My Blog

I was invited to be the opening keynote speaker at this event for Network for Psychiatric Nursing Research (NPNR), supported by the Royal College of Nursing and I was able to join in the whole event. Here are my experiences and learnings.

I have never begun my attendance anywhere with the comment to a hotel receptionist, ‘I’m expected in the penthouse’! I arrived at St Jame’s Hotel in Nottingham and made my way up to the penthouse in the very sparkly lift. A number of fellow speakers and presenters were to gather there to participate in a pre-conference live session, to be streamed on You Tube followed by a Twitter chat. Here it is:

(My introduction is at 9:30)

A number of other people involved in the conference joined us and the warm, friendly and enthusiastic atmosphere that began set the tone for the entire conference. I felt excited to be part of it and was made to feel very welcome.

Once the session had finished, we left the penthouse and made our way back to the Crowne Plaza for supper. I woke very early the next morning as I genuinely was excited to be participating.

The conference theme was ‘The long and winding road:mental health across the life course’, so I wanted my opening keynote presentation to set the scene of:

1. Inspiration and gratitude for the research and care that helped my recovery from a severe mental illness
2. Shatter the notion that perinatal mental health is ‘just’ about the mother by explaining how many family members can be affected and some of the implications for the mother at other points in her life.
3. Encouraging delegates that perinatal mental health is ‘Everyone’s Business’ and to inspire more research.

The venue was part of Nottingham Conference Centre and Trent University – a very impressive blend of old and new buildings. The main lecture theatre was very imposing.

Due to the introductions the previous evening and meeting some other familiar faces, I felt very comfortable. I was very pleased to be offered a headset microphone – this meant I could set away from the lecture and away from drinks! I certainly did not want a repeat of the talk in Hull (see my previous blog).

I was introduced by the chair if the day, Professor Wendy Cross from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. She had also taken part in the session the previous evening.

This conference has to be one of the best I have attended for great social media coverage, prompted by ‘The Mental Elf’ and ‘We Mental Health Nurses‘ and supported by many attendees. By mid-morning we were ‘trending’ on Twitter.

After I spoke it was great to read a many messages about my talk, such as ‘Big thanks to @elainehanzak for sharing so openly & honestly. Really moving AND practically helpful 🙂 #npnr2016‘.

I loved this one too – ‘Celebrating family @elainehanzak, speaks with pride about her son #NPNR2016‘

Judging by the comments on Twitter, and after from the many people who spoke to me, it seems my impact was felt and I had made people think of the possible perinatal effects to people in their care and/or research area of mental health nursing. Hooray!

The delegates then divided into attending many choices of workshops and presentations across a myriad of mental health topics from across the world.

I stayed in one for blogging and social media. André Tomlin lead the session and explained a little about The Mental Elf Service.  It is a learning platform for healthcare professionals and one aspect of it is that they will ‘make sense’ of research papers by condensing them into the main points. This session was to do one together. Professor Ben Hannighan, whom I had also met the previous evening, and I were to condense the results aspects of a paper. Thank you Ben for doing it as I admit it was too soon after my presentation to actually think! The blog is here of that session and those who participated pictured above. I have taken a quick look at the ‘National Elf Service’ and from what I can see, this is an excellent place to connect with those who share your interest. I strongly suggest that you take a look around. There are some perinatal reports on the site here – let’s see that area grow!

The next keynote was given by former Shadow Minister for Mental Health, Luciana Berger MP. It is great that we have increasing interest in mental health within Parliament and I feel that we must remain optimistic that in time the regular funding that is needed, will eventually filter through. She encouraged us to contact our own MP’s on this by letting them know why it is so important. Her tips including handwriting letters rather than sending email templates, and attend MP surgeries in small groups to make an impact.

Once again, there were many different presentations of research papers to attend.

One group that presented was SUGAR (Service User and Carer Group Advising on Research).

‘SUGAR members discuss and contribute to various aspects of research projects and the research process and have also written journal papers and given conference workshops, presentations and posters. They hope to inspire other researchers to follow their lead and add SUGAR to their work.’

Having spoken to some of their members, this does look like an excellent idea that could be set up attached to other universities.

The final keynote of the day was delivered by Professor John Keady on dementia care. His presentation was powerful because he shared his own family involved with this illness. It was also good to see a tweet ‘ #NPNR2016 just like @elainehanzak this morning, important to remember impact of illness on the family’.

I was certainly reminded of my own Grandma who developed this condition. It is so reassuring to know that research is being carried out to ease the suffering of many in the future and why I applaud such work and conferences.

The evening was a Dinner and Award announcements held at the same venue. What a buzz of conversation! One of the best parts of presenting a keynote at the start of an event, is that most people usually know you. This means that you have the advantage of mingling with delegates and they are likely to comment on your talk. This happened beautifully and endorsed my belief that I had ‘made people think and an intention to take action’. I take it as a privilege for others to confide their personal and professionals stories with me and I love to listen to them.

I sat at a table with Dr. Michael Coffey from Swansea University, Dr. Tim Carter and Andrew Grundy from Nottingham University.

Amongst the conversations were some ideas on making presentations memorable.

I concluded the day with a very interesting conversation around the psychological effects of hysterectomy, especially for those who had a perinatal mental illness,  with a lady who has expressed interest into looking at the research implications as a result of my talk!

Part 2 to follow ..

Elaine 🙂