Southdown nominated the Sussex Partnership Trust's Vocational Leads for the coveted Challenging Stigma Award at the recent staff awards ceremony for the Trust. The award recognises those who have addressed stigma in the course of their work. The winners were Kate Bones, Director of Occupational Therapy, Debbie Rimmer (East Sussex lead), Lucy Locks (West Sussex lead), Annette Kidd (Brighton and Hove lead). Kate and her colleagues were responsible for a new project which helped set up three new services across Sussex (provided by Southdown) to help find paid employment and offer support for people with severe and enduring mental health issues.
Neil Blanchard, Director of Operations at Southdown Housing Association, nominated the team based on the excellent and innovative work that this team of individuals has achieved in embedding and promoting three new vocational services for people with mental health needs across Sussex over the past two years. The outcomes of the services are to work with service users aspirations to achieve paid employment in mainstream environments. Neil stated “Southdown work in a wide variety of partnerships across Sussex and are fully aware of the practical realities and challenges that can come when launching and delivering services such as these. We are very proud of our new employment support services and place a large part of our success down to the work of Kate Bones and her Vocational Leads'.
Sussex Partnership Chief Executive Lisa Rodrigues who presented staff with their awards, said, “As the country emerges from recession, many people are in need of support to overcome mental health problems caused by redundancy or other financial or employment-related troubles. Demand for the services we provide is increasing and we are working hard to ensure that we continue to deliver the highest possible care and support to those who need it. So showcasing the professional excellence of our staff in these challenging times is absolutely vital. With more than 160 nominations from across East and West Sussex and Brighton & Hove, this is one of the most popular years ever and sets a new benchmark for talent and tireless commitment among our staff'.
Pictured from left to right: Liza Rodriguez, Chief Executive of SPT, Debbie Rimmer (East Sussex Vocational Lead), Annette Kidd (Brighton and Hove Vocational Lead), Lucy Locks (West Sussex) and Rebecca Priest (Brighton and Hove)