s, our 167 occupational therapy staff help people with mental illness to overcome the obstacles which…