Kent and Medway’s children’s mental health teams strengthen digital care through Topol Fellowship

A clinician from Kent and Medway’s Children and Young People’s Services has completed an NHS Digital Academy’s Topol Digital Fellowship following a competitive national selection process.

Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust is pleased to announce that Jemma Rees, a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist and locality lead within the Kent Emotional Wellbeing Teams and Medway Emotional Support Teams, has completed the fellowship developing skills in digital transformation, service improvement and data-led innovation.

The Topol Digital Fellowship supports health and care professionals to lead the adoption of digital technologies, improve patient experience and develop more accessible, person-centred services, including using data and feedback to inform service improvement.

Sara Boorman, Service Director for Children and Young People and All-Age Eating Disorder Services at Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust said: “We are extremely proud of Jemma Rees for being awarded a place on the Topol Digital Fellowship and the improvements she has introduced as a result. This was well-deserved recognition of her leadership and innovation in digital mental health care.

“Her work has helped us expand access to evidence-based digital therapies, giving children, young people, and families more choice in how they receive support. We look forward to seeing how this excellent work continues following completion of the fellowship and further strengthens our services.”

Jemma will focus on the continued development of 2 evidence-based digital programmes. This included OSI (Online Support for Parents Intervention), a digital programme that helps parents support children experiencing anxiety, and OSCA (Online Support for Children and Adolescents), a digital programme designed to help young people manage and reduce social anxiety.

Jemma Rees, Cognitive Behavioural Therapist and EWT locality lead at Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust said: “Being selected for the Topol Digital Fellowship was a real opportunity to build on what we had already achieved with digital therapeutics across Kent and Medway. My continued focus, having completed the fellowship, is to make sure our families and young people can access support in ways that work for them and using data and feedback to help improve equity of access and outcomes.”

Over the past year, the teams have expanded OSI and introduced OSCA to widen the range of support available to children, young people and families across Kent and Medway.

Kent Emotional Wellbeing Teams and Medway Emotional Support Teams provide mental health support for children and young people, working closely with schools and local partners to deliver early intervention and improve access to evidence-based care.

The fellowship has helped develop the trust’s understanding in how digital approaches can improve access to support for families who may find traditional services harder to engage with.