Introducing the Family Ambassadors team
Meet the East Midlands Family Ambassadors - a dedicated team of non-clinical professionals with lived experience who provide peer support for parents and carers of young people needing highly specialised mental health care.
The latest addition to the team is Beth Houston, Family Ambassador Lead, who has a background in mental health and over two decades of service, bringing a wealth of experience and compassion to her role. As a qualified counsellor and psychotherapist, Beth combines professional expertise with personal insight, having navigated the mental health system as a mother of a child who has accessed services. This lived experience adds to Beth's passion for supporting families and advocating for their needs.
Beth joins Shamiso Mposhi, Quality and Governance Lead for the East Midlands Provider Collaboratives (CAMHS, AED and Perinatal specialist services), whose experience includes working as a Specialist Community Public Health Nurse for children and young people as well as in Patient Safety and Quality roles.
Four Family Ambassadors make up the rest of the team, whose role it is to help parents and carers navigate the inpatient journey and provide support in a wide range of areas. They are:
- Denise Tenney - Denise's experience includes working as a carer peer support worker in the adult crisis pathway, and she has a daughter with complex emotional and mental health needs and neurodiversity. I totally get where parents and carers are coming from as I have been through the journey myself, she says.
- Lucy Lane - Lucy has worked with SEND services in secondary education and her youngest daughter has autism and complex mental health. She says she feels privileged to offer hope and guidance to inspire other families.
- Lorraine Aldridge - a former teaching assistant, Lorraine has many years of experience supporting family members with emotional, physical and mental health needs. We don't just stand in your shoes, we walk in your shoes with you, she says.
- Chris Clarke - with previous experience including as a carer and family support lead, Chris has a younger brother with ASD and complex learning disabilities. He is passionate about supporting parents and carers.
Find out more about the East Midlands Family Ambassador service at www.nhft.nhs.uk/familyambassador