Nurse of the Year

Just about everyone in our clinic is behind this nomination which speaks volumes, not just about Carole's popularity but also about the quality and efficiency of, and her outstanding commitment to, her work. Carole is an advocate for every one of her patients and for best practice. A Sick Children and a Mental Health Nurse, Carole works at St Frances Clinic, the Mental Health Department, with a primary role on the Deliberate Self Harm team and an additional role on the general Paediatric Liaison Team.

From day one, Carole has brought a commitment to high standards, to equality of treatment and access for all clients, a warmth and compassion and a good-humoured and high-energy approach to her work. The nature of the work of the Deliberate Self Harm team is unpredictable. Generally, it involves working with highly distressed children and their parents. It is also common for there to be a high degree of externalisation, or acting-out, on the part of children/adolescents who attend. Carole's presence is calm and reassuring, managing difficult behaviour in an unruffled way which is a model for nursing staff and indeed for parents and carers. Beyond this however, Carole's caring nature, ability and commitment are palpable. Carole and colleagues from the Deliberate Self Harm (DSH) team also provide a four-week, homebased family intervention to families of children who have had a self-harm attempt. As part of this, Carole has been instrumental in designing and facilitating SPACE, the support programme for parents and carers of children who have self-harmed.

This innovative programme has been evaluated and presented at conferences on suicide prevention and Carole has been key in its introduction. In support of this nomination we consulted parents who all supported Carole.