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Springview staff and
patients share new and old memories this Christmas
PATIENTS based at Wirral mental health
unit Springview took a festive trip down memory lane to decorate a special tree
for the Hoylake Christmas Tree Festival. Over recent weeks, staff, patients and
carers from Springview's Meadowbank Ward; a specialist inpatient service
supporting people with dementia; have been writing down their festive memories
to decorate a memory filled Christmas tree. In addition to providing a fun
activity for people accessing the service, the project also aimed to encourage
the therapeutic benefits that reminiscing can provide for people with dementia.
Susie Walsh, lead occupational therapist at Springview Hospital, said:-
"Springview is a hospital for patients who are mentally unwell, including those
living with dementia, so we tried to make our tree interactive and enjoyable for
everyone, but particularly for those living with dementia."
The Springview team, run by Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation
Trust, also worked with people accessing the service to create a special
Christmas audio book of memories and songs, which was played alongside their
display at the Hoylake Festival. Susie added:- "We chose the theme
of Christmas memories to enable everyone to reminisce together about Christmas.
Our patients, their carers / visitors and staff have been sharing their
Christmas memories with each other. This has drawn on the strengths of our
patients with dementia in discussing their longer term memories, which were
written down on wooden gift tags and hung on the tree."
Springview is CWP's
mental health inpatient unit based at Clatterbridge Health Park on the Wirral.
It comprises of two acute mental health wards for adults of working age, an
older people's mental health ward, an eating disorders ward and a psychiatric
intensive care unit Springview contains a number of state of the art
healing rooms and gardens. It also has:- gym facilities, a cyber cafe, spiritual
care room and activity centre. |
