Lisa Baum (CF 2011) from London is a psychotherapist and is working to support sufferers of ‘Long Covid’. NHS clinics are reportedly overwhelmed with cases, leaving many people feeling isolated with their symptoms.

Lisa will use her grant to provide a free12-week holistic support programme for ‘Long Covid’ sufferers in Peckham and Southwark, where cases are particularly high. This will include aromatherapy yoga, Shiatsu and acupuncture sessions, which are both proven to decrease inflammation and improve the regulation of the nervous system. Participants will also be invited to attend facilitated support sessions that will provide methods of managing ‘Long Covid’. These sessions will also be a safe space for participants to discuss their concerns with others who are suffering from the condition, with the aim of reducing feelings of isolation. Lisa also plans to offer one-to-one counselling to participants, so that they can process the impact that the condition has had on their mental health and learn wellbeing tools that will help them to cope with their symptoms.

Lisa’s Fellowship to Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Norway explored ways of inspiring pupils to explore by cycling.

Raman Kaur (CF 2014) is a speech and language therapist and Divisional Allied Health Professional (AHP) lead at Birmingham Community Health Care Trust. During the pandemic, she has been leading the service to support speech and language staff to deliver sessions to children and families virtually.

Raman will use her grant to support AHP students to deliver these sessions as part of a hybrid approach, which will include both online and in-person support. As part of this support, Raman will develop a training package for speech and language students. This will include best practice for virtual consultations, a mentorship package and training that will be co-produced with children and families to ensure that it reflects their needs. Raman will then deliver this training to a cohort of 20 students during their eight week clinical placement training. Raman will also set up a focus group to monitor the impact of the training and mentorship package, and will use these insights to develop a set of recommendations for the AHP Faculty at the Trust.

Raman’s Fellowship to Australia, New Zealand and Singapore researched ways of enhancing access to children's universal and targeted speech and language therapy. It was supported by The Burdett Trust for Nursing.

Claire Legg (CF 2011) from Thirsk in North Yorkshire is a self-employed creative facilitator and trainer, delivering bespoke creative projects in a range of dementia-based settings.

Claire will use her grant to deliver one-to-one creative workshops for dementia residents living in care homes, to empower them to tell their stories. As dementia progresses, the person’s verbal ability declines. Claire’s project will allow residents to record their stories through objects that are meaningful to them, which can then be listened back to by them and their family members for years to come. Working with a local artist, residents will select their chosen object and record their story using electrical thread, interactive paint and sensory touch boards. Their stories will then be captured within their finished project and can be interacted with at any time, through touch. This will ensure that those living with dementia will have their voices heard and the project can be enjoyed by the resident and those around them if they become non-verbal.

Claire’s Fellowship to the USA in 2011 explored ways of providing better care for dementia patients by exploring creative access to the arts through public spaces. It was supported by The Baring Foundation.

Leah Macaden (CF 2019) from Inverness in the Highlands is a Senior Lecturer in Nursing at the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI). In December 2020, Leah received a Covid-19 Action Fund grant to develop a model of dementia education and training for care home practitioners.

This is Leah’s second Action Fund grant. She will use this grant to evaluate this training programme in three different contexts to identify recommendations for improvement. She then plans to disseminate these findings as part of the workforce development in care homes and home care contexts. Leah also hopes to share her expertise and the training resources more widely with colleagues, both within and outside the UK, to influence dementia practice.

Leah’s Fellowship to the USA in 2019 explored models of dementia nurse education and training. It was supported by The Burdett Trust for Nursing. Following this, she has been invited to become a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing in recognition of her leadership and contributions to dementia education and training.

Dorothy Smith (CF 2017) from Sedgefield in Durham is the CEO of Recovery Connections, a charity supporting people with experience of addiction into recovery. In December 2020, Dorothy received a Covid-19 Action Fund grant to develop and launch a website to connect and encourage peer support among students who are recovering from addiction.

She is receiving a second Action Fund grant, to build upon her previous project by developing a recovery-focused peer support education training programme. The programme will be delivered by people with lived experience of addiction and will be available to university students and staff at Teesside University, where Dorothy works. The training will help students and staff to support those in recovery by confronting myths and stigma relating to addiction, and help open up conversations with those who may be suffering. Dorothy plans to roll out this training to 100 students with 12 months. As part of this programme, Dorothy will also develop a digital resource and leaflet for students and university staff that will aim to increase awareness and compassion.

Dorothy’s Fellowship to Czech Republic and the USA in 2017 explored collegiate recovery programmes.

James Smith (CF 2011), from Beckenham in Kent, is a retired social worker and musician who specialises in the use of music therapy for addiction.

James will use his grant to visit rehabilitation centres, prisons and mental health institutions to share his story of addiction and the role that music played in his own recovery. He hopes that this will help to inform and inspire those suffering from addiction. James will also demonstrate the benefits of employing music in rehabilitation centres and encourage addicts to tell their story in a creative way. He will use discursive music therapy in his sessions. James will also establish a specialist website aimed at those in need of treatment for addiction. This will provide information on ways to access treatment, including government-funded rehab centres and self-help groups. James hopes this will serve as an accessible platform that can be used by members from disadvantaged and deprived communities, who often find it difficult to access treatment. James has previously presented radio shows on UK Health Radio, where he interviewed people who had overcome addiction. He will use some of his grant to continue this work, to help raise awareness of addiction and inspire others to seek help.

James’ Fellowship to the USA in 2011 explored the role of music therapy in the treatment of addiction.

Chantelle Tomlinson (CF 2018) from Sheffield is a consultant neonatologist at Nottingham University Hospitals. Visiting restrictions during the pandemic has meant that access to neonatal units caring for such babies has been limited to parents only, meaning that grandparents, siblings and loved ones are missing out. Chantelle’s team is piloting a care package to improve support for these vulnerable families.

Chantelle will use her grant to develop this pilot and will work with families to create personalised care packages. These can include an enhanced level of secure, remote access to their baby’s journey, bespoke communication bundles with extended family, and additional new child-friendly resources to include and engage siblings. The team will be enhancing the offering of tailored one-to-one support, which is individualised to a family’s needs. Chantelle hopes this will improve the experience of the neonatal journey, and support wellbeing and positive mental health among families. She plans to share learning and powerful stories gathered with the neonatal community in the hope of improving care across the UK.

Chantelle’s Fellowship to Canada and Japan in 2018 explored improving outcomes for extremely pre-term babies.

Nicholas Ambler (CF 1993) from Bristol is a clinical psychologist at North Bristol NHS Trust, which is home to one of the largest ICUs in the UK.

He will use his grant to launch a recuperation strategy for ICU staff based on the framework for resilience described by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. The strategy will be co-produced with ICU staff and will involve training a lead in each of the four ICU wards, as well as creating a feedback system for patient recovery stories, known to be cherished by the staff who had earlier looked after them. Nick hopes that the strategy will build staff resilience and prevent burnout. He will share the learning with frontline healthcare workers elsewhere to help them recuperate from this exceptionally intense period.

Nicholas's Churchill Fellowship to the USA in 1993 explored the care of complex pain and trauma.

Leah Macaden (CF 2019) from Inverness in Scotland is Senior Lecturer in Nursing at the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI). Leah has expertise in leading dementia nurse education initiatives for pre-registration nurse education and has developed Being Dementia Smart (2013) and Dementia Enhanced Education to Promote Excellence (DEEPE) (2017).

She will use her grant to develop a new project called Training of Trainers (TOT) Programme: Covid-19 Dementia Education for Care Homes (CODECH). Leah will work with another Churchill Fellow, Ruth Mantle, and colleagues in nurse education and educational technology at UHI to develop a tailored online dementia training programme for care-home workers in the context of the pandemic. The programme will include three web-based workbooks and virtual interactive sessions. CODECH will train 20 care-home workers working with a Care Home Group as trainers themselves, who will then cascade the training to the rest of their staff to provide dementia care tailored to the context of the Covid-19 crisis. The project hopes to boost morale amongst staff, who will be better trained and equipped for dealing with the changing demands of the pandemic.

Leah's Fellowship to the USA in 2019 explored models of dementia nurse education and training and was supported by The Burdett Trust for Nursing.

Chloe Reeves (CF 2018), from St Leonards-on-Sea, is Director of London Road Policy and Projects, a health and social care consultancy, and an associate of National Voices, the coalition of charities that advocates for people having more control of their health and care. During the pandemic, she worked with National Voices to launch Our Covid Voices, an online platform inviting members of the public to share their stories and experiences of health and social care, which are brought together in the report What We Need Now.

She will use her grant to support National Voices to develop and implement an influencing plan, sharing these stories, requests and recurring themes with policymakers and healthcare providers so that the people most affected by health and care reform are at the heart of it.

Chloe's Fellowship to Sweden and the Netherlands in 2018 explored third sector contribution to the Buurtzorg model of care.

Dorothy Smith (CF 2017) from Sedgefield in Durham is the CEO of Recovery Connections, a charity supporting people with experience of addiction into recovery.

She will use her grant to develop and launch a website to connect and encourage peer support among students who are recovering from addiction. The website will provide a platform for students to get information, connect with others through a chatroom and be signposted to specialist advice and support services. In this way, they will not have to go through recovery alone. Dorothy hopes that this platform will raise awareness of the need to provide recovering students with increased and more visible support across UK campuses, in order to reduce stigma, meet the needs of this group and prevent relapse.

Dorothy's Fellowship to Czechia and the USA in 2017 explored collegiate recovery programmes.

Kerry Wykes (CF 2014), an emergency nurse by background, now works as Assistant Professor in Emergency Care for Coventry University. She will use her grant to launch a series of online workshops for healthcare workers to explore their experiences of Covid-19 through the arts, in conjunction with China Plate Theatre.

Each workshop will be open to ten participants to share their experiences with each other in order to encourage compassion and self-care, and will inspire an artistic output that will be exhibited online, to reach much larger numbers. Kerry has already run a pilot project which was very well-received and allowed a number of healthcare workers to feel that their voices were heard. She plans to publish the research from her project to promote understanding of healthcare worker experiences as well as to show the benefit of the arts, particularly at a time when arts organisations are under threat.

Kerry's Fellowship to Bangladesh in 2014 explored domestic abuse services and one of her findings was how the arts can be used to tackle sensitive subjects. It was supported by The Burdett Trust for Nursing.