Two new Honorary Fellowships

The Institute of Health Visiting (iHV) is delighted to announce two new Honorary Fellows. Each year the iHV Board of Trustees bestows one or more Honorary Fellowship awards – a mark of the highest esteem. The awards are reserved for individuals who have made an exceptional contribution, not only to the iHV, but also to the profession of health visiting and the families we serve.

This year’s awards were bestowed on two unique individuals at our annual Leadership Conference in London on 4 December – Leanne Howlett and Kieran Anders – who have both supported the iHV for many years as experts by lived experience. Their contributions and experiences have enriched our work in so many ways, making it better and keeping us focused on the people that we are here to serve.

Leanne Howlett uses her own experience to ground our work in the profound reality of lived experience of perinatal mental ill-health. Leanne has consistently demonstrated an exceptional commitment to the iHV and to health visiting through her active involvement in numerous initiatives – supporting our policy work, joining key roundtable discussions, knocking on the door of Downing Street with her daughter Miley as part of the campaign “A Fight for a Fair Start”, and leading a petition calling for more health visitors. Her dedication to co-production and her consistent support has made a tangible impact on the wellbeing of families.

On receiving this award Leanne said:

It’s an incredible privilege to receive the honorary fellowship award and I am truly honoured to have been selected. My incredible health visitor Holly drives me in the work I do because her compassion and knowledge helped me to be the parent I wanted to be, despite the challenges I faced at the time. This award is as much for her as it is me because her care has filtered down to help so many others through the work I’ve done. I look forward to continuing to support the Institute with their work over the coming years.

Leanne Howlett receiving her Honorary Fellowship from Sue Tokley, Chair of the iHV Board

Kieran Anders supports our work around fathers’ mental health, bringing much greater attention to the needs of dads, who can frequently get overlooked in services which have traditionally been built around the needs of women and their babies. Using a combination of his own lived experience and the latest evidence and knowledge from his role as Operations Manager for Dad Matters – HomeStart HOST, Kieran has co-designed and co-delivers the iHV Fathers and Perinatal Mental Health training programmes alongside our iHV Mental Health team. His outstanding ability to connect with fathers during such a critical period transforms individual lives and influences best practice in health visiting, with the aim of improving perinatal care for all fathers and their infants.

On receiving this award, Kieran said:

“I’m so sorry I can’t be with you but I hope you’ve all had an amazing conference, and I hope to be there in person at the next one.

“I can’t begin to tell you just how much of an honour it is to even be spoken about in the same circles as the Fellows who have gone before me, and the pride I feel accepting this honorary fellowship is truly humbling.

“Working at Home-Start HOST and with partners across the Home-start network to help support dads in the perinatal period has been an amazing journey, and has equipped me with the knowledge, confidence and skills to be able to support organisations such as the Institute with their own work. Delivering training with Sylvia, Natalie, Hilda and everyone else has been a joyous experience, and I hope it has made a real difference to the dads, parents and particularly babies, that we all want to reach, support and see thrive.

“Thank you again for this amazing honour, I will forever be proud to be an honorary fellow. I might even have a pin badge made to mark the occasion. 😂”

Kieran Anders

Philippa Bishop, iHV Director of Learning & Development, commented:

“Congratulations to both Leanne and Kieran – these are very special iHV Honorary Fellowships. Recognition of experts by lived experience by the iHV Board of Trustees is a new approach and underpins the importance of keeping the voice of parents central to all that we do. We are thrilled and proud to add both Leanne and Kieran to our esteemed list of amazing Honorary Fellows.”

Institute awards two honorary Fellowships as it launches annual report

The Institute of Health Visiting (iHV) is delighted to announce two new honorary Fellows and the launch of its seventh annual report, detailing the progress and many highlights of the iHV over the last year.

Professor Mitch Blair and Sir Al Aynsley-Green both received an honorary Fellowship of the Institute of Health Visiting at the iHV’s seventh annual celebration event held in London last week (Tuesday 3 December 2019). Professor Blair’s honorary Fellowship is awarded in recognition of his early and continued support to both the Institute and the health visiting profession; and Sir Al’s honorary Fellowship is in recognition for his significant continued advocacy for children and particularly the lives of vulnerable children. Honorary Fellowship is a mark of the high esteem in which those awarded it are held by the Institute’s board.

Professor Mitch Blair is Professor of Paediatrics and Child Public Health at Imperial College London and a consultant paediatrician at Northwick Park Hospital. His primary research interests are in preventative child health programmes, child health indicators and international child health services research.

Professor Mitch Blair receiving his honorary Fellowship from Pamela Goldberg OBE, Chair of iHV

Sir Albert Aynsley-Green is a paediatric endocrinologist and Professor Emeritus of Child Health at University College London. He was appointed as the first Children’s Commissioner for England in 2005 and was knighted by the Queen in 2006 in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the education and health of children. More recently Sir Al has served as President of the BMA and he is currently visiting professor of advocacy for children and childhood at Nottingham Trent University. He is also author of ‘The British Betrayal of Childhood’.

Sir Al Aynsley-Green receiving his honorary Fellowship from Pamela Goldberg OBE, Chair of iHV

Dr Cheryll Adams CBE, Executive Director of the Institute of Health Visiting, said:

“It was a great pleasure to welcome both Professor Mitch Blair and Sir Albert Aynsley-Green onto the stage at our annual celebration event to receive their honorary Fellowships of the Institute. Both are great supporters of the Institute and the health visiting profession, and we are thrilled and proud to add them to our list of amazing Honorary Fellows.”

The seventh iHV annual report was also launched during the iHV’s annual celebration event. It details the Institute’s developments, partnerships and projects over the past 12 months.

Dr Adams commented:

“I am delighted to share our latest annual report as we celebrate our seventh birthday. A big thank you to all our members, Fellows and partners, we look forward to continuing our work with you to protect and strengthen the health of children, families and communities into the future.”

Download iHV Year seven Annual Report 2018/19

Institute awards three honorary Fellowships

The Institute of Health Visiting (iHV) is delighted to announce three new honorary Fellows.

Professor Rosamund Bryar, Dr Alain Gregoire and Wendy Taman all received their honorary Fellowships of the Institute of Health Visiting at the iHV’s sixth annual celebration event held in London last Tuesday (4 December 2018). The honorary Fellowships were awarded in recognition of their continued support of both the Institute and the health visiting profession, and mark the high esteem in which they are held by the Institute’s board.

Rosamund Bryar, one of the founding Trustees of the Institute, is Emeritus Professor of Community and Primary Care Nursing, City University London, and has been involved in service development, education, research and research capacity building in health visiting and primary health care since the mid-1980s. Ros was one of the “Gang of four” who set up the Institute.

Professor Rosamund Bryar receiving her honorary Fellowship from Pamela Goldberg OBE, chair of iHV
Picture by: www.matthewwalkerphotography.com

Dr Alain Gregoire, a Consultant Perinatal Psychiatrist and chair of the Maternal Mental Health Alliance, has worked with the Institute on its Perinatal Mental Health Champions project and much more widely has campaigned around and supported the critical role of the health visitor in recognising and supporting mothers with perinatal mental illness.

Dr Alain Gregoire receiving his honorary Fellowship from Pamela Goldberg OBE, chair of iHV
Picture by: www.matthewwalkerphotography.com

Wendy Taman is a practising health visitor who uses technology to spread good health visiting practice – and who is supporting the Institute’s presence on Twitter.

Wendy Taman receiving her honorary Fellowship from Pamela Goldberg OBE, chair of iHV
Picture by: www.matthewwalkerphotography.com

iHV’s Executive Director, Dr Cheryll Adams CBE, said:

“We are thrilled to welcome these fantastic individuals to our pool of Honorary Fellows. All have had a significant impact on the art and science of health visiting.”

Health and Wellbeing Event in County Durham

A #wellbeing approach networking event took place in Durham last Friday (30 September), as part of County Durham’s Joint Health and Wellbeing strategy – where one of our iHV Fellows, Hilary Earl, secured a stand to promote health visiting as well as the iHV and her local Ready Steady Mums group.

Gill O’Neill, the interim director of public health in County Durham, made the opening remarks at the event that has been 2 years in the planning .

The event also coincided with the Macmillan fundraising week, which was well supported.

“Working together for Wellbeing” cake at County Durham Health and Wellbeing event

Attendees enjoyed several carousel-style workshops – learning about local health initiatives ranging from Health Trainers and Community Parents to Health Visitors and School nursing services.

With the focus on wellbeing, there were energising activities throughout the day for the delegates.

The iHV stand was well visited and the resources were popular. Plus Hilary used the opportunity to promote their local Ready Steady Mums group in Spennymoor.

RSM Spennymoor poster at County Durham Health and Wellbeing event

Hilary commented:

It was fabulous networking and a great example of excellent joint working with our commissoners.

Great Research Masterclass

Great day in Manchester today looking at evaluation and research in health visiting. 3rd iHV Fellows Research Masterclass (20 Jan 2016) – How do you measure Health Visiting?
It’s not all Black & White!

It’s black & white in Manchester to start….

Research Masterclass in Manchester

A well-deserved higher profile

Health visitors are gaining greater recognition thanks to a new Fellows programme

An article in the careers section of the Nursing Standard (29, 11, 64-65) focuses on some of our Fellows.

Read the Nursing Standard article online

Or see the pdf of the article

For they are jolly good Fellows!

Fifteen outstanding health visitors have just been identified to join the prestigious Institute of Health Visiting’s Fellowship programme – taking the total number of Fellows appointed so far this year to 50.

The Institute of Health Visiting (iHV) Fellow scheme recognises the professional achievement of exceptional health visitors – creating a new country-wide group of expert and confident health visitor leaders who make a real difference to the health outcomes of children and their families.

Dr Cheryll Adams, Director of the iHV, said:

“We are delighted to appoint a further fifteen Fellows to the Institute to strengthen leadership in the health visiting profession and to help develop the next generation of health visitors. There is immense talent in our profession and our Fellows lead the way in pushing the boundaries to ensure excellence in practice.”

Read the press release