Bipolar education programme shortlisted for major award

Posted February 26th 2014

An education programme for people with bipolar disorder written and developed by a team including NCMH’s Professor Nick Craddock and Professor Ian Jones has been shortlisted for a prize at the British Medical Journal Awards 2014.

BEPCymru is a psychoeducation programme designed to help people with bipolar disorder to better understand and manage their condition by highlighting the early warning signs of highs and lows and developing the skills needed to stay as well as possible.

The programme is delivered both as a 10 week face-to-face course for groups of around 10 people, and as an 8 session online course called Beating Bipolar.

Around 3650 people have benefitted from BEPCymru and its online counterpart since its inception in 2009, with courses taking place all over Wales and beyond.

BEPCymru is funded by the Big Lottery, and was developed by Professors Craddock and Jones along with the Mood Disorders group at Cardiff University and Dr Danny Smith, now of the University of Glasgow.

The BMJ awards are the UK’s premier medical awards programme, run by one of the world’s leading medical journals. They recognise and celebrate the inspirational work done by medical professionals. BEPCymru is shortlisted in the Innovation in Healthcare category.

NCMH Deputy Director Professor Ian Jones said “The competition in our category is of an excellent standard, so we are honoured to have made the shortlist. It’s very encouraging to be recognised by one of the most respected medical publications in the world.”

The winners of the award will be announced on 8^th May in a ceremony at the Park Plaza hotel in Westminster.