May looks set to be a good month for everyone at Arnold Lodge. The national restrictions have eased and we are delighted to be welcoming social visitors back in person. The sports hall, main gym and ward gyms are open again and we are now able to hold most meetings face-to-face when appropriate, instead of relying on video links.
We look forward to more easing of restrictions over the next few weeks. This month we want to highlight work we are doing on the CHIME approach as well as mental health awareness week.
We welcome contributions from anyone in the Arnold Lodge community for inclusion in this newsletter. Please send these directly to Lorraine.Saddington@nottshc.nhs.uk. Feedback from the first edition last month was that a splash of colour would be welcome and The Lodge will be in colour from now on. Thank you for the feedback, keep it coming and have a good month.
Dr Nicholas Taylor, Clinical Director
Arnold Lodge has been supporting patients through Ramadan; ensuring that patients who are fasting have access to hot halal meals at appropriate times. The Imam has been connecting with patients weekly on an individual basis via MS teams. A celebration has been planned for Eid al-Fitr to include food, Eid cards and prayer with the Imam – who will be visiting in person.
Mental Health Awareness Week
Therapy Services has been busy planning events for Mental Health Awareness week 10th – 16th May – which has nature as the theme.
Nature
Nature is so central to our psychological and emotional health, that it’s almost impossible to realise good mental health for all without a greater connection to the natural world.
‘There is something to be wondered at in all of Nature’ – Aristotle
Activities planned for each ward include outdoor mindfulness, a poster competition and mornings or afternoons.
Focussing on HOPE and OPTIMISM for the future!!!
Developing and maintaining hope for the future is an important part of recovery, and at Arnold Lodge we want to create an environment that feels hopeful and optimistic. One of the ways that we have started to make this a more embedded and collaborative process is to use the CHIME recovery model. CHIME is a way to think about the different factors that are important in recovery and stands for Connectedness, Hope & Optimism, Identity, Meaning & Purpose, and Empowerment.
CHIME can be personalised by the individual to consider how they might want their future to look thinking about the different areas. This can be done in formal and informal sessions with support from staff, or as a piece of self-directed study and personal reflection. It can be used as a template to think about day to day difficulties and how to overcome challenges, or as a structure to think about what factors are important for living a meaningful and purposeful life, as defined by the individual not others.
Thank you to Andrew Gale Peer support working for sending the tweets
Thanks Andrew for letting the Twitterverse know about the great joint work done by our patients and staff at Arnold Lodge supporting recovery and really making a difference to quality of life. We should all try to make time to connect with nature – even in the rain!