Understanding the relationship between inequality and mental ill health was top of the agenda at the first external face-to-face workshop held at St Andrew’s Healthcare since the pandemic.

Hosted by the REDS Recovery College, delegates from the East Midlands Provider Collaborative (IMPACT) were invited to attend an ‘Inequalities, Mental Health and Recovery’ workshop in the Great Hall at St Andrew’s Northampton site.

The NHS England-funded workshop was created following an Inequalities research project conducted last year in Northampton by the Research and Innovation team.

Donna Walker, Recovery College and Peer Support Manager, said: “As well as providing an opportunity to share the results of the research, the aim of the workshop was two-fold; firstly, to provide an interactive session to help attendees identify ways to address inequalities within their service, and to find ways to challenge and reduce inequalities in a bid to provide better outcomes for people within our care.

“Secondly, we wanted to showcase how our course content could be delivered to patients and healthcare staff together, to build better understanding of the inequalities encountered by people who experience mental illness.”

Feedback from delegates was very positive, including how they had benefited from taking part in group discussions, hearing different perspectives, and sharing ideas. 

Donna added: “It was so refreshing to run an in-person course after months of virtual contact and we were heartened to hear that the event stimulated a lot of thought and discussion around the challenges of inequalities.

“We were also thrilled that 100 per cent of those who attended, agreed that patient and staff groups would benefit from receiving this training, and that we should be rolling it out across the whole of the IMPACT Provider Collaborative.”