Posted on: 7 November 2022
From November, CNWL will be launching a Year of the Child campaign; a programme that will celebrate and promote our large portfolio of children’s services.
The pandemic caused a great disruption to our lives, with children and young people particularly affected, and highlighted the need for delivery of good quality children’s services.
This is the time to talk about the network of children’s community and mental health services we provide, and, with families discuss the experience to better understand population health and how to reduce health inequalities.
With this in mind, we launched Year of the Child, which will run throughout 2023.
Claire Murdoch, CBE, Chief Executive of CNWL, said:
“Our marvellous staff provide many different types of services for children and young people and they are awe inspiring; we have a large number of talented, hardworking players out there helping children and families, but shouldn’t we think of ourselves more as a larger team? The combined effort for children might be even better, supporting each other – ‘passing the ball’ smoothly - for better health. That’s a real trophy for the community. And working with staff and families we will find out.”
Zoe Sargent, CNWL’s Director for Children’s Services, is excited to be leading on this agenda:
“Research shows that the experiences children receive during their formative years is a key determinant in adulthood and their overall health and wellbeing. 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 people know what’s available we’ll make a difference.
We want to share our staffs’ knowledge and expertise, and link into the community involvement and co-production we are doing, making sure our services meet the changing needs of families.”
A large part of this campaign will focus on facilitating a monthly calendar of educational workshops, promoting a variety of specialist health topics. The sessions will spotlight our service lines, sharing the work and achievements in this space; and place children and young people at the centre of this.
Incorporating our child and adolescent mental health, eating disorders, 0-19 public health, specialist community nursing, child development, therapy, health and justice, and perinatal services – there is an opportunity for everyone to be involved.