Danish child mental health experts “inspired” on visit to Trust
Trust staff recently hosted a visit of colleagues from Denmark in an important moment of collaboration with international colleagues.
South London and Maudsley’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) team were delighted to welcome Hallur Gilstón Thorsteinsson, a senior mental health leader and Head of the Centre for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in the Capital Region of Denmark, to the Trust.
The visit was an important opportunity to share ideas and best practice and learn from each other. Trust colleagues met with Hallur Gilstón Thorsteinsson over the course of a morning and had a wide-ranging discussion about early intervention and prevention, research and innovation.
Reflecting on the visit, Hallur Gilstón Thorsteinsson said, “It was truly an inspiring visit, and I am very pleased that the opportunity arose. I am returning to Denmark with quite concrete ideas on how we can strengthen early intervention, continue developing digitalisation, and not least how we can enhance the synergy between research and clinical practice. I believe I saw some impressive examples of this in action at the Michael Rutter Centre.
“I must also admit that one cannot help but feel a little envious when seeing the new physical facilities you will soon be moving into – that is exactly the kind of hospital development we would like to have in Denmark as well! I hope we can stay in touch and strengthen our collaboration in the future – we face many of the same challenges, and we learn more by working together.”
During the visit, Dr Bruce Clark, Consultant Psychiatrist and CAMHS Clinical Director led a tour of the Pears Maudsley Centre for Children and Young People. CAMHS teams from the Trust have begun to move into this brand-new building.
Dr Bruce Clark said, “It was inspiring to share time with Hallur Gilstón Thorsteinsson representing the leadership of some the leading CAMHS services for the Copenhagen area. There was a lot of shared learning, and it was positive to hear that they particularly valued learning from the model of the Kings Maudsley Partnership, including the partnerships planned within the Pears Maudsley Centre for Children and Young People.”
Designed with young people, the Pears Maudsley Centre is a vibrant and welcoming space cleverly uses light, outdoor space, artwork and soft furnishings to help ease anxiety. Once the move-in phase is completed later this year, service users and their families, clinicians and academics will all work alongside each other at this state-of-the-art centre.
