Community engagement

South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust are dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of our communities. We are committed to working with and engaging our local communities through various platforms to ensure both the local and wider community are consulted, updated and engaged in order to achieve our mission of Making Life Better Together.

As an anchor in our local communities, we contribute beyond providing healthcare: through employment, regeneration work, raising mental health awareness and sharing good practice.

Through the community arm of the  Making Life Better Together Programme we are developing various opportunities for our community, such as work experience, engagement with a new Mental Ill-health Prevention and Recovery Programme, and our Integrated Programme is delivering investment and innovations across our sites and our services including the development of a new mixed-used community, Springfield Village.

Current Trust community engagement activities

Springfield Community

The local Springfield community receive regular updates on the transformation programme, through the Springfield Messenger  newsletter and the quarterly Springfield community forum that has been set up, made up of local residents, counsellors and organisations.

Schools and FE college engagement

In partnership with STEP and SRM, the Trust is embarking on a new programme of activities for local schools and FE colleges to take advantage of learning opportunities linked to the development of Springfield village;

• Work experience opportunities
• Site visits
• Construction and mental health workshops
• Schools have submitted designs for a new youth ‘The hangout’ shelter for the new park
• Nature artwork to brighten up the green hoardings on site
• CAMHS ask the expert session with Dr Annika Clark

Check out more information on the Springfield Village website

 

Mental Health Awareness 

The Trust supports national awareness campaigns for which we run events and workshops, as well as providing resources and signposting information to those who may need support for their mental health.

Some of the recent campaigns we have promoted are; 

• Mental Health Awareness Week was held from 10-16th May. This year the theme was 'nature'.
• Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week is dedicated to talking about mental health problems during and after pregnancy. We held a week of sessions from the 3-9th May which can be viewed on our youtube channel here  
• Infant Mental Health Awareness Week and Carers Week (swlstg.nhs.uk) - The annual campaigns were marked by a week long timetable of activities and events to raise awareness for both important causes
• Men's Mental Health Awareness Week - As part of Men's Health Awareness Week, SWLStG and Fulham Football Club Foundation partnered up with Danny Holmes, Sport Psychology Consultant for Fulham FC for an interactive webinar on mental health in Sport.

Check out our Events page or follow us on social media @SWLStG to find out more. 

Movember with Kingston Library Service

As part of Men’s Health Day on 19th November and Movember, Kingston Library Service held an 

event at Surbiton library with various activities for men to find out what is available in the Kingston Borough, and to speak with organisations regarding mental health. The Trust’s Community engagement officer attended, with Peer Engagement Worker, Owen, who presented at the event, using his own story of lived experience to highlight the importance of seeking help. Owen set the tone for the day, with many participants opening up and asking questions about managing mental health and wellbeing.

 

Mental Health in Construction - Virtual event for Carshalton College

On 9 December, Sir Robert McAlpine and South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust were invited to deliver a virtual talk focussed on mental health within the construction industry to Level 2/3 plumbing, 
electrical and carpentry students at Carshalton College. This talk covered an introduction to what mental health is, what stressors students feel at college and how these related to stressors within the construction industry, and support systems that are in place at both the college and within construction. The talk focussed on providing students with the information that they needed to continue to look after their own mental health as they progressed into work as well as how to look after their colleagues. This was an interactive session involving lots of discussion with the students, which produced some great talking points.

 

Developing Springfield Village

Construction partners STEP and the Trust’s Estate Modernisation team held an online webinar on the developments of Springfield Village for our local community. Community members joined us to find out more about the exciting new mental Health facilities that are we developing, the 32 acre park that will be available for all to use from 2023 and an update on the residential properties that are being developed by Barratt and City & Country. If you would like to catch up on the session, you can view on youtube here

 

Engagement with Mind in Kingston

As part of Mental Health Month in October, the Trust’s community engagement officer worked with Mind in Kingston to hold an online session ‘nourish the brain’ for community groups to find out about support services in Kingston to support mental health and wellbeing along some with tips and exercises.

This was followed up with a stand in Kingston Market Place on World Mental Health day, where we used this opportunity to speak to members of the public about mental health and signpost to our services.

 

Kicking off a conversation with Fulham FC Foundation

The Trust joined Fulham FC Foundation to launch their new mental health campaign ‘kick off a conversation’ at their local derby game against Queens Park Rangers on Saturday 16^th October. Our newly designed promotional leaflet was handed out to provide fans with mental health support information. 

---

Archived News and events 

South London Listens 

NHS mental health Trusts and councils have promised action to limit the pandemic’s long-term impact on the wellbeing of south Londoners at a virtual community summit.

Find out the latest on South London Listens here

Trust staff and Springfield Village partners take part in site litter pick

Volunteers from the Trust, STEP, Sir Robert McAlpine, City & Country, Barratt London, Pinnacle Power and Lawrence Baker took part in a Springfield litter pick to clear residual rubbish from the site, especially in hard to reach areas. This is a great example of members of all the development teams pulling together to take positive action to improve the local environment.

Making Life Better Together in 2021

On Wednesday 14 April we hosted a virtual community engagement event to share more on our exciting programme of investment, innovation and vision for mental health services in South West London.

If you weren't able to join the event, click here to catch-up. Download the event slides here.

Find out more information about the event here

 

For further information on community engagement please contact Emma Hill, Community Engagement Officer on emma.hill@swlstg.nhs.uk