The final was originally scheduled to take place at Colwick Hall, Nottingham, in May. We had to postpone the event because of the pandemic and ultimately made the decision to host the event virtually. The virtual final was held online on Tuesday 10th November.
We were delighted that so many service users, support staff and family from around the country were able to join us online to celebrate the important work they have each done in raising mental health awareness, reducing stigma and supporting people’s recovery journey.
Including the Mark Britton Service User Choice Award, we had six fantastic winners, all of who were able to join us online as they were announced as the winners of their categories. Our winners were:
- Recovery and the Arts Award – ‘Wonders of our Colours Helps us Through our Day’ NGV, Cygnet Hospital Bury, Cygnet Health Care
- Health and Wellbeing Award – ‘DBT Roadshow’ Waterloo Manor, Inmind Healthcare
- Excellence in Co-Production – ‘Stories of Recovery at Reaside’ Reaside Clinic, Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Trust
- Breaking Down Barriers Award – ‘Service User Presentation to GPs’ JF & Hampshire Community LD Team, Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust
- Outstanding Service User Achievement Award – ‘Nottinghamshire Carers Roadshow’ Mr T Clower
- Mark Britton Service User Choice Award – ‘Co-Developed Trauma Informed Family Intervention’ Heatherwood Court, Ludlow Street Healthcare
This year the ‘Service User Choice Award’ was renamed the ‘Mark Britton Service User Choice Award’ to commemorate the life of someone who was key to the awards and who sadly passed away in July 2019. Mark played an important part in many co-produced initiatives both with and outside Cygnet Health Care for many years. We were honoured to have Mark’s mum, Maggie, introduce the award this year.
In between awards, the audience were treated to some fantastic performances of music and poetry from service users at different stages in their recovery journey.
“Thank you for another fantastic National Service User Awards. Once again I laughed, smiled and cried.”Linda Bryant, Chief Executive, Together for Mental Wellbeing
We would like to say a big thank you to our judging panel from NHS England, Together for Mental Wellbeing and Rethink Mental Illness, as well as to our service user events team and sponsor Cygnet Health Care.
Finally, a massive congratulations to all our finalists and winners. You should feel so proud of how your work is helping people on their journey towards recovery. We can’t wait for next year’s event which will hopefully once again be a live event!
Click here to see all of our finalists and winners and read why they won >>