Nursing team up for more national awards

The University’s commitment to looking after the mental health of its community and a star student who turned personal tragedy into a force for good have been recognised with national award nominations.

The Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) team – who have been rolling out ‘first aid for the mind’ training across the University since 2017 – have been nominated for ‘Teaching Innovation of the Year’ at the Student Nursing Times Awards.

This nomination comes just after the team were nominated for a mental health award for MHFA at the first ever Inside Out ceremony, to be held next month.

Joining them at the nominee’s table on 24 April will be Lauretta Ofulue, who is up for for Student Nurse of the Year: Learning Disabilities.

Lauretta is currently in the final year of her Learning Disability Nursing degree at the University of Northampton.

She decided to join the ranks after experiencing first-hand the excellent care and communication skills of an LD nurse when her son Otito, who had a learning disability, was ill in hospital.

Sadly, Otito later died but Lauretta was determined to channel her heartache into something positive by making sure other parents like herself and husband Jerry also received that level of care and understanding.

Lauretta said: “It is wonderful but also very humbling to be recognised like this, especially because I feel I am only doing my day to day job.

“I wanted to become a Learning Disability nurse to give back some of the brilliant care and support my husband and I received when we really needed it for our late son Otito. This award nomination shows my peers and I are all on the right track.”

The full list of nominees can be read here.