Lenna Adley won the ‘Patient Contributor of the Year’ category at the RCPsych Awards, hosted by the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
This was in recognition of her commitment to being an active partner in improving services and enabling other service users to do the same. Lenna has been a service user at the Trust since 2018, has worked with the People Participation team since 2019 and has been involved in Quality Improvement since 2020.
Lenna has crafted an intriguing path of recovery for herself by integrating QI methods into her personal wellbeing journey. She plotted her wellbeing on a run chart and worked with her psychiatrist to adjust her medication and care plan, a process that she credits with building her confidence and employment.
She has gone on to co-deliver the ‘Introduction to Quality Improvement for Service Users’ training programme and lead a corporate project to improve staff experiences for new starters at ELFT. When Lenna shared her story of being involved in QI with staff and service users on the Improvement Leaders Programme, she was described as “inspirational”, “engaging” and “powerful”. She had the privilege of sharing her story of using QI to aid her mental health recovery at the International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare to an international audience.
Outside of QI, Lenna has worked with 18–25-year-olds transitioning from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) to adult services. She shared her lived experience of making this daunting transition herself, helping to break down stigma and build rapport with these young people. She has also been involved in some work to reduce digital exclusion and is known for demonstrating the values of the Trust – we care, we respect and we are inclusive.
Commenting on her win, Lenna Adley said: “I’m really proud to have been awarded an RCPsych Award. I must thank everybody I have worked with across the Trust for a number of years, who have supported me along my journey.
“Service user involvement will always be very close to my heart and I appreciate being able to be in a position where I can co-produce aspects of my work, while having service user and carer involvement.”