
SLEEP TIPS - For more information and tips on sleep
Visit the Sleep Foundation - https://www.sleepfoundation.org/
#tips #keeplearningWhat is Beth?
Beth is a secure platform powered by the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (the trust) that promotes supported self-management and opportunities to improve communication between service users, carers and clinicians.
It is currently in development, more features and improvements will be added in the coming months.
Who is Beth for?
Anyone can sign up to Beth to explore wellbeing tips and recovery stories and create goals and coping strategies. If you need help or support using Beth, please email beth@slam.nhs.uk
If you are a service user at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, you can choose to connect your Beth account with your health record and care team. This will enable you to send and receive messages with your care team, share tracking, goals and coping strategies with them. Watch a YouTube video that shows you how to use each feature.
If you are a close family member, friend or carer of a service user at the trust, you can connect with their care team and let the team know how the person you support is doing.
If you are staff at the trust, you can access Beth via the icon in the top panel in ePJS. You can send and receive messages with service users and their carers and view updates that your caseload has chosen to share with you. As staff, if you need help or support using Beth, please contact the trust service desk. Watch a YouTube video that shows you how to use each feature.
Beth is powered by South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, if you are interested in using Beth in your trust or organisation, contact: DigitalServices@slam.nhs.uk
Why Beth?
Beth aims to demonstrate how personalised health records (PHRs) could enhance NHS service delivery and support people to stay well.
How does it work / what next?
Beth is built using agile development processes which enable iteration through user-centred build, test and learn cycles.
Beth integrates with the trust's clinical record system (ePJS).
The platform is being built open source and in a modular way that allows for future integrations, features and partnerships. Development of Beth so far has been funded by Maudsley Charity.
Beth will continue to grow and develop. If you are interested in using Beth in your trust or organisation or have ideas for how to add to the platform, contact: DigitalServices@slam.nhs.uk
Small improvements in our wellbeing can help to decrease some mental health problems and also help us to get more out of life.
These 5 ways to wellbeing are proven to improve personal wellbeing. Read the full document.
#KeepLearning Learning can boost self-confidence and self-esteem, help build a sense of purpose, and help us connect with others. Research shows that learning throughout life is associated with greater satisfaction and optimism, and improved ability to get the most from life.
What might you want to learn more about?
SLEEP TIPS - For more information and tips on sleep
Visit the Sleep Foundation - https://www.sleepfoundation.org/
#tips #keeplearning#GiveToOthers Doing even little things for others can give us a sense of purpose and self-worth. It can make us feel happier and more satisfied with life. Being kind to others can stimulate the reward areas in our brain, creating positive feelings. Even doing something small for someone else can give us a buzz.
How might you do something kind for someone today?
Offer someone a compliment.
But keep it short and sweet, people can feel embarrassed by over-the-top compliments.
#tips #givetoothers#TakeNotice Being in the moment, including just being aware of our thoughts, feelings, body and the world around us, can help us appreciate the little things, understand ourselves more and get the most out of being alive.
When in your day can you stop to notice what’s happening with you and around you?
Where possible try to remove distractions from your bedroom.
It is better to watch TV, play computer games and eat in another room. This will allow you to relax with no distractions in your bedroom.
#tips #takenoticeLife as a carer - seeing services steadily improving
Jaya Kathrecha’s family life was knocked off course when her two sons were diagnosed with depressive illnesses in quick succession some ten years ago.
Jaya recalls becoming “frozen and completely powerless” as a result. Not knowing which way to turn for support, and struggling to come to terms with her sons’ conditions, she found herself slipping into depression.
“As a carer you don’t understand what to do, where to go for help, and you feel paralysed.”
Today, Jaya is a changed person. She has gained a wealth of practical experience, a good understanding of legislation and how to influence policy makers.
Jaya is one of the longest-serving elected members on SLaM’s Members’ Council and also sits on Lambeth’s decision-making board for health and social care. She combines these voluntary, unpaid posts with being a carer for her two sons, one of whom, aged 29, remains in the family home while his 30-year-old brother “lives independently but with support”, Jaya explains.
Looking back, she notes: “I saw many flaws in the system, which weren’t really supporting families, carers and service users. There was also a lack of awareness of mental illness, plus the stigma, discrimination and a lack of access to services and care in Lambeth.”
Jaya, who left her home in Mauritius as a teenager, to study in the UK, says she comes from a long line of ‘powerful women’. Both her parents were politicians. A self-proclaimed optimist, she is convinced services are steadily improving and welcomes government reforms that have given greater recognition to carers.
“You have to make a stand and say why you’re not happy. But I believe that if you want to make changes, you have to be positive and make them from within the system.”
“My sons function with my support. I have pushed along many lines - social and physical - and I believe that without my support they would be much worse off. I have also managed three community projects in a voluntary capacity, so I understand the many issues people face,” she says.
As well as pouring her energies into supporting her sons and pressing for better services, Jaya has learned she also needs to look after herself. Regular yoga practice and meditation have all proved very positive. She has also gained confidence as a public speaker through attending a King’s Fund leadership programme. The course fees were met through a community award that Jaya picked up in recognition of her voluntary activities.
Jaya has also been an advisor for the Department of Health, and met Prime Minister Gordon Brown at No 10. “There can be a positive side to caring - maybe if I wasn’t a carer I wouldn’t have done all these things.”
She speaks regularly about mental illness to many groups, some of whom share her south Asian origins. The stigma associated with mental health issues is, she is convinced, even greater among south Asians than among those brought up in the UK.
“I tell people they mustn’t be ashamed and that they shouldn’t be afraid to say there is mental illness in the family. But I do understand - you risk losing your friends, your social circle and there’s a huge impact on your emotional and physical wellbeing. I know because I have felt the isolation myself.”
“The south Asian and other Asian communities often wait until things are very, very critical before they ask for help. They don’t talk about the problem. But we are living in the 21st century and we all have to move with the times. We have to tell people that help, medication and counselling are available. I say to people: “There are lots of friends out there. You are never alone.”
Jaya’s top tips for carers
Seek help at an early stage
Don’t be ashamed of mental illness
Speak out if you think something is wrong
Take care of yourself with counselling and exercise
Keep in touch with your spiritual side
By Jaya