New Leaf opened its’ doors to the people of Hertfordshire in November – a Wellbeing College built, in part, on the Recovery College Model delivering learning within an adult educational framework across both physical and mental health needs. New Leaf has adopted a universal approach to this model of service delivery, offering its’ services to anyone living, working or receiving health and support services in Hertfordshire.
The curriculum during this first phase of development is based on the areas of Understanding your Wellbeing, Managing you Wellbeing, and Sustaining you Wellbeing. These areas have specific courses within each spread across 3, 6 and 12 hour blocks, each of which has been comprehensively co-produced from start to finish.
The curriculum will be developed across the County with a partnership with the University of Hertfordshire, local health and social care services and FE colleges. New Leaf has been developed by a broad stakeholder group over the last 18 months and owes its’ existence to the commitment of several statutory and non-statutory organisations, but crucially the energetic investment of the voice of lived experience. The next two years will see the development of an ever broader curriculum designed to instil hope, provide opportunity and promote control. Impact will monitored via self-rated measures of Wellbeing as well as the satisfaction of students who enrol in the courses ensuring that the college develops in line with the student voice.
Andrew Nicholls, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Interim HPFT Head of Recovery and Psychological Services