Wathwood Hospital Round up June.

Wathwood Feedback for Forensic Recovery and Wellbeing.

Koestler Awards. Quality Network Annual Competition. Wathwood Recovery College

Wathwood has been following the roadmap out of COVID and it is enabling the return of some activity that has been changed or restricted during the pandemic.

We are continuing to operate in ward households. This means wards can’t mix but all wards have allocated times to access the shop, library, horticulture and sports.

We are no longer relying on virtual and telephone contacts. Patient visits have resumed so patients are now able to meet with family and friends.

We have been able to successfully facilitate therapy groups focusing on recovery and mental health awareness in ward households. There are plans to recommence other therapy groups, such as substance use, once wards can mix again.

COVID had a big impact on the recovery focus in The Lodges. COVID has restricted leave for patients and also the focus on independent living skills. Since April 2021, patients have the opportunity to once again do their own shopping and self-catering and access community resources such as banks, libraries, voluntary roles etc. to support their recovery and prepare for moving on from the hospital.

Self-catering recommenced on the other wards from April which was welcomed by the patients as they had missed this opportunity during lockdown. Despite the pandemic, education has been making great progress.

The patient computers and laptops were very old so they have all been replaced with new equipment plus the digital skills framework has been rolled out within the hospital, replacing the more traditional Information Technology (IT) courses.

Wathwood is now registered with NCFE, enabling patients to study and achieve qualifications in functional skills. Some patients are currently carrying out mock exams in preparation for their forthcoming real exams!

Bee keeping training has been undertaken by a patient and horticulture and OT staff. This has been mostly virtual training with practical experience towards the end.

Patients have been supported with submission of entries for the Koestler Awards and the Quality Network Annual Competition.

Wathwood Recovery College has focused more on co-production during the pandemic. New courses have been developed in music production and song writing. Courses have now recommenced within ward households, but we are looking forward to being able to mix with other wards again and offer a larger number of courses to increased numbers of students.

Storybook Dads at Wathwood.

Storybook Dads enables patients to record bed time stories which can then be sent home to their children on CD, and aims to maintain connections between patients and their families and help parents and grandparents maintain meaningful contact with their children and grandchildren whilst improving literacy skills for both parent and child.

This helps to:

Reduce the stress and trauma experienced by the children of detained parents.

Enables patients to help with their children’s education and development of their literacy skills.

Helps patients to gain useful skills, such as parenting and Information Technology (IT).

Develop skills in audio production.

Helps patients to create/maintain a healthy relationship with their child and learn about their child’s interests and hobbies.

How it works:

Expression of interest from the patient
Request ward round approval
Social work contact parents for approval
Meet with the patient and choose an age-appropriate book
Start recording the following week
The patient has the choice of edit the recording at Wathwood or send off to Storybook Dads for editing