Kate Granger Patient Care Award, Highly Commended
June 26, 2025
Every year we celebrate our amazing staff and their achievements at our Thank You ceremony. Board members will surprise colleagues at their bases and present them with a hamper, balloons and a certificate for being shining examples of our magnificent staff behaviours.
Helen Sellers, Clinical Team Manager nominated the Children and Young People's Mental Health Services (CYPMHS) Liaison Pathway team for the exceptional care, persistence, and professionalism they showed in supporting a young person with highly complex needs who has been extremely difficult to engage.
From the beginning, the team recognised the depth of the young person's distress and the significant barriers to forming relationships. Despite repeated setbacks, refusals to engage, and presentations of high-risk behaviour, the team never gave up. They approached each encounter with patience, curiosity, and compassion—seeing beyond the behaviour to the unmet needs beneath it. This young person has often struggled to trust professionals and has found it difficult to feel safe in adult-led environments. Many would have seen these challenges as reasons to step back. Instead, this team leaned in. They maintained a consistent calm presence, offering small meaningful opportunities for connection, without pressure or expectation. They understood that safety and trust are earned slowly and maintained through predictability, emotional attunement, and genuine care.
Alongside this direct work, the team has worked tirelessly with professionals across systems to ensure joined-up, high-quality care. Their collaboration with Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust (LTHT) has been particularly noteworthy. They communicated clearly and sensitively with LTHT colleagues, ensuring that medical and emotional needs were considered in tandem. They advocated strongly for the young person while recognising and respecting the pressures on acute services. Their ability to maintain relationships with hospital staff, provide context, and offer trauma-informed insight played a vital role in shaping coordinated care-planning during critical periods.
Even when the young person disengaged or presented in ways that disrupted progress, the team remained grounded in their approach. They adapted their strategies with flexibility, never losing sight of the importance of relationship and consistency. Their focus was never on "fixing" the young person, but on understanding them, supporting regulation, and being a reliable presence, regardless of how difficult things became.
What stands out the most is the team’s ability to stay connected to the young person, to each other, and to the wider professional network. They sought and used reflective supervision, supported one another emotionally, and kept their practice aligned with trauma-informed principles. They are the embodiment of professional resilience: not just turning up, but showing up—emotionally available, collaborative, and hopeful.
Helen added, "Their commitment has made a clear and lasting difference. While engagement remains complex, there are signs of relational shifts—glimpses of trust, of moments shared, of a young person beginning to believe that perhaps, just perhaps, the adults around them will not give up. These changes, while subtle, are profound."
Jenny Allen, Director of Workforce presented the award to the team at Kirkstall Health Centre thanking them for their hard work.
Tell us what you think
We would love to know what you think of our website and if there is anything we can improve.
Complete our survey and share your thoughts.