Posted on: 19 December 2023
Congratulations to the team involved in developing the North West London (NWL) Young Adult Mental Health and Wellbeing Partnership, who were finalists at this year’s HSJ Awards.
The award ceremony was held in November 2023, and there were nine finalists in the category ‘Reducing Healthcare Inequalities for Children and Young People Award’.
The team has been involved in implementing this new model of care across CNWL, which has been in place for the last 12 months.
The partnership model has made significant progress in providing a more accessible and flexible system so that approaches are tailored to the needs of young adults.
The team are “immensely proud of the all the work that has been done to help improve the lives of young adults 16 to 25 years.”
Some key successes include:
- Strong multi-agency partnerships improving access to a wide range of support tailored to local needs
- Young adults, parents and carers involved at every step, who continue to influence and participate
- Consistent model across both CNWL and West London NHS Trust, delivered across the eight NWL boroughs
- Increasing flexibility of services and reducing gaps in provision to help tackle long-held structures that create disadvantage to young adults at a vulnerable time
Within the model of care, a range of dedicated young adult clinical and non-clinical roles have been developed to support early intervention and the holistic needs of young adults.
The Young Adult Pathway Leads and Young Adult Psychiatrists are embedded across CAMHS and adult community teams, providing consultation and working alongside staff to provide youth-friendly assessments and needs-led, not age-led support.
These roles deliver a fortnightly Young Adult Mental Health Partnership Forum (The YAP), which is up-and-running in all boroughs (except Hillingdon).
The YAP is a central mechanism for assisting professionals to develop a management plan for young adults presenting with complex range of mental health difficulties. It’s available to both internal and external partners.
Information about the support available for 16 to 25s can be found on this service page: Young Adults Mental Health and Wellbeing Space