Recovery College NHFT

Recovery College NHFT offers a range of free educational courses and one-off workshops designed to improve health by increasing your knowledge and skills and promote self-management.

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Recovery College NHFT

Here at the Recovery College NHFT we offer you a range of different courses to help you support yourself and others to understand health conditions and help with recovery. Hope, control and opportunity are what we strive for and help our students to achieve.

Courses are designed to support you to take control of your own wellbeing, despite any health challenges you may have. They are produced and presented by a health professional and someone who has personally experienced their own health issues. Courses are related to mental health, physical health, as well as workshops on wellbeing and opportunities to become more involved in our community.

Who is this service for?  Our courses are available for people over 18 years old, living in Northamptonshire, who are NHFT current and previous service users, their family and friends, carers, members of partner organisations, and NHFT staff and are free to attend.

Frequently asked questions

The team at the Recovery College aim to answer your questions before you enrol, you can email the team at Recovery.college@nhft.nhs.uk

FAQs

Who can attend courses at the Recovery College?

Our courses are for:

  • Service users and ex service users of mental health services, their family and friends
  • Carers
  • NHFT Staff

Why is attending Recovery College courses beneficial?

Our courses are coproduced with service users and clinical staff to give you the benefit of their experience and knowledge. Our courses aim to provide hope, control and opportunity on both your recovery journey and learning to live with your condition

Is there a charge to attend courses?

Our courses are free at point of delivery

Are courses online or in person?

We have a range of courses that are available both online and in person. In person courses run at our Northampton venues depending on local Covid-19 restrictions. Online courses are held via MS Teams or Zoom.

What do I need to attend courses online?

You will need an internet enabled device such as a PC, Laptop, Smartphone or Tablet. You will also need an internet connection. We reccomend that you have a safe place free of distractions to dial in from.

Do I have to turn on my video to attend an online course?

Seeing your lovely faces gives us a community feel during courses and helps us interact with and teach you and be aware of your wellbeing! But we understand it make some people feel anxious, so if you would prefer not to have your camera turned on please let us know in advance.

What do I need to attend courses in person?

Just yourself! But you may want to bring a pen and paper to make notes.

How long are the courses?

Most courses are between an hour and four hours long. You can check running times for each course in the prospectus.

Is there homework?

Some courses do have suggested homework or reading for you to do alongside the course or between sessions

Who teaches the courses?

Our courses are taught by both clinicians and 'experts by experience'- our service users who are involved with the college

How many people can I expect in a class?

We have small class sizes, these vary by course but are generally less than 15.

Is it confidential?

Anything you might contribute or share in our courses is totally confidential. We do not record any of our online courses.

Do you provide immediate help for people in crisis?

We are not a crisis service. To find immediate support visit: www.nhft.nhs.uk/help

Can I attend a course more than once if I feel the need to?

Yes, you are welcome to attend a course as many times as you wish

I have a question that isn't answered here...

You can contact us with any questions at recovery.college@nhft.nhs.uk

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Get involved with NHFT

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Get involved with NHFT

We proactively encourage service users and their carers, family and friends to become involved in the day to day running of the Trust.

Coproduction is at the core of the Recovery College.  All our courses are co-designed and co-delivered by people with real-life experience, who work in conjunction with health professionals, education providers, and trainers to share what works for them.

If you are interested in becoming involved with us, why not attend our ‘What Is Coproduction?’ course. You can also find out more about the benefits of involvement by attending ‘How to Become Involved With NHFT’ course.

Volunteering with NHFT

Each and everyday people are giving their time freely as an NHFT volunteer. There are many opportunities to enhance and complement the care provided by paid staff by sharing your skills.

A volunteer is someone who gives their time, skills or knowledge, freely and by choice, for no financial reward, to benefit others in the community. Volunteers help in many different ways in our hospitals and services. 

There are a variety of roles including befriending on the wards, supporting occupational therapists, psychologists and clerical staff, as well as volunteering in roles such as gardening and as shop assistants.

To find out more contact the volunteer services:

phone: 03000 274109
email: volunteering@nhft.nhs.uk 
visit: www.nhft.nhs.uk/volunteer

for more information or to register your interest in becoming a volunteer. 

Involvement with NHFT

Listening to patients, service users and carers’ experiences of our services is the first step in finding out what they think of the service they receive. 

If you know of a patient, service user, carer or parent that would like to be involved in helping to improve services, please contact the Involvement Team:

phone: 03000 273 873
email: involvement@nhft.nhs.uk
visit: www.nhft.nhs.uk/involvement 

Peer mentoring

People who are experiencing mental distress often benefit from meeting others who have had similar experiences and have been successful in their recovery. 

A peer mentor is someone who has experienced mental ill health and wants to use their personal experiences to volunteer support to other service users and patients with mental health conditions. Carers often also value meeting other carers.

email: admin.peersupport@nhft.nhs.uk
visit: www.nhft.nhs.uk/peer-support

Work for NHFT

We encourage people who have experienced mental ill health to come and work at NHFT. Here at NHFT we are committed to making a positive difference. Whether this is to the life of our service users, patients and carers or the careers of those who work as part of our fantastic team.

As a Trust who provides support in the community and in hospital settings, for physical and mental health, as well as for adults and children, there are many opportunities available. 

To find current vacancies visit: jobs.nhft.nhs.uk

Individual Placement and Support Employment Service

If you are a service user accessing one of the community teams and would like support finding and sustaining work either in the NHS or outside the NHS our ‘Individual Placement and Support’ Employment Team can help. 

To find out more information or to contact a team member:

phone: 03000 270800
visit: www.nhft.nhs.uk/ips

Innovation & Research

NHFT involves patients, service-users, carers and volunteers in the design, delivery and evaluation of innovation and research projects. We encourage everyone to take the opportunity to find out about and participate in research that they might be interested in or might benefit. Innovation and research is critical to the delivery of evidence-based care and the future of the a high quality NHS service. 

NHFT Innovation and Research team are involved in delivering national and local innovation and research projects across all our services. 

If you are interested find out more from 

phone: 03000 271717
email: research&Innovation@nhft.nhs.uk
visit: www.nhft.nhs.uk/research

Trust Membership

Our members play a key part in the shaping and development of NHFT.  They directly influence the way we are run and how we will develop in the future. Our members add value to the Trust by representing the people who live in the communities we serve, our service users and carers. 

To find out more information about becoming a Trust member:

phone: 03000 273981
email: foundationtrust@nhft.nhs.uk
visit: www.nhft.nhs.uk/membership

 

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Mental health, learning disabilities and speciality services

  1. Acute Liaison Mental Health Service
  2. Adult ADHD, Autism and Tourettes Team (AAATT)
  3. Adult Inpatients Acute
  4. Adult Inpatient Low Secure
  5. Adult Inpatient Specialist
  6. Adult Inpatient PICU
  7. At Risk Mental State Service
  8. Community Mental Health Adult - Early Intervention N’Step
  9. Community Mental Health Team
  10. Community Mental Health Transformation
  11. Complex PTSD service
  12. Criminal Justice Liaison and Diversion Team
  13. Crisis cafés
  14. Crisis Response Unit
  15. Crisis Houses: The Warren and The Martins
  16. Custody Healthcare Team
  17. Eating Disorders Service
  18. ECT and Ketamine Therapy - The Treatment Centre
  19. Forensic Team
  20. Gender Identity Clinic
  21. Health Based Place of Safety
  22. IPS Employment Service
  23. Learning Disabilities
  24. Northants Personality Disorder Hub
  25. Liaison Psychiatry for Older People
  26. Maternal Loss Psychology Service
  27. Memory Assessment Service
  28. NHS Northamptonshire Talking Therapies
  29. Older Adults Community Mental Health Services
  30. Older People’s Inpatient Acute
  31. Peer support service
  32. Police Liaison & Triage
  33. RECONNECT - Care after custody
  34. Recovery College
  35. rTMS - Centre for Neuromodulation
  36. Secured Services
  37. Serenity Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC)
  38. Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Service
  39. The Mental Health Number
  40. Urgent Care and Assessment Team
  41. Younger Persons with Dementia Team