Congratulations to Amanda Parkinson and Svetlana Jankovic who successfully recredentialed with the College recently.
Amanda Parkinson is Mental Health Clinical Pharmacist and Team Leader at Lancaster Medical Practice. She was a member of CMHP Council from October 2018 until earlier this year. The assessor of her recredentialing submission highlighted her work in mental health within a primary care setting and her extensive work on CMHP Council as most impressive.
When asked about what she finds rewarding in her role, Amanda said:
“Prior to my recent change in role I had the privilege of working in a specialist PTSD service with a group of amazing therapists. This was the most rewarding job I think anyone could wish for and I believe that as part of that team I made a real difference to the lives of people who had experienced horrific trauma. As a mental health pharmacist I have walking alongside patients on their journey to recovery- something not many pharmacy roles can offer.
“Having moved across into Primary care mental health services last year after nearly 25 years as a secondary care pharmacist, latterly in more of a management role, I have been able to move into a more patient facing role which has enabled me to use my knowledge and skills to provide more direct patient care. The effects of the pandemic have left a legacy of mental health difficulties across our communities and as part of a primary care mental health team I am enjoying the opportunity to make a difference and support our patients to improve their mental health hopefully closer to home, working with the team to help to prevent secondary care referrals and improve outcomes. We also cover a University as part of the Practice and I am also enjoying working with the young people who are struggling with mental health difficulties and supporting the university team with regards to medication management for the students they are working with. I can’t think of anything I would rather be doing from a pharmacy perspective, no two days are the same and the work, although sometimes emotionally draining is always rewarding.”
Amanda was also invited to comment on what being credentialed by the college means to her. She said:
“I have been a credentialed member of the CMHP for a long time now and for me it is really important to continue to ensure that I meet the required standards so that I can provide assurance to my employers and the patients that I serve that I am maintaining my competence at a high level. I applied initially as it was very important to me to ensure that I am practicing safely and maintaining my knowledge and skills so that I can truly consider myself a specialist mental health pharmacist. Receiving recognition from your peers is the highest honour you can receive and I am really proud to be a credentialed member of the College and will continue to strive to maintain this level of competency until such time that I decide to retire completely.”
Svetlana Jankovic is Lead Pharmacist and Medicines Safety Officer at the Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust. The assessor of her recredentialing submission highlighted Svetlana’s really good work in her medicine safety office role and especially complimented work on an in-depth valproate flowchart.
Svetlana is passionate about supporting patients on their journey to recovery. She says that by working collaboratively with other members of MDT, she hopes to improve patients’ experience and support them to make the best decisions about their treatment plans. She also says she finds it rewarding to see some new initiatives and new ways of working in mental health being productive and beneficial to both staff and patients.
When asked to comment on what being credentialed means to her, Svetlana says:
“I hope that by becoming and remaining a credentialed member, I demonstrate my commitment to high standards of practice.”
We wish Svetlana well in publishing her journal article and using her NMP qualification.
Our credentialed members are required to go through recredentialing every five years. Credentialed members are full members of the College and can carry the post-nominals MCMHP.
For more information about credentialing with the College please see the Credentialing web pages.
You can also view the full list of credentialed members here.
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