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Living Cultural Pillars Through Mentoring

Category: Gender (Equality & Identity)

Career and Talent Development.

Our Cultural Pillars include Valuing Each Other and Being Connected.

Trust colleagues turned these into action earlier this week by attending the first of three workshops for would-be mentors. Their aim is to help more junior staff, particularly those from Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) backgrounds, progress their careers.

The initiative is a key priority of our recently-formed Strategic Alliance with Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust.

One of the key commitments of our new alliance is ensuring that staff are able to progress and enjoy their careers.  Both Trusts are committed to working closely together to make our organisations places that people really want to join and where they end up staying.

The workshop in the Lecture Theatre at St Ann’s Hospital on Monday 19 August kicked off with information on what the mentoring role involves; how mentoring techniques work; and how the mentoring role can help develop a diverse workforce at all levels.

‘Passion and commitment’

What was particularly striking was the passion and commitment of those who attended to help other, more junior colleagues. 

Ian Fishwick, Organisational Development Manager at C&I, said:  “The atmosphere in the room has been so positive with a real commitment to making this work.”

C&I Risk and Patient Safety Manager, Kevin Cann, said:  “As a front line nurse, I used to mentor student nurses. Since leaving front line clinical work I have missed doing this, so this is a fantastic way of getting back into mentoring.

“Supporting each other through mentoring fits with our pillar of valuing each other and the fact we are doing this with BEH is a great example of being connected and working across organisations.”

BEH Mental Health Specialist Nurse, Kamala Bhoyraz, said: “I have been mentoring for a long time, but wanted to review the principles of it and support staff with their problems and career progression.”

Nancy Okosi, Team Manager for the Community Forensic Learning Disabilities Team at BEH, said:  “I want to support Band 5 and 6 colleagues to achieve their potential.  A lot of people have the skills to go much further than they actually do and I want to improve that situation by supporting them in any way I can”.

Edith Akenkide, Team Manager for Central Locality Mental Health Recovery Team at BEH, explained:  “I am a graduate of the NHS Academy Ready Now programme and I was curious to see what C&I and BEH are doing together.  I am really excited to be part of the project especially if it helps to address current inequalities.”

Jide Odusina, BEH Equality and Diversity Lead, added:  “There have been some really interesting conversations today and I’m really looking forward to working with colleagues from both Trusts on how we shape this programme.”

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