15 August 2022

CNWL provides a vast array of children’s services, touching the lives of children all the way from the antenatal period until the transition into adult services; supporting their physical, mental health and emotional wellbeing. Across our broad geography, this gives us a platform to improve the lives of many children and families.

So in November 2022, we will be launching a special Year of the Child agenda; a programme of activities that will celebrate and promote CNWL’s large portfolio of children’s services. We want to showcase our expertise in this area, working with parents, carers and young people to gain insight into their experiences. 

Zoe Sargent, CNWL’s Director for Children’s Services, is excited to be leading on this agenda:

“The pandemic really highlighted the need for our delivery of good quality children’s services. Now is the time to explain how diverse an offer there is for children in community and mental health services, in line with our collective ambition to better understand population health and reduce inequalities.

“Across our Integrated Care Systems (ICS) maternity, children and young people’s services are being reviewed and transformed, and within CNWL we have a huge portfolio, touching women in the antenatal period and following that journey until that child leaves school or college. 

“It’s a really varied offer families get, and we are quite unique. There are not many organisations that provide this portfolio of services to as many Boroughs as we do. If we can ensure people know what’s available we’ll make a difference.”

What will Year of the Child involve?

Year of the Child will be launched at our Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 7 November 2022, and run until Spring 2023.

A large part of this campaign will focus on facilitating a monthly calendar of wellbeing sessions and educational workshops. The online sessions will spotlight our service lines, sharing the work and achievements in the children and young people space. Available for CNWL teams and staff, as well as parents, families, carers, schools and healthcare partners, the sessions will promote a variety of specialist health topics, for example mental wellbeing, safe-sleeping and eating disorders.

The programme will culminate in a conference that brings together teams from across the organisation to explore neurodiversity pathways.

Zoe continues:

“We can offer a wide range of educational sessions because we have excellent expertise in house. We want to share our staffs’ knowledge and expertise in different areas, and link into the community involvement and co-production we are doing, making sure our services going forward meet the changing needs of families.

“It’s also nice to shine a spotlight on some of the amazing people we have working for us. We’re so proud of our devoted teams, who are passionate about making a difference to children’s lives.”

Who is it for?

Incorporating our CAMHS, eating disorders, 0-19 public health, specialist community nursing, Child Development Services, Therapy services, Health and Justice, and Perinatal services – there is an opportunity for everyone to be involved. Whether a young person wants to share experiences, a parent or carer who wants to take advantage of relevant sessions, or a team member who wants to showcase their service delivery.

What happens now?

Stay tuned! We’ll provide updates on how to get involved and the activities you can sign up for. Keep checking our website or follow us on social media at: @CNWLNHS

Join us at the AGM

Our AGM will be taking place on Monday 7 November 2022. It will be held virtually on Zoom.

Please click the link below to join the meeting:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86235584229?pwd=UXh3KzN4RC8xdW5xeEIydktZTHArZz09

Passcode: 146512