A Mental Health Unit in Plymouth has received praise as part of a national review on the importance of trauma-informed practice in mental health inpatient wards.
Syrena House was selected as one of six Mental Health Units chosen to participate in the National Race Equity Ward Environmental Review, led by Dr Jacqui Dyer MBE and Tanya Graham, representatives from Black Thrive Global.
Dr Jacqui Dyer MBE is the Mental Health Equalities Advisor for NHS England. She is an independent health and social care consultant with lived experience who chairs the NHSE Advancing Mental Health Equalities Taskforce and the Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework (PCREF) Steering Group, which co-produced the first NHS anti-racism framework.
Syrena House is a nine-bed Mental Health Recovery Unit in Plymouth, that supports men in their recovery from a severe and enduring mental illness.
The review provided an opportunity for Jacqui and Tanya to meet with staff, review the current and new ward environments, hear experiences direct from the people currently being supported at Syrena, understand the services vision for the future and help to identify areas for improvement.
Forming part of a broader plan, the review aims to embed trauma-informed care into mental health inpatient settings to transform ward environments to support healing rather than reproduce trauma.
“It is an honour and privilege to be able to share the fantastic work that Syrena house are doing in relation to the Culture of Care and racial equity.” said Eva Jakobsen, Directorate Manager for Mental Health Services at Livewell.
“Having Black Thrive Global visit Livewell was an inspiring transformative experience. Black Thrive Global brought deep insight, compassion and practical strategies that really resonated with the team. The visit sparked meaningful conversations about equity, wellbeing and systemic change, leaving us empowered to take real action towards a more inclusive and supportive environment.”
Equality is the focus of standard number five within the Culture of Care Programme, which has twelve standards overall, and more broadly, the programme was designed to improve the culture of inpatient mental health, learning disability and autism wards so that they are safe, therapeutic and equitable places to be cared for, and fulfilling places to work.
When asked about her experience during the visit, Dr Jacqui Dyer MBE, Mental Health Equalities Advisor for NHS England, commented:
“It is a pleasure and honour to be here, amongst what I’ve experienced as kindred spirits, people who really care about the work that they’re doing in terms of helping the healing and recovery of people when they are at their most vulnerable. The commitment and dedication is absolutely palpable. I felt it in every moment, from the beginning of the day right until the present time. It was just really humbling and inspiring to hear the vision that they have for the new premises where Syrena will be moving to.
“We are here for a race equity review, but you can’t fulfil some of the ambitions of such a complicated agenda without having an environment that helps to be conducive to doing some of that deep work, and I feel that Syrena have got those ingredients.”
