From bright ideas to shining examples

A film has been made showing how some bright ideas from a small group of staff has led to some brilliant projects making a real difference to our service users.

The Bright Ideas Innovation in Mental Health competition was launched by the Quality Academy last year to find new and exciting ideas to improve our services.

Staff were invited to pitch for funding from our charitable funds to support their idea.  

33 proposals were submitted to the judging panel, with six going on to become a reality. A year on and you can now watch a film about the positive effect these 'bright ideas' are having to the lives of our service users and carers. These include developing a sensory library for people with autism and providing Deaf health information online and more…

Dr Janet Brandling, Research and Evaluation Specialist at AWP's Quality Academy said "The Bright Ideas projects have been excellent examples of innovation and collaboration between service users and staff to promote recovery and hope. The enthusiasm of each team has been a force to be reckoned with."

To view the film in full click here

To view a short version of the film click here

Following this success, a second competition will be launched later this year.

Emma Adams, Head of Academy said "We're delighted to be running the Bright Ideas competition for another year. I encourage all teams to watch the film and get their thinking-hats on around how they could improve the quality of their services by accessing this funding. If you have a great idea, then this could be your opportunity to grow it!"

Further details of this year's competition and how you can get involved will be announced soon.