South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust celebrates success and looks to the year ahead at annual members’ meeting 2022
Our annual members’ meeting was held on 18 October 2022 at the Digital Media Centre, in Barnsley. People came together to look at the key highlights from 2021/22. We also looked ahead at what we are doing to deliver our priorities in the coming year.
Opening the meeting, chair Marie Burnham introduced our approach to equality, involvement, communication and membership. Our approach places people and communities at the heart of everything we do. You can watch more about our approach on our YouTube channel.
The meeting looked at some of the creative ways we are helping people reach their potential and live well in their community. You can watch a video on YouTube which shows how we are improving care through co-production with staff, people who use our services, and people within our communities.
We also heard from a person using our services. They spoke movingly about their positive experience of receiving mental health care and support they receive from staff in our Trust.
We also celebrated our staff and teams who live our values, including our Excellence Award winners, and our community heroes.
The meeting was joined by Dawn the Poet from Wakefield. The audience were captivated by Dawn’s inspirational and powerful poems. You can read Dawn’s poems below.
Before the annual members’ meeting, members enjoyed networking with teams from across the Trust and creative partners. The showcase also invited community groups from Barnsley who have received funding from the Trust to talk about the fantastic work they have been doing to support local people
Mark Brooks, chief executive, said: “Our annual members meeting was a fantastic reflection of all the hard work of our staff over the past year. I’m excited to see how we deliver on our priorities for the coming year, especially how we do this creatively in partnership with our people and communities.”
Marie Burnham, chair, said: “It was a pleasure to host our annual members’ meeting. Thank you to those who joined us in person and online. I was particularly moved by the passionate words spoken by Dawn the Poet which struck a chord with us all.
“I would also like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all our staff for everything you do to support people to live well and reach their potential.”
Continuing the theme of creativity, the meeting was captured in a visual story by Creative Connection. The artwork will be installed in our services within Barnsley.
You can watch the annual member’s meeting on our YouTube channel.
You can find out more about how to become a member of our Trust on our website.
Poems by Dawn the Poet
Dear Me
Dear me,
You need to stop putting yourself down
You need to start believing in yourself
You’ve got so much to give
You show others empathy and kindness but not to yourself
Dear me, you’re not a bad person
It’s not your fault you’ve been let down, treated so badly
Dear me, please hang onto hope because you’re beautiful inside and outside
The lighthouse poem
I will be your light when you’re in the dark struggling with your mental health issues
I feel your sadness I totally understand
I myself have been lost in the dark looking for that light that will guide us through
I will listen without judgement
I will catch you when your falling
Please reach out don’t face these battles alone
I’m here
I truly care when the light seems dim
Look out for me now and I’m always there
Take my hand
Come with me out of the dark place where we hide
And let’s go towards the light together
We can support each other
as being lost in the darkness
Is torture
A place of overthinking
Feelings of worthlessness
Lost and alone
Lets go towards the light
To a better place
A place where we belong
In the light we can create changes
For others who are lost in the dark
Alone with the stigma
Come with me out of the dark place where we hide
And let’s go towards the light together
It’s a place where we are wanted
A place where we are loved
A place where we belong
