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Sharing our final reflections

Dr. Sean Cross and Dr. Brian Rock share some final reflections on this course and managing our mental health during and beyond COVID-19
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Hello everybody and welcome to the end of our course. My name again is Sean Cross and I’m managing director of Maudsley Learning Hello everyone, I’m Brian Rock and the director of Education and Training and the Dean of postgraduate studies at the Tavistock important NHS Foundation Trust. And we just wanted to take a little bit of time at the end of the course to thank you for engaging with it. Thank you for completing it. We hope that you’ve learned a lot and that it’s been a stimulating course for you to engage with. We also just wanted to share a few thoughts and reflections around and a range of different issues as well.
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One thing I’ve been struck by Sean is the extent to which the COVID-19 situation provided us  and our organisations with a real opportunity to collaborate.  And of course, there have been times when we work together before, but I think this really brought much more of a sort of imperative to come together and pool our expertise and share our knowledge in our resource and offer, something that I think is much better for it, and I’ve been so impressed by the range of expertise that’s been drawn on and the complementarity  of perspectives. And I certainly hope, and expect, that this is going to provide the opportunity for us to do further collaborations in due course.  Absolutely.
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It’s been an absolute joy to work with you and your team, Brian, over the last few weeks, and I hope that both of us have pulled something together that we can both be proud of. In reflecting on that to continue the theme that we had throughout the course, of individuals, groups that we need to think more about and wider systems, I think maybe now is a good time to tie together some of these themes, and for those  learners who’ve got to the end and are listening to us to have a think about know what it is to reach out to, what it means to reach out to individuals who you know.
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Maybe your neighbors may be friends and family  who are either working at home under difficult circumstances or who are working in healthcare or other essential services, for example, reach out to them and ask them how they’re doing and check in with them. To have a greater understanding of those groups, we need to think more about  whether it is those with, who are grappling with long term conditions. Those who are shielded and the elderly, or the increasing evidence that we have for  those who are members of our BAME communities who have actually experienced a much greater hit during this pandemic.
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Or, for us to think about the wider systems work as well, and the impact that our leadership and our political systems can have and the responsibilities and the impact that we can have as individuals to try and help change things and make the world a better place on the other side of this pandemic. I hope we’ve addressed all of those issues, as the course has gone on because each of them at different levels impact our own sense of self and our own mental health.
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Absolutely, and I think in the sense that sort of weaving together of both  the sort of experts insights  within the framework of the program has, I think, worked really well. But I also have to absolutely applaud the learner. Such an international, broad range of input and people have been so engaged in lively and also really authentic  and open in their sharing. And there is something about. To put yourself forward and share your perspectives and also then be in a position to take from others. And I really do hope that the program has, in a sense, enabled people to think about their situations and the situations of others.
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Perhaps those are also less fortunate  but also to be able to shift perspectives and also see  other experiences and other factors and influences. Certainly, I think, we hope to also iterate on the program and so that overtime we will look to be launching another cohort for the program and build on people’s feedback as well,  because I expect that there’s, you know, quite a long road ahead of us in terms of actually emerging from the pandemic and a lot of more learning and  living to do as well. So I just want to, again, thank everyone for making it such a rich experience. And I very much look forward to our future endeavors.
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And on that note, we just wish to say thank you very much from both of our organisations. Wish you all the very best and good mental health to you all. Thanks for me. Keep well, keep safe. By now.

Thanks to Sean and Brian for sharing their reflections, and bringing together a few of the key themes from the course that we hope you will take with you on your journey.

Importantly, we feel that the collaboration between our two organisations provides a positive example of how we can work closely together in times of need. This can produce remarkable results as we’ve seen across society during this time, while allowing us to share strengths and learn from each other.

We hope that our structure of considering individuals, groups, and systems has helped you to determine positive actions that you can take to lead towards positive change within yours and others’ lives. These positive steps have a close link to improving our collective mental health and well-being.

Finally, we would like to sincerely thank all of our learners for your openness and authenticity towards your own and others’ experiences. It is humbling to see the connectedness and supportive atmosphere that you have created in discussions throughout the course.

We hope that this course has been useful and can begin, in a small way, to contribute to us all improving the lives and mental health of everyone in our societies.

Thank you and take care, from all the course educators and team involved in this course!
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COVID-19: Psychological Impact, Wellbeing and Mental Health

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