1 November 2018

Last year we launched the King’s Health Partners Mind & Body Champions Network and since then more than 500 staff across our partnership have signed up to promote integrated mental and physical healthcare.

Nearly half of all people with diagnosed mental illness also have at least one, and often more, long-term physical conditions. We know that joining up physical and mental healthcare can help people better manage their different conditions and improve their health.

Our Mind & Body programme launched the Champions Network on 1 November 2017 to turn best practice into common practice.

By launching the Network, staff were invited to complete our Mind & Body e-learning and encouraged to integrate mind and body care in their everyday practice and dialogue. Check out our timeline [right] for more on the Network’s achievements in just one year.

Thank-you to Champions

Senior leaders from across King's Health Partners appeared in a special message to staff to thank champions for their work to provide whole person care. 



Watch the video.

senior leaders thanks M&B champions

What it means to be a Champion

We asked staff across our partnership about what it means to be a Mind & Body Champion. 

https://youtu.be/anh6cdC77p0

Dr Sean Cross, Clinical Director of the Mind & Body Programme, said:

It’s been fantastic to meet many of you to hear about your examples of best practice and to think together about how we can improve health outcomes for local people. I have every belief that the Mind & Body Champions Network will continue to go from strength to strength, building on the relationships forged between our partner organisations and offer a valuable opportunity to

improve the care we give to people

with mental and physical ill-health.

Meanwhile this blog from Sarah Spencer-Adams, Palliative Care Nurse at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, shares how a ‘typical Thursday’ prompted her to rethink her own mental health and the importance of whole person care. Now as a Mind & Body Champion she’s putting what she learnt from her personal experiences into practice for all her patients.

Why this matters

Caring for your mental health during long-term physical treatment is vital, but what happens when you enter remission? Penny shares how Compass, an Online Cognitive Behavioural Therapy tool, helped her recognise the importance of her own mental wellbeing on the road after remission. Read and watch Penny's story.

If you would like to share your experience as a Mind & Body Champion or find out how you can get involved, please email mindandbody@slam.nhs.uk