Local nurse honoured for pioneering sleep project

A TYRONE nurse has received a prestigious honour for her pioneering work in improving the sleep of adults with learning disabilities.

Stewartstown woman Julie-Anne Colvin (36), who is Nurse Development Lead in Learning Disability with the Southern Trust, received the Learning Disability Award at this year’s Royal College of Nursing Awards.

Her winning submission was selected from more than 920 entries in the category.

Julie-Anne secured £86,000 in funding from a ‘Dragon’s Den’ style grant initiative through the Trust’s Quality Improvement Team to run a pilot providing sleep coordination training and advice for staff and families across the organisation.

She said, “I realised when I started working with adults with learning disabilities that sleep was often a massive problem in regards to their wellbeing and it was something that wasn’t often discussed.

“While such services are available to children, there wasn’t anything really to benefit adults.

“As a multi-disciplinary team, we made a video where we discussed what was needed and how it would benefit the team and service users to use as a pitch for the funding.

“Without the support of the team, this whole thing couldn’t have progressed like it did and we are now able to train 13 more staff in the sleep counsellor training.

“Prioritising sleep, and recognising the benefits of it, wasn’t something that was particularly on the radar amongst services, so to have it recognised has been a great achievement.”

The training will be provided by Sleep Action (formerly Sleep Scotland), the UK’s leading provider of sleep support, training and resources.

Julie-Anne studied Learning Disability Nursing at Queen’s University in Belfast from 2008 before graduating in 2011.

Outside of nursing, she devotes much of her spare time to the church.

Alongside friends and family, she attends Coagh Baptist Church where she is heavily involved in working with young people.

Reflecting on her achievement at the RCN Nursing Awards, she said, “I am grateful and proud of the incredible and dedicated multi-disciplinary team that has worked so hard on this project with me from the very beginning.

“Improved sleep not only helps the individual with the learning disability but also impacts upon the whole family and will benefit the wellbeing of all family members.”

Jan McGall, Director of Mental Health and Disability Services in the Southern Trust, said, “Using a bespoke and person-centred approach to sleep, Julie-Anne’s project results to date have been described as life-changing for some individuals and their families.

“This award is testament to the dedication, passion and enthusiasm of our learning disability teams and we look forward to seeing the difference this project makes for future service users.”