We Can Talk: new training for healthcare staff that focuses on mental health needs of children and young people

Health Education England has been pleased to support Barts Health NHS Trust in the development of We Can Talk, which is innovative new training for hospital staff on children and young people’s mental health. The project has been developed in association with Health Teen Minds, Common Room and the Child Outcomes Research Consortium (CORC)

We Can Talk was borne out of the fact that healthcare professionals working in hospital settings report a lack of confidence and competency in caring for children with mental health needs, and that young people report overwhelmingly negative experiences of staff attitudes when presenting to hospital because of their mental health. 43% of young people report that they wouldn’t go back to hospital for mental health support because of a previous bad experience.

Combining the expertise of hospital staff, mental health professionals and children and young people, We Can Talk developed a set of competencies and an interactive training day to give staff the confidence and understanding to care for young people’s mental health needs, especially when they present in crisis.

The project began with a survey of staff to get the views of as many hospital staff who interacted with young people as possible. More than 300 people from a broad range of professions - from nurses to healthcare assistants to paediatricians to porters - responded. The results of the survey were then built on through engagement sessions on wards, meetings with senior leaders and others, and learning from existing frameworks, standards and guidelines.

It was an essential part of the project to have young people represented at every stage. From day one they worked with a young adviser who had experience of presenting to hospital because of their mental health. Similarly, different groups of young people helped make sure that the We Can Talk principles (ten statements that summarise the core competencies and outline the support staff can offer) were written in clear language so they were accessible to children and young people, their families and hospital staff alike.

During the pilot, which took place for thirteen weeks between January and March 2017, more than a hundred children’s nurses, healthcare assistants, doctors, ward clerks and others attended the training. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive. 100 percent of people who attended said they would recommend the training to a colleague and 96 percent said it would make a difference to the way they do their job.

We Can Talk has recently been nominated for a Nursing Times Award for its work with Barts Health and is now working with Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust and Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust.

Together with Me First, an education package designed to improve health outcomes by involving children and young people in their own healthcare, We Can Talk forms part of a suite of HEE-sponsored resources that support healthcare professionals to improve the experience of children and young people.

The pilot project report for We Can Talk was launched earlier this month. Read it here.

For more information about We Can Talk, visit wecantalk.online

For more information about Me First visit mefirst.org.uk