"Placement with Thorneywood CAMHS Self-harm Team, Nottingham"

Hi all,

I'm a student nurse, due to finish a three month placement with the self-harm team in Nottingham tomorrow and wanted to thank them for a really enjoyable experience but also wanted to share some of this experience with others.

The team receive referrals from the Queens Medical Centre paediatric wards when a young person has been admitted following an episode of self-harm/suicidal thoughts. During my time with the team, I have observed some excellent examples of practice. The team is made up of a nurse consultant and three clinical nurse specialists, all of which I must say are an inspiration to aspiring nurses. They are caring and kind individuals who truly do their best to offer support and advice to young people and their families in a time of crisis.

Despite the difficulties they face each day, the team remain positive and hold onto the hope that the young people they see will recover. The team members offer support to one another on a daily basis.

In addition to assessing young people, each member of the team has their own speciality; their ambition and drive to improve services for young people is evident by the commitment they put into continually enhancing their knowledge through training, research etc.

All of this is not recognition enough for the hard-work these nurses do. Thank-you for taking the time to share your knowledge, experience, values and attitudes with me, I hope more student nurses will be offered this as a placement in the future as I feel I've learnt so much in such a short time.