Meet Our People

I have been a member of the Social Work Department at The Huntercombe Hospital, Roehampton (HHR) since September 2008. I started at Huntercombe Hospital, Roehampton as a student first and then I was employed as a Social Work Assistant until I finally qualified as a Social Worker in December 2009. It is a privilege to work here because the Biopsychosocial model is widely subscribed by the professionals at this hospital. It empowers Social Workers in our role within Multidisciplinary Teams. In other words, professionals with views and values outside the medical model are equally respected. Here, people receive comprehensive and individually tailored care and treatment underpinned not only by their medical needs, but also the concept of recovery as a journey and not as a goal.

Huntercombe Hospital, Roehampton offers training opportunities and consistent supervision. The first is important to offer an up-to-date service, keeping abreast of changes in the ever developing world of mental health. The second helps me to build up professional confidence, which is what a “newbie” qualified Social Worker like me needs.

I am a Clinical Team Leader and a Dialectical Behavioural Therapist (DBT) currently working for Four Seasons Healthcare on Kingston Ward, The Huntercombe Hospital Roehampton, a 14-bedded unit committed to providing dual diagnosis treatment to severe and persistently mentally ill patients who are referred for both mental health and substance abuse difficulties. I qualified as a Registered Nurse: Mental Health (RMHN) in September 2006. I started my career with Four Seasons Healthcare in November 2006 as a Staff Nurse and within two years I progressed to become a Clinical Team Leader. I have been a Clinical Team Leader for about a year and half now. The working environment is friendly and offers opportunities for personal development. I have had the opportunity to work with the Multi-Disciplinary Team within the hospital who are highly skilled in their different roles.

Since being a Team Leader with The Huntercombe Group, I have been given further opportunity to develop my leadership and management skills. Last year my line manager gave me an opportunity to attend the Leading for Quality Care Programme. The Programme managed to describe and enhance our understanding of how to develop and maintain effective working relationships to achieve objectives within the Huntercombe Group and Four Seasons Health Care. Additionally, I finished Dialectical Behavioural Therapy training in January 2010 and now I am fully involved in developing and implementing a specialized full DBT Programme within the hospital. All these opportunities that are available to me have given me greater confidence and they have opened up more options for my career path and progression.

I have been in nursing for over ten years at various levels from a domestic to a Clinical Ward Manager and I have now found a company where I can utilise my experience and skills to the best of my ability to deliver quality care. The company believes in investing in its employees to ensure that it delivers innovative practices. During my time at The Huntercombe Hospital Roehampton I have been able to introduce a number of initiatives within the hospital to improve the quality of care. During this time the company has given me great support and encouragement to implement them throughout the other wards. The Huntercombe Hospital Roehampton is a small hospital with a friendly atmosphere which is conducive to growth and development.

I started to work at Huntercombe Hospital Roehampton as a Healthcare Support Worker in September 2007. I was based on the male ward which is the NABIS unit (Neuropsychiatry and Acquired Brain Injury Service). Occupants on this ward are individuals who suffered brain injury in the past. I find working with them very enriching. We spend a lot of time together and that way we build friendly relationships with each other. It sometimes takes a big effort to motivate them but the only way to succeed is to be with them, to know them and learn their behaviour. I was always interested in psychology. That’s why I can honestly say my job is fulfilling for me.

Huntercombe Hospital Roehampton offers several opportunities for career development. Earlier this year I have finished NVQ Level 2 in Health and Social Care together with other colleagues. Our mentors offered us a lot of support and encouragement while working on the various course modules.In September 2009 there was a great opportunity to become PMVA Assistant Instructor. To be honest at first I was not sure I’d got enough skills and knowledge to succeed. But with the fantastic support of my colleagues I managed to attend and pass the course which took place in another high secure hospital. We now have a very good team of five members - 1 leading level 2 PMVA Instructor and 4 PMVA Assistant Instructors. We started to deliver courses in January and have got the timetable for the rest of the year. I personally am enjoying this new job role a lot. Teaching people is great experience and it is a nice change work wise too. I can deliver training along with my ward based work which is wonderful.

I started to work at Huntercombe Hospital Roehampton three years ago. I gained some experience in my previous job at a nursing home where I found working with people having mental illness to be challenging but also very interesting. An opportunity appeared and I took a chance. I am currently working on a female ward. I have met great people with different kinds of life history, among clients and among staff, too.

I always spend a lot of time with clients and interchange my experience and opinions with theirs. Knowing they need support and encouragement too I find very fascinating and enriching.

In summer 2009 I was invited to attend a gym instructor course which I was very pleased to do. This enables me now to run gym sessions with the clients from both the female and male wards. It is good step forward in my own career development and it has also had a very positive therapeutic impact on individuals.

The hospital is very helpful in terms of offering employees opportunities to improve and develop in different areas. I managed to finish NVQ level 2 in Health and Social Care in January 2010. I have also applied for PCO licence. Once I receive this I will be able to work as a driver. Just recently I have started to liaise with Social Workers who run a Dual Diagnosis group and I assist them with this group. It is very beneficial for me as I am learning how group therapies work.

Having qualified as an Occupational Therapist as a mature student I started at The Huntercombe Hospital Roehampton as a basic grade in 2005, working on the newly opened male rehabilitation ward.

I very much enjoyed the challenge of the clinical work and building up a therapeutic programme which all the patients could engage in. However I also found that I enjoyed supporting and guiding junior staff and, having already worked as a manager prior to qualifying as an OT, I began to take on some of this role in the team when the Senior OT left. Promotion to the senior level quickly followed and I took on an increased role in deputising for the Head OT, including managing student placements. Through experience, reading, supervision and a leadership training course I have steadily worked to increase my management skills and finally took up the position of Head OT at the start of this year. I very much enjoy leading the therapy team in providing a varied and interesting range of activities. I have a particular interest in animal therapy and am working on developing a programme which includes horse riding, dog walking and engagement with our resident therapy guinea pig and rats.

I qualified as a Clinical Psychologist in 1974 on the Leeds course. I have seen many developments and changes in Health Care and Clinical Psychology since qualifying. The core of both Health Care and Clinical Psychology has remained the same.

In my career I have led a Department of Clinical Psychology, been a Clinical Director for a CAMHS service and the Clinical Lead for a Psychiatric Unit. I have set up two Eating Disorder Services which I retain a strong interest in.

I have experience of Psychoanalysis, CBT, Gestalt Therapy as well as some of the more recent innovations such as CRT for Eating Disorders.

I enjoy the intellectual challenge of Neuropsychology. The work has several facets, initial assessment hypothesis forming and testing, and then planning effective and realistic remediation. I do not have a formal qualification in Neuropsychology, the work at Huntercombe Hospital Roehampton requires a challenging mix of skills that draws on Neuropsychology but also involves management, diagnostic and more general therapeutic skills.

I started working at Huntercombe Roehampton as a Support Worker, after I had graduated from university with a psychology degree. I was aiming to get some ‘hands-on’ experience working with those who were diagnosed with the disorders which I had previously learned about. As a Support Worker I felt I learned a lot about various mental health disorders such as Schizophrenia and Bi-Polar Affective Disorder.

Whilst I was a Support Worker I was fortunate enough to complete PMVA training and dual diagnosis training, which boosted my knowledge of how substances can affect mental health. Working with the patients on a day-to-day basis confirmed that I wanted to pursue a career in the mental health field. However after nearly two years working as a Support Worker I felt ready for a new challenge and applied for a post as an Assistant Psychologist within the hospital’s Psychology department. Since I have been an Assistant Psychologist, I have started my Doctoral training to become a Chartered Counselling Psychologist. The hospital has fully supported my training by allowing me the time to study and allowing me to use my job as a placement for my training.

I joined The Huntercombe Hospital, Roehampton after meeting some of the staff at a job fair held in my final year of university. I applied for the job because of the company’s reputation for excellent patient care and specialist services.

I joined as a staff nurse and progressed up to senior staff nurse after eight months, and have also completed the training to become a DBT Therapist.

The working environment is challenging at times but having a good team around you always helps! Working here I have had the opportunity to further my knowledge, not only in mental health but also acquired brain injury.

I am hoping that within the next few weeks I can complete my mentor training so I can share my knowledge with nursing students.

I have been with The Huntercombe Hospital, Roehampton (HHR) since December of 2008. One thing that I value about my role as a social worker at this hospital is that I have been encouraged to utilize my knowledge and skills, and to capitalize on my strengths, and my role has evolved to reflect these. During my time with the hospital my professional development has been facilitated not only by endless opportunities to become involved in new projects within the hospital and support from my colleagues, but also via additional training such as Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) Intensive Training and various CBT workshops. As a result, I have grown considerably as a mental health practitioner whilst at HHR. I should also mention that there is never a dull moment here and that is another thing that I love about my job.