Hospitals, partner with Emerge

Partner with Emerge to help bring a voice of hope to people aged 10-25 in A&E because of self-harm, a suicide attempt or emotional crisis.

“I think the hospital I work for could really benefit from having an Emerge project.” – Healthcare Professional.

We are youth support workers bringing a voice of hope to people aged 10-25 admitted to A&E because of self-harm, a suicide attempt or an emotional crisis. Our volunteers visit hospital wards in the evenings to spend time with young people and offer a listening ear, positive distractions and encouragement. We would love to partner with your hospital to support young people.

Find out more about Emerge’s approach to youth support work…

Starting an Emerge project

If you would like to enquire about starting an Emerge project at your hospital, please email info@emergeadvocacy.com

 

FAQs

Our Director and / or a Trustee would meet with a suitable representative of your hospital for an initial conversation and provisional agreement to move forward.

We would then meet / communicate with other key leads i.e. A&E, Safeguarding, Volunteering, Information Governance, Children’s Ward, Psych Liaison to develop an understanding of what Emerge is and how it would work within their area of responsibility. This would enable Emerge to tailor the policies and procedures for the project to your hospital.

As a charity, Emerge Advocacy can apply for grants to set up and run new projects. We would begin to do this once we had a definite ‘go ahead’ from the hospital in question to begin work on set up.

Some projects we run are funded fully or partly by a CCG or Council. Where this is the case, we have a Service Level Agreement in place. Emerge is set up to submit data to NHS Digital if desired.

The hospital would need to identify a member of staff (ideally clinical) who agrees to be the Link Person with the Emerge project. This is a key role in helping the project embed, to dovetail with A&E and paediatric admission processes, resolve practical issues, to raise the profile of the project and make connections with other key staff.

The Link Person would then draw together other key staff members to form an Advisory Group, who would meet with Emerge monthly during the project set up phase and for a period post-launch before reducing to bi-monthly. This group’s function would be to support the project to dovetail with hospital procedures and pathways, to approve policies and procedures sending these to relevant colleagues for sign off when necessary, and to guide and facilitate the effective setup and running of the work.

The Emerge team members need to be authorised to be on-site and have ID etc. This can be done through the hospital volunteering office.

A space for secure storage for Emerge paperwork would need to be provided within the hospital site.

Approval would need to be given for Emerge’s publicity to be displayed in relevant areas.

The hospital’s Safeguarding Team, A&E Clinical Lead and Director of Nursing would need to approve / sign off the Emerge Project safeguarding policy and Standard Operating Procedure.

We would work towards a jointly agreed start date. All relevant clinical staff would receive information via their managers about the Emerge project and how to refer young people.

Emerge would visit relevant departments to meet staff and reinforce the message about the launch and how to refer.

Emerge would place leaflets, posters etc in patient areas to advertise the service.

The hospital’s designated Link Person with Emerge is crucial here. They would be the go-to person for staff who had a question or concern and the point of contact within the hospital for the Emerge leadership.

The Advisory Group would continue to meet bi-monthly as a forum for review and future planning.

Emerge would need to be given a standing slot in staff training for nurses, doctors and A&E receptionists to train them in the role of Emerge, correct referral process and to maintain the profile of the project in their minds to maximise referrals.

Emerge would have a named team member who would be the lead for the project in your hospital. They would keep in touch with key staff, attend all Advisory Group meetings, and meet periodically with the Link Person to discuss operational matters and ensure an effective and successful project.

Whilst Emerge operates within the hospital setting and not directly with CAMHS, it is helpful to include relevant CAMHS practitioners in conversations about the project at an early stage so that it can be implemented in such a way as to engage well with CAMHS and work effectively alongside their pathways.

Emerge is there to bring care and compassion indiscriminately.

Whilst we are motivated by our Christian faith, Emerge does not discuss matters of faith with young people unless the young person initiates it. If a young person does wish to speak about spiritual matters, our priority is to listen to and affirm them, we do not impose our own views.

Emerge’s team always values the individual and the journey that person is on, irrespective of their beliefs or choices, we will listen and support them without judgement.

Although we are a Christian charity we do not discriminate in the way we provide our services, our support is open to young people from all ethnicities, backgrounds and world-views.