Department of Family Care and Mental Health
Head of
Department
Karen Cleaver
Professional Leads
Midwifery
Mary Billington (LME)
Learning Disability
Nicki Fowler
Mental Health
Jude Ibe
Child Health and Welfare
Jan Webb
Support
Ruth Dyke
Val Hennessy
Sue Waterman
Karena Whiting
Overview of staff
The department is multi-professional involving the disciplines of social work, midwifery, and nursing, including learning disability, mental health and children's nursing. Each of these disciplines is headed up by a professional lead. The department currently has 49 members of staff as well as a pool of Honorary Lecturers and part-time staff, the latter seconded in to deliver specialist provision in social work, learning disability and mental health (CBT). We pride ourselves in the quality of our teaching and as a department we believe strongly in life long learning that will continue to development the expertise of our students and ourselves.
The work of the department
The department offers a range of programmes to meet the needs of local NHS and social care workforce requirements at both pre & post qualifying level. The programmes currently offered by the department and their programme leaders are as follows:
Pre-qualifying
- BA Hons Social Work - Lis Hunter
- BSc Hons Nursing (MH) - Jude Ibe
- BSc Hons Nursing (CN) - Karen Chandler
- BSc Hons Midwifery - Mandy Stevenson
- Dip HE Nursing (MH) - Jude Ibe
- Dip HE Nursing (CN) - Karen Chandler
- Dip HE Nursing (LD) - Nicki Fowler
- Dip HE Midwifery - Mandy Stevenson
- PG Dip Speech & Language Therapy - Jane Stokes
Post-qualifying
- PG Cert Child Protection - Jan Webb
- BSc Hons Mental Health Work - Mary Morgan
- BSc Hons Sexual Health - Ros Delaney
- Graduate Diploma CAMH - Naomi Narramore
- BA Hons Social Care - Michael Marriott
As well as the above the department also provides routes through the post �qualifying award, BSc Hons in Professional Practice. We have routes in midwifery (contact Mary Billington); sexual health (contact Ros Delaney), children's nursing (contact Claire Winter), and children�s palliative care (contact Ann Rich). We offer two packages within the combined honours framework in learning disability and child development, and jointly with the School of Education & Training offer a BA Hons Childhood Studies.
The department is also working collaboratively with Canterbury Christ Church University in the delivery of a PG Dip in Speech and Language Therapy, leading to registration with the Health Professionals Council as a speech and language therapist. The programme runs annually commencing in January. Contact slt@gre.ac.uk for further details. The Department is also offering a Foundation Degree in "Every Child Matters" (Contact Jan Webb)
Research within the department is developing with 8 members of staff registered and at varying stages of completion in respect of PhDs or professional doctorates. Dr Jane Reeves is the research lead for the department. Some of the current areas of research interest within the department are as follows:
- Teenage pregnancy/young mothers and fathers. (Dr Jane Reeves)
- Evaluation of joint Social Work and Learning Disability nurse training (Dr Dave Sims)
- Carers of clients with mental health problems, developing skills to give depot medication (John Crowley)
- The experience of Sikh men during labour (Tina Heptinstall)
- Evaluation of IPE in pre-registration curricular (Tina Heptinstall with Morag Redfern)
- Emergency care of young people who self-harm (Karen Cleaver)
- Midwives readiness for critical care provision (Mandy Stevenson)