Jameson’s Ambition for Excellence online festival – “It doesn’t matter what you do or what you earn, you still have issues as a human being and sometimes those issues are mental health issues”

On Friday 11 December 2020, CNWL held its first virtual festival for its mental health division (Jameson). The yearly festival celebrates the contributions of staff to the division and, in turn, the lives of people in central London. The event was co-hosted by Ade Odunlade, Jameson Division’s Managing Director, and Tanya Paxton, Harrow Borough Director.

Speakers agreed that 2020 felt like a journey. Following one of the division’s toughest years in recent memory, over 200 staff tuned in.

Presentations

The event opened with a summary of Jameson’s achievements over the past twelve months.

Dr Jo Emmanuel, Divisional Medical Director, said:

“We have asked so much of everybody and you have delivered in spades”.

Throughout the day, speakers spoke of the huge impact our staff had on the ground.

Attendees also listened to presentations from teams across Jameson.

Among these, Robyn Doran, Chief Operating Officer and Phillipa Galligan, Brent Borough Director talked about Our Communities and their successful engagement efforts post-Covid. Westminster spoke about Complex Emotional Needs, whilst Kensington and Chelsea’s One Community Team described the initiatives they had put in place to empower patients including the new One Community Radio launched during the national restrictions to bring patients, carers and staff together online.

Resilience, leadership and wellbeing

Les Ferdinand, MBE, Coach and Director of Queens Park Rangers and former professional footballer, attended the festival as the keynote speaker. Ferdinand’s speech focused on ‘Resilience in the face of challenges’. He discussed the ways in which conversations surrounding mental health have advanced since his early years as a professional footballer.

“It doesn’t matter what you do or what you earn, you still have issues as a human being and sometimes those issues are mental health issues” – Les Ferdinand

Ferdinand took questions from attendees and spoke on a range of issues with humility and insight. He touched on delegation and leadership, the mental wellbeing of young players and the decision from QPR players to take the knee in support of Black Lives Matter.

Claire Murdoch, CNWL Chief Executive, thanked Ferdinand for his efforts to encourage discussion about mental health. She went on to give heartfelt thanks to all staff members for their work through the coronavirus pandemic.

“Your spirit, your hope, your optimism, your kindness, your professionalism has made me more proud than I have ever been in my 37 years in the NHS.” – Claire Murdoch

Awards ceremony

Attendees used the chat function to send messages of praise and encouragement to their colleagues, particularly during the awards ceremony. After a difficult year, it was wonderful to see such hard-working staff receive the recognition they deserve. The full list of winners are as follows:

Katherine Nagib received a special co-production award in recognition of her tireless drive and contribution to CNWL Trust wide transformation work. When accepting the award, she said “We’re not an island. We all can co-produce together. We all can collaborate together and that’s how we’ll make the positive changes”. This seemed to perfectly capture the spirit of CNWL’s work across 2020.