The Centre for Mental Health recently published a collaborative report on NHS mental health services – and SSPSSR student Amy Hardie was involved in the project.

For over 30 years, the Centre for Mental Health, as the charity is now known, has conducted and disseminated research about understanding, current practice, knowledge, services and solutions in the mental health landscape. Working with the NHS Benchmarking Network, the Centre for Mental Health briefing paper is a detailed analysis of NHS data.

Amy joined the charity for her year in Professional Practice as part of her BSc Social Sciences degree. Amy’s role was as Policy Research Assistant and she quickly realised that she was analysing data and drawing conclusions that had national significance and impacted on government policy.

Andy Bell, Deputy Chief Executive of the charity says of Kent’s professional placement year: ‘We benefited enormously from Kent’s placement scheme. It boosted our capacity to get important messages across to policy-makers in Government, in Parliament and more widely across the country. It extended our analytical capacity and our ability to respond quickly to consultations, inquiries and debates. We recommend the placement scheme to any charity wanting to make a difference nationwide.’

Amy’s work throughout the year centred around data analysis which formed the basis of the ‘Mental Health NHS Benchmarking Network Data for England and Wales: the last five years in adult and older adult mental health services’ (Bell et al., 2017).

Amy says: ‘I am humbled to have been a part of this project as it is expected to have substantial impact and add to the growing evidence base developing around a current lack of mental health services available in secondary care.’

A year in professional practice is available to Criminal Justice and Criminology and Social Sciences students; for more information contact SSPSSR Placements Co-ordinator, Ellie Jupp.