Laptops find good home to support mental health in the Kirklees area

How do you find a good home for your old laptops? That was the challenge faced on a grand scale by Thornton and Ross when it looked to upgrading 30 of them. Keen to find a good home for some still very good quality machines they reached out to the local community with the help of its valued partner Kirklees Council.

With the advice of the council’s Commissioning Manager Dianna Lowe they found two schemes which support the company’s overall aim of ‘Caring for People’s Health,’ working with young people who are experiencing challenges around mental health.

The first was the South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust who provide specialist mental health services across Kirklees, Calderdale, Wakefield, Barnsley, Adel Beck and Wetherby.

During the pandemic and social distancing measures the Trust and its dedicated teams of clinicians changed their ways of working to enable care to continue for children and young people. They provided online interventions while face to face meetings had to be restricted due to social distancing rules.
Access to a computer in the home can be an issue and so the additional laptops will increase how many young people the Trust can help in this way.

The Trust exists to help people reach their potential and live well in their communities. They do this through mental health, community, learning disability and wellbeing services.

Pictured from, left to right, is: Mental Health Practitioner Emma Rolfe, Mental Health Practitioner Sophie Brown, Mental Health Practitioner (Crisis) Emily Vear, Team Manager of Kirklees Mental Health Teams in Schools Shamaila Iqbal, Senior Practitioner at Northorpe Hall Child and Family Trust Trudy Lightowler, Kirklees CAMHS Support Worker Sophie Green, Pathway Lead Richard Shaw, Director of Corporate Communications and Stakeholder Relations at Thornton and Ross Ruth Burns, Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist Miriana Vrajitoriu, General Manager of Kirklees and Calderdale CAMHS Linda Moon.

Linda Moon, General Manager of Kirklees and Calderdale CAMHS, said: “This is great opportunity to be able to provide laptops for children and young people in order for them to be able to access treatment and care online. This will enable us to continue to respond to their mental health needs and is a great example of partnership working which can make a real difference to the lives of so many young people.”

The second partner was Northorpe Hall Child and Family Trust, an independent charity who work closely with the NHS and Kirklees Council health and care services. Both SWYFT and Northorpe Hall are part of the Thriving Kirklees Partnership which works with children of all ages across the Kirklees locality.

Northorpe Hall have also seen the same response to the move to online support but were struggling to identify how they could support this demand due to the lack of laptops to make available to young people.

The additional laptops will help their staff and volunteers to provide essential services supporting the health and wellbeing of Kirklees children, young people, and families.

Yvonne White, Service Manager at Northorpe Hall Child and Family Trust, said: “As we have been developing new ways to work on different platforms, resources such as these make a big difference in allowing services to be accessible to families who otherwise wouldn’t be able to access support through online methods.”

For Thornton & Ross, Roger Scarlett-Smith EVP UK & USA said:
“This is a project and collaboration that is close to issues that we know many people have struggled with but has impacted young people disproportionally in these challenging times. As part of our purpose of Caring for People’s Health, working with local partners who are doing such wonderful work, we can really put these laptops to good use. We value our relationship with Kirklees Council and hope that we can build on this and develop this into a partnership that supports young people’s access to healthcare in a way which supports their recovery.”

About Thornton & Ross Ltd
Part of the STADA group, Thornton & Ross employs more than 700 people across the UK and at its headquarters in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. With a strong track record of supplying the NHS with emollients and bone health products, the company offers a wide and diverse portfolio of generic pharmaceuticals, biosimilars and over the counter healthcare solutions including Covonia®, Savlon® and Oilatum® as well as the marketing leading household disinfectant Zoflora®. For more information go to www.thorntonross.co.uk

About STADA Arzneimittel AG
STADA Arzneimittel AG is headquartered in Bad Vilbel, Germany. The company focuses on a three-pillar strategy consisting of generics, specialty pharma and non-prescription consumer healthcare products. Worldwide, STADA Arzneimittel AG sells its products in approximately 120 countries. In financial year 2020, STADA achieved group sales of over 3 Bn EUR. As of 31 December 2020, STADA employed 12,301 people worldwide.
www.stada.com/investor-relations