Posted on: 29 August 2023
Hello! My name is Tania Webb, and I am the Family Ambassador for West Yorkshire. I support the families of young people aged 13-18 admitted to mental health inpatient care. Some would say I am an ‘expert by experience’ being the parent of a young person who has received inpatient care for their mental health… I’m not sure about the expert bit.
But I would say that I am passionate about the value of lived experience, and the positive impact it can have, as well as the role of parents as full partners in their young person’s care and support.
The Family Ambassador role is new, and part of a national programme developed by the NHS England Quality Improvement Taskforce. I am one of many Family Ambassadors across England, and we work with families in the immediate run up to admission, throughout a young person’s stay, and up to four weeks after leaving hospital.
Most of the families I support have young people admitted to Red Kite View, the Children and Adolescent Mental Health inpatient hospital at St Mary’s in Leeds, and I am part of the West Yorkshire Local Provider Collaborative.
The Family Ambassador role aims to support, equip and empower parents and carers through what is undoubtedly an immensely difficult time. I do this by offering listening support, providing useful information and resources, and by helping parents and carers to understand, and fully participate in, the processes and meetings that are part of an inpatient stay.
It’s still early days for this new role but I am really grateful for the positive way in which services and clinicians have responded to the Family Ambassador offer of peer support for parents and carers of young people admitted to mental health inpatient care.
If you want to know more about the Family Ambassador offer, or know of someone whom it would benefit, email me tania.