Mental Health Inreach Team, Oxleas Foundation Trust, HMP Swaleside: The Emotional Wellbeing Mentor Scheme at HMP Swaleside

This is a peer led scheme made up of prisoners who have experienced mental health difficulties themselves and benefited from counselling or other therapies. The scheme was initiated as there was a gap in services for those prisoners with lower level mental health issues who did not fit the criteria of other services in the prison.

The team has made several significant achievements with this scheme. It has been recognised by other prisons and they now want to replicate it in their own prisons due to its recognised success in reducing self harm/suicide as well as violence in prisons.

The mentors involved in this scheme have had a commendation from the governing governor of the prison. They have recently been given a landing and resource room dedicated to the scheme in the prison. The mentors are the only prisoners who are called out of their cells during lock down periods. 

The judges said the winners clearly showed what can be done to improve safety and quality in adverse and challenging conditions, by saving lives and delivering real benefits to a marginalised population.

 

 Finalists

Bedfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group

Camden and Islington Foundation Trust

Cheshire and Wirral Partnership FT

Dorset Healthcare University FT

Hertfordshire Partnership University FT

Mental Health Inreach Team, Oxleas FT, HMP Swaleside

Mersey Care FT

Tees Esk and Wear Valleys FT

University of Central Lancashire

Topics

HSJ Patient Safety Awards honour Manchester terror attack staff