The New Leaf Recovery and Wellbeing College Team is delighted to have been nominated and shortlisted for the outstanding experience category at the Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust annual staff awards.
This year, the team has been invited to join the trust in celebrating the nominations. This is the second time in two years that the team has been nominated for staff awards and we could not be more thrilled!
Thank you to all those that nominated us; we are incredibly touched to hear how our services have helped our students and experts by experience. We are also thankful to all those who who provide us with feedback along the way so that the college can strive for continuous improvement to offer students the best experience possible.
Below are some of the nominations we received:
“I have voted for New Leaf College as quite frankly they have saved my life. I have learnt so many new ways to cope with my mental health through them it had been an outstanding experience being a student and joining the team. It’s been amazing they have built me up from Rock bottom and I owe them my life.”
“I would like to nominate Irma Mullins and the team at New Leaf Recovery and Wellbeing College for their continuing fantastic work and positive impact on myself and others in wider community across Hertfordshire.
With the challenges of the past year and a half, the College successfully moved its entire operation from classroom to online, whilst continuing to develop great co-produced recovery short courses for students. The College has also been able to introduce new formats for courses as well, such as seminars. These have been well received by students who maybe wanted something shorter to introduce them to concepts such as recovery.
I began as a student with the College in 2018, and they have taught me a lot about my own health and self-management, improved my resilience, and they have inspired me to learn more about mental health and wellbeing, essentially giving me a sense of direction that I didn't have before. The College provided me opportunities for involvement, which helped me develop skills which have slowly built into the start of a career in adult education. The qualifications I have achieved to date in this area owe a lot to my experience with New Leaf.
As a final note, I will say that as someone with a Visual Impairment, the College has always supported me, making adjustments I've needed wherever possible. As someone who has struggled with this in the past, I really appreciated the support.”
“My experience joining the college as a student made a huge difference to my life and I would not be here today if it were not for the courses. The courses gave me many skills, helped me overcome my anger and taught me self-compassion among other beneficial topics, such as how to use mindfulness and creativity to improve my mental health. On top of that, the college gave me the confidence to continue working and helped me build the resilience to bounce back from further hardship.”
“Attending New Leaf College as a student and more recently as an expert by experience, has changed my life. The course have given me hope and skills to use in my daily life. Becoming an expert by experience has given me confidence to share my story of recovery with other. My confidence has grown and I feel like I have purpose in life again. I feel part of the New Leaf ‘family’.
New Leaf staff and the courses have saved me several times when my thoughts have been very dark. I am still here because of the hope, confidence and resilience they have helped me develop. I am so grateful to this people and this service and recommend them and the college to everyone. “