Institute’s Champions training receives national recognition in mental health awards

The Institute of Health Visiting (iHV) is delighted to receive national recognition for its Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Champions Training Programme in the first ever perinatal mental health awards, organised by the Maternal Mental Health Alliance (MMHA) and Mums and Babies in Mind (MABIM).

The iHV’s Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Champions Training Programme was highly commended in the Emma Cadywould Award for Perinatal Mental Health Education and Training 2017. The awards, which were announced on Wednesday 13 September at the first Annual UK Maternal Mental Health Alliance Conference at Imperial College, London, recognised best practice and achievement in the categories of perinatal mental health education and training, perinatal mental health awareness raising, peer support and transgenerational service.

Dr Cheryll Adams CBE, executive director of the Institute of Health Visiting, said:

“The Institute of Health Visiting is proud to receive this prestigious training award which was set up in the name of Emma Cadywould, who tragically lost her life whilst suffering severe postnatal depression.

“Our comprehensive, accredited training, which now reflects the national competencies for perinatal and infant mental health, has been developed over the past five years and consistently attracts wonderful evaluations.

“We have recently extended our training offers to be suitable for all professionals working with women with perinatal mental illness. This has been in response to many requests for multi-professional training from the health, local authority and voluntary sectors. Our current Champions Training ensures that all practitioners working alongside women and their families perinatally are equipped to provide evidence-based and confident support – as of June 2017, we have created over 140 Multi-agency Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Champions, as well as almost 900 health visitor Infant and Perinatal Mental Health Champions whose originally training we know has been cascaded to upwards of 10,000 others.

“This award is a massive credit to the Institute’s team who have worked so hard to develop, refine, deliver and quality assure, and most recently to benchmark our training to the new national standards.”

The winners were presented with their awards by acclaimed author, journalist and psychotherapist Susie Orbach.

Find out more about the iHV’s Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Champions Training Programme

Read the full press release

New dates added for Healthy Weight Healthy Nutrition Champions training

Further to demand, we are delighted to announce new dates for the Healthy Weight Healthy Nutrition Champions training schedule:

12/13 Jan 2017 – Leeds
9/10 Feb 2017 – Antrim, Northern Ireland

For more details and how to book

Building upon existing knowledge, we explore why good nutrition matters across the lifespan, the significance of supporting women to eat well during pregnancy, as well as how HVs can influence and promote optimal and responsive infant feeding practices. You will also have the opportunity to examine more complex issues of allergies, fussy feeding, safeguarding and nutrition, the relationship with activity levels and overweight and obesity.

Our Champions programme equips participants to take on leadership / special interest roles as well as cascading Healthy Weight Healthy Nutrition training updates to colleagues within their organisation. This is a cost-effective method of ensuring the workforce has access to up-to-date evidence-based knowledge and skills to support practice in this important public health subject area and additionally represents an excellent development opportunity for health visitors.

New London date added for Healthy Weight Healthy Nutrition Champions training

Further to demand, we are delighted to announce a new London date for the Healthy Weight Healthy Nutrition Champions training schedule:

23/24 March 2017 – London

For more details and how to book

Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Champions training in the South West – Call for Nominations

The Institute of Health Visiting (iHV) is working with the South West Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Network, with funding from Health Education England in the South West, to deliver Perinatal and Infant Mental Health (PIMH) Champions training across the region.

This training is consistent with the national ambition to achieve safer maternity care, with an emphasis on the importance of multi-disciplinary training for those who work with women during the perinatal period and the aim of achieving parity of esteem between mental and physical health.

Nominations required for new Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Champions training in the South West

We are looking for organisations in the South West to nominate staff to train as Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Champions. Once trained, the Champions will cascade the training to other staff to help ensure safer care during the perinatal period by raising awareness and early identification of perinatal mental health issues and increasing the knowledge and skills of staff. The effectiveness of the cascaded training programme will be assessed by the iHV, which will in turn be shared with participating organisations.

Groups of multi-agency colleagues will attend a 2 day training course at one of the following locations:

Date	Venue
5 & 6 January 2017 – 09.00-17.00	Holiday Inn – Plymouth, Devon, PL1 2HJ
9 & 10 February 2017 – 09.00-17.00	Holiday Inn – Filton, Bristol, BS16 1QX
9 & 10 March 2017 – 09.00-17.00	Holiday Inn – Taunton, Somerset, TA1 2UA

The following groups of non-medical professionals are welcome to participate in this training:

Midwives
Maternity Care Assistants
A&E nurses
Pharmacists
Health visitors

Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Champions are required to:

Attend a 2 day training course in January, February or March 2017
Attend follow up support for their development as a Champion in the form of face-to-face action learning sets led by the iHV (dates to be confirmed)
Deliver one day awareness training sessions within 6 months of their initial training to colleagues

Nomination is by submission of the Expression of Interest Form.

Please note that training places are limited, therefore we ask that you complete and return the Expression of Interest Form by Thursday 1 December 2016 to Kelle Dunn, South West Clinical Network Administrator, [email protected].

For more information, please see South West Strategic Clinical Network website

Or contact Kelle Dunn, South West Clinical Network Administrator, [email protected].

Healthy Weight Healthy Nutrition Champions training is coming to Northern Ireland

We are delighted to announce that we are taking the Healthy Weight Healthy Nutrition Champions training to Northern Ireland – as part of rolling out this highly successful training across the UK:

16/17 February 2017 in Belfast

This date, for Northern Ireland, is the first date confirmed in a series of training dates which will also include Wales and Scotland. So keep an eye out for further communications on dates.

For the full training schedule and more details

New dates added for Healthy Weight Healthy Nutrition Champions training

New dates have been added to the Healthy Weight Healthy Nutrition Champions training schedule:

1/2 December 2016 – Ipswich
15/16 December 2016 – Guildford

Utilising a range of delivery methods the training is highly interactive through its use of small and whole group discussion and activity underpinned by use of presentations, video clips and quizzes.

For the full training schedule and more details

Institute of Health Visiting supports manifesto to turn around children’s lives

The Institute of Health Visiting (iHV) welcomes the cross-party manifesto that highlights the importance of acting early to enhance the outcomes for children. The relaunch of the 1001 Critical Days Manifesto, on Monday 14 December, brings the importance of early years care for children to the forefront of politics ahead of a debate in the House of Commons on Thursday.

The relaunch of this key policy commitment is to achieve better perinatal mental health and stronger attachment between babies and their parents right from the start. The ‘1001 Critical Days Manifesto’ was originally launched in the last Parliament to persuade all political parties to incorporate these measures into their election manifestos.

Dr Cheryll Adams, Director of the Institute of Health Visiting, said: “The Institute of Health Visiting is delighted to endorse the 1001 Critical Days Manifesto. As far as health visitors are concerned, the 1001 Critical Days Manifesto may yet prove to be one of the most important developments of the new millennium. It has created a long overdue focus on the essential first days of life when the blue print for an individual’s future health and wellbeing is laid down. Hence, this period also determines the future health of our society. If we are to manage many of society’s physical, social and emotional health challenges efficiently and effectively, health visitors know that we must start in the first 1001 critical days of life. The fact that government now knows that too will drive health improvements in our society.”

Read the full press release

Relaunch of 1001 Critical Days Manifesto

Relaunch of 1001 Critical Days