Priory’s Kemple View receives award for excellence

A team of Psychology staff at a Priory psychiatric service in Blackburn has scooped a top award for excellence.

The Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) Team at Priory Healthcare’s Kemple View has been named winners in the Association for Psychological Therapies’ Awards for Excellence in DBT 2018.

The prestigious annual awards recognise enthusiasm and excellence in the way therapies are used and applied.

Judges say they look for a description of an ‘intervention’ with a patient or group of patients, that should “inspire” other people who read it.

Kemple View is a 90-bed service treating male patients with a mental illness and/or personality disorder, maximising their opportunity for recovery, rehabilitation and independent living. The hospital provides a variety of therapies.

DBT is a type of psychological treatment and is adapted to help people who experience emotions very intensely. The goal of DBT is to help patients learn to manage their difficult emotions by letting themselves experience, recognise and accept them. As they learn to accept and regulate their emotions, they become able to change their behaviour.

DBT was one of four categories in the APT Awards for Excellence, with each category recognising excellent practice by organisations and individuals.

Kate Jennings, Director of Therapy Services, said: “I am delighted that Kemple View has won the Association for Psychological Therapies award for excellence in DBT. Everyone at Kemple View has worked hard to create a whole hospital approach, and mindfulness and validation training has been rolled out for all our staff to underpin the aims of treatment and how to achieve this goal.

“At Kemple View, male patients in secure care have access to DBT skills training and individual therapy, which incorporates self-monitoring by patients completing diary cards between sessions to assess their emotions, problem behaviour and the use of skills. The feedback from patients who have completed the full programme has been extremely positive and these patients have made changes through DBT, which will assist them in having a fulfilled life.

“I am very proud of all the team here at Kemple View and am so pleased that our use of DBT with male patients in a secure environment has been recognised by the APT.”

Dr Adrian Lord, Consultant Forensic and General Adult Psychiatrist at Kneesworth House, said: “This is a superb achievement.”

Dr Sophie Davies, APT’s Director of Governance and Evidence-Based Practice, said: “We loved the examples of encouraging the mastery of skills such as the ‘skill of the week’ and maintenance sessions, and of course the feedback from patients and their instilled hope for the future and managing things differently.”

Judges said: “We would certainly agree that embedding such a whole hospital approach would be daunting, but it is fantastically inspiring to hear how it can be done. The in-patient environment sounds wonderfully therapeutic.”

One patient said: “When I’m discharged from hospital, I think the skills I have learnt will be extremely useful and prevent me from ever returning to hospital as I will be much more skilfully equipped to deal with stressful situations such as bereavements, relationship breakdown, or bills.”

Another said: “I feel that I have gained a lot from DBT and will continue to use what I see as life-changing skills which will hopefully give me a better chance in my future. I’m not actually sure what that is but I feel less lost and more positive about it.”

To view the winning entry, judge’s comments, and to find out more about the awards, visit https://www.apt.ac/dbt-award-winners.html

Notes to editors

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About Priory Healthcare

Priory Healthcare is the leading provider of behavioural care in the UK caring for around 30,000 people a year for conditions including depression, stress, drug and alcohol addiction, eating disorders and self-harming. The Group is organised into three divisions – healthcare, education and children’s services, and adult care. Priory Healthcare is owned by NASDAQ-listed Acadia Healthcare, which is recognised as a global leader in behavioural health.

About the Association for Psychological Therapies (APT)

The Association for Psychological Therapies (APT) was founded in 1981 by William Davies and Derek Perkins, two clinical psychologists based in Birmingham, England. It is now based in Leicestershire, still with the express purpose of providing the best training possible for professionals working in mental health and related areas (e.g. Psychologists, Psychiatrists, Mental Health Nurses, Social Workers, and Occupational Therapists), and especially those working with particularly difficult conditions such as; psychosis, personality disorder, and aggression.

Most APT courses are delivered onsite (at the commissioner’s organisation) and are predominately 2-3 days in duration, delivered to small intensive groups of around a dozen. Over 100,000 professionals have attended APT courses, mainly from the UK National Health and Social Services, and with a significant number from independent healthcare providers. We also offer courses for individuals, which are available to attend here in Leicester or to study online.

APT now employs over 100 tutors on a consultancy basis, with over a half being regularly utilised depending on their area of specialism. Tutors are senior clinicians (mostly consultant psychologists) with expertise in mental health, substance misuse and related areas.