Great resources on our doorstep: A Passport to health and wellbeing for you and/or those you support?
Blog by Sarah-Jane Ashcroft
By listening to lived experiences and co-producing simple, easy to use resources, we can ease the burden on people and improve quality of treatment and health outcomes. We know that coping with a long term condition such as cancer, diabetes or cardiovascular disease is hard, but it can feel almost impossible if you're struggling with your mental health too.
Middlesbrough and Stockton Mind have developed a fantastic resource for people who are being treated for long term conditions, to help support them to manage their diagnosis, treatment, the multiple appointments and more including their own mental health and wellbeing strategies.
The lead for the project, SarahJane Ashcroft explains the need and reasoning for the passport below.
““Sharing information about your mental and physical health conditions can be difficult and can cause anxiety or stress. It can be hard to know what information to share and with whom. Then having to repeat it can be draining and in some cases traumatic.
In response to this we created ‘The Passport to My Health and Wellbeing’ alongside people who have experience of living with a mental health condition and who have been affected by a long term condition such as cancer, diabetes or cardiovascular disease. People can record information about their health and support needs in the Passport to my Health and Well-being, making it easier for them to let their healthcare team know about important issues without having to worry about how and when to disclose this.
It also means that clinicians looking after those with cancer or a long term condition have a better understanding of the overall health and wellbeing of the person they are caring for and can offer additional help to support them through their treatment.
The Passport is a key tool in helping to address health inequalities people may face when accessing treatment and help to make sure they get the right support to help them through what is a challenging experience.””
-
We know that coping with a long term condition such as cancer, diabetes or cardiovascular disease is hard, but it can feel almost impossible if you're struggling with your mental health too.
The ‘Passport to my Health and Wellbeing’ is a co-produced tool developed by Middlesbrough and Stockton Mind in partnership with Macmillan and people with lived experience of mental health issues who are affected by long term health conditions.
The Passport is designed to improve people’s experience of physical health pathways when they are living with mental health difficulties. It's a simple but effective document that helps people who are living with a long term condition and a mental health condition to describe what they need from health professionals, to make life easier for them. It's also a diary for appointments, a record card for vital details and a log for thoughts and questions.
To find out more or request a free Passport click here
-
We know that coping with a long term condition such as cancer, diabetes or cardiovascular disease is hard, but it can feel almost impossible if you're struggling with your mental health too.
The ‘Passport to my Health and Wellbeing’ is a co-produced tool developed by Middlesbrough and Stockton Mind in partnership with Macmillan and those people with lived experience of mental health issues who are affected by a long term condition.
The Passport is designed to improve people’s experience of a physical health pathway when they are living with mental health difficulties. It's a simple but effective document that helps people who are living with long term condition and a mental health condition to describe what they need from health professionals, to make life easier for them. It's also a diary for appointments, a record card for vital details and a log for thoughts and questions.
The Passport project team is always looking to connect with other professionals, especially if you work in mental health or cancer care. The 'Passport' can be shared by GPs, specialist nurses or other practitioners and is a free resource to be accessed across the North East and North Cumbria.
If you'd like to know more about the project or request 'Passports', attend the steering group or be updated about the project’s progress then please contact Sarah Jane Ashcroft at Middlesbrough and Stockton Mind on 01642 257020.