Wednesday 19 December 2012
Sunday 9 December 2012
Saturday 8 December 2012
NENE Clinical Commissioning film
NENE (Northants NHS Clinical Commissioning) has produced a short film about personal budgets for mental health clients.
The film shows NHS professionals and service users delineating the benefits of a direct payments approach that encourages individual choice and development.
The professionals also testify to the cost savings that arise from clients needing less and less support from more dependency-based services.
Highly recommended.
NENE personal budgets film
The film shows NHS professionals and service users delineating the benefits of a direct payments approach that encourages individual choice and development.
The professionals also testify to the cost savings that arise from clients needing less and less support from more dependency-based services.
Highly recommended.
NENE personal budgets film
Thursday 6 December 2012
Dylan Tighe (from Breaking Tunes)
Dylan released his debut album RECORD produced by Jimmy Eadie (Jape, We Cut Corners, David Kitt) in May 2012 and launched himself onto the music scene with a series of 10 performances at the Cork Midsummer Festival. This unique live-show featuring actors and musicians received rave reviews and went on to tour to the Dublin Theatre Festival in October.
According to The Examiner "the pick of this bunch of new releases is theatre-maker Dylan Tighe’s debut Record, an album snatched from the swirling waters of mental illness. Launched with a theatre production of the same name as part of Cork Midsummer Festival, it opens the listener to an immediate and raw internal world. "You don’t know what I’ve suffered, you don’t know what I’ve seen," Tighe tells us in ‘Opus.’
In a time when the reality of mental illness is more and more in the public consciousness, Tighe’s album makes for enlightening listening. Opening with a grimly ironic drum roll, the first track is named after Lamotrigine, a so-called ‘mood-stabiliser’ anti-convulsant used to medicate bi-polar depressives.
"To give the mind to chemistry, to numb it to the truth, hurts more than the bitter feeling that joy is but a fluke," sings Tighe. "Mouth as dry as chalk, I read the list of side-effects, convinced I have them all."
No doubt, the album is dark. However, producer Jimmy Eadie — who has previously worked with Jape and Si Schroeder — brings an edgy groove and broad electronic palette to the mix. This, coupled with great performances from Tighe himself on vocals and guitar, as well as from Seán Mac Erlaine on horns and woodwinds and Conor Murray on drums, ensures that Record makes for riveting listening"
Dylan's recent gig as part of the Hard Working Class Heroes Festival was voted by State.ie as one of the top 25 gigs of the entire 3 day festival. The review went on to say:
"By far one of the most intriguing performers at this year’s festival, Tighe performs an absolutely show-stopping set to a packed and somewhat unguarded audience. His soul-searching lyrics and voice combine to staggering effect and he delivers one of the performances of the weekend when clearly very few knew what to expect.
As the pre-gig din loses its viscosity Tighe’s voice is as hushed as it is strong and before long the place is enthralled by him. His running musical theme is mental illness and rather than it become something best examined as shorn memories.
Tighe is examining it through music and generates atmosphere with minimal effort. As such, his lyrics are sometimes unsettling but never anything less than remarkable. As far as comparisons go, a stripped back and darker Edwin Collins would be a start, likewise Richard Hawley, but Dylan Tighe should be heard and experienced with an open mind because based on this, the element of surprise is one of his best weapons"
RECORD is a collection of songs that fuses indelible melodies and philosophical lyrics with a voice of timeless power. The songs, delivered with radical honesty, spring from Dylan’s personal history of mental health diagnoses, treatment and experience, and examine the impact of depression on life and love.
Fusing melancholic vocal lines with a richly layered sound-world of Hammond organs, stylophones, guitars, synths, samples, clarinets and brass, the 10 tracks of RECORD are intimate snapshots of a past filtered through emotional distress, medication, and a search for meaning.
The 10 songs of RECORD transform doomed love, mental torment, failure and disappointment into hymns to comfort the soul. A special limited edition vinyl was also released to coincide with the cycle of gigs at the Dublin Theatre Festival in October.
According to The Examiner "the pick of this bunch of new releases is theatre-maker Dylan Tighe’s debut Record, an album snatched from the swirling waters of mental illness. Launched with a theatre production of the same name as part of Cork Midsummer Festival, it opens the listener to an immediate and raw internal world. "You don’t know what I’ve suffered, you don’t know what I’ve seen," Tighe tells us in ‘Opus.’
In a time when the reality of mental illness is more and more in the public consciousness, Tighe’s album makes for enlightening listening. Opening with a grimly ironic drum roll, the first track is named after Lamotrigine, a so-called ‘mood-stabiliser’ anti-convulsant used to medicate bi-polar depressives.
"To give the mind to chemistry, to numb it to the truth, hurts more than the bitter feeling that joy is but a fluke," sings Tighe. "Mouth as dry as chalk, I read the list of side-effects, convinced I have them all."
No doubt, the album is dark. However, producer Jimmy Eadie — who has previously worked with Jape and Si Schroeder — brings an edgy groove and broad electronic palette to the mix. This, coupled with great performances from Tighe himself on vocals and guitar, as well as from Seán Mac Erlaine on horns and woodwinds and Conor Murray on drums, ensures that Record makes for riveting listening"
Dylan's recent gig as part of the Hard Working Class Heroes Festival was voted by State.ie as one of the top 25 gigs of the entire 3 day festival. The review went on to say:
"By far one of the most intriguing performers at this year’s festival, Tighe performs an absolutely show-stopping set to a packed and somewhat unguarded audience. His soul-searching lyrics and voice combine to staggering effect and he delivers one of the performances of the weekend when clearly very few knew what to expect.
As the pre-gig din loses its viscosity Tighe’s voice is as hushed as it is strong and before long the place is enthralled by him. His running musical theme is mental illness and rather than it become something best examined as shorn memories.
Tighe is examining it through music and generates atmosphere with minimal effort. As such, his lyrics are sometimes unsettling but never anything less than remarkable. As far as comparisons go, a stripped back and darker Edwin Collins would be a start, likewise Richard Hawley, but Dylan Tighe should be heard and experienced with an open mind because based on this, the element of surprise is one of his best weapons"
RECORD is a collection of songs that fuses indelible melodies and philosophical lyrics with a voice of timeless power. The songs, delivered with radical honesty, spring from Dylan’s personal history of mental health diagnoses, treatment and experience, and examine the impact of depression on life and love.
Fusing melancholic vocal lines with a richly layered sound-world of Hammond organs, stylophones, guitars, synths, samples, clarinets and brass, the 10 tracks of RECORD are intimate snapshots of a past filtered through emotional distress, medication, and a search for meaning.
The 10 songs of RECORD transform doomed love, mental torment, failure and disappointment into hymns to comfort the soul. A special limited edition vinyl was also released to coincide with the cycle of gigs at the Dublin Theatre Festival in October.
Wednesday 5 December 2012
Tuesday 4 December 2012
Disabled man abandoned on the second floor of building during Atos fire alarm evacuation
From The Independent
A disabled man was trapped in a centre run by Atos, which assesses fitness for work, when the fire alarm went off and staff evacuated the building, leaving him behind in his wheelchair.
Geoff Meeghan, 32, who has early-onset Parkinson’s and is unable to walk more than three metres without support, was being assessed on the second floor of a building in Neasden, north-west London.
Disabled people arriving for appointments are supposed to be asked if they can exit the building without assistance, but Mr Meeghan, pictured, was not. He waited with his support worker Nick Ephgrave, from the charity Parkinson’s UK, and his sister, who acts as one of his carers, before being called in for his assessment. A few minutes in, the alarm sounded and the doctor present said they needed to evacuate.
“The doctor held the door open for us to come out but then ran down the stairs and left us there,” Mr Meeghan said. “We weren’t allowed to use the lift and asked a security guard for help – he said he’d send some but no one came. Eventually another security guard came past and stayed with us, even though he had been told to evacuate.
“Even though I can tackle stairs with help, it was a highly stressful situation and I felt like it was far too risky. I was worried that flames might come up the stairs and that I might fall or something. It wasn’t a drill. We could see the fire engine arriving outside. I feel like there was a general lack of respect for disabled people at Atos – they make you feel as though you’ve done something wrong by being disabled – like you’re being persecuted.”
An Atos spokesperson said: “This should never have happened and we apologise unreservedly. We will be getting in contact with Mr Meeghan directly. We have since reviewed this case internally with the building security and management team to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”
Tuesday 27 November 2012
Monday 26 November 2012
Nile Rodgers amazing life story Guardian interview
Interview by Amy Fleming
The Guardian, Saturday 7 July 2012.
'I adore all my brothers, but they are lazy because I take care of everybody.' My mum got pregnant with me at 13. She gave me up for adoption, but then fought to retrieve me, and her father kicked her out as a result. So instead of going back to school, she got a job at IBM.
Growing up, my relationship with my mother and stepfather was difficult because they were heroin addicts, so they were self-centred. They were kind people, but when you're an addict you are not only addicted to the drugs but to the process of going out and getting them too. As a kid, I didn't understand that their behaviour wasn't against me, but I internalised it as them not liking me: I was the bad kid. How could I be good enough to be loved and nurtured?
I had to take care of myself and, in the pursuit of their love, I wound up developing survival mechanisms and coping skills that have helped me throughout my life. I learned how to fix stuff because everything in their lives was broken and I was the one they could depend on. That's why I'm here talking to you now. I'm a record producer and songwriter, I'm a problem-solver. Madonna's Like a Virgin sold more than 20m records. Let's Dance, David Bowie's best-selling album, I made in 17 days.
I never wished my parents were normal because they were unique, special and fabulous. They got a lot of stares because they were an interracial couple in New York in the late 50s, but they were hip too. I used to play hooky from school and watch movies all day. While other people's parents were like characters from television, mine were like movie stars. I called all adults by their first names and my mum was just another adult.
I was the firstborn of my generation in the family but because I was so close to my parents in age they treated me with a kind of adult respect. They talked to me as an equal. We played chess. They needed a friend. The greatest lesson I learned from them was: treat people the way you'd like them to treat you.
All the other beatnik stuff was cool, too, but I was socialised to care about people from day one. My four half-brothers are the same. They may be lazy and good for nothin', but they're really nice guys – you'd want to have them as friends. I adore all my brothers, but they are lazy because I take care of everybody.
I got my first professional job [in the Sesame Street band] when I was 17 or 18. I was making more money than my parents, so they were all, like, great, we're not working. Ever.
Unfortunately, I was the only one who had the skill set to figure out how to pay rent.
I'm very responsible and that's another thing my family gave me. I don't want to let anyone down. I haven't had children of my own. I'm the patriarch of my family, I work too hard and I've changed more than enough diapers in my life, with my little brothers.
My mum and brothers are all completely dependent on me. It's basically like we're still hippies and I'm the guy who goes out and panhandles all the money while they sit around. I wish it wasn't like that, but the great thing about it is that I have wonderful brothers who are the nicest, kindest guys in the world.
'I adore all my brothers, but they are lazy because I take care of everybody.' My mum got pregnant with me at 13. She gave me up for adoption, but then fought to retrieve me, and her father kicked her out as a result. So instead of going back to school, she got a job at IBM.
Growing up, my relationship with my mother and stepfather was difficult because they were heroin addicts, so they were self-centred. They were kind people, but when you're an addict you are not only addicted to the drugs but to the process of going out and getting them too. As a kid, I didn't understand that their behaviour wasn't against me, but I internalised it as them not liking me: I was the bad kid. How could I be good enough to be loved and nurtured?
I had to take care of myself and, in the pursuit of their love, I wound up developing survival mechanisms and coping skills that have helped me throughout my life. I learned how to fix stuff because everything in their lives was broken and I was the one they could depend on. That's why I'm here talking to you now. I'm a record producer and songwriter, I'm a problem-solver. Madonna's Like a Virgin sold more than 20m records. Let's Dance, David Bowie's best-selling album, I made in 17 days.
I never wished my parents were normal because they were unique, special and fabulous. They got a lot of stares because they were an interracial couple in New York in the late 50s, but they were hip too. I used to play hooky from school and watch movies all day. While other people's parents were like characters from television, mine were like movie stars. I called all adults by their first names and my mum was just another adult.
I was the firstborn of my generation in the family but because I was so close to my parents in age they treated me with a kind of adult respect. They talked to me as an equal. We played chess. They needed a friend. The greatest lesson I learned from them was: treat people the way you'd like them to treat you.
All the other beatnik stuff was cool, too, but I was socialised to care about people from day one. My four half-brothers are the same. They may be lazy and good for nothin', but they're really nice guys – you'd want to have them as friends. I adore all my brothers, but they are lazy because I take care of everybody.
I got my first professional job [in the Sesame Street band] when I was 17 or 18. I was making more money than my parents, so they were all, like, great, we're not working. Ever.
Unfortunately, I was the only one who had the skill set to figure out how to pay rent.
I'm very responsible and that's another thing my family gave me. I don't want to let anyone down. I haven't had children of my own. I'm the patriarch of my family, I work too hard and I've changed more than enough diapers in my life, with my little brothers.
My mum and brothers are all completely dependent on me. It's basically like we're still hippies and I'm the guy who goes out and panhandles all the money while they sit around. I wish it wasn't like that, but the great thing about it is that I have wonderful brothers who are the nicest, kindest guys in the world.
Sunday 25 November 2012
Sunday 18 November 2012
Tuesday 6 November 2012
Monday 5 November 2012
Sunday 4 November 2012
Key areas in mental health recovery
Current initiatives around mental health focus on three key areas of support, anti-stigma and therapy. A fourth area 'recovery' is also an important part of the debate.
'Recovery' is controversial and misunderstood. Recovery can be associated with 'cure' and the concept of a 'cure' in mental ill-health is not always helpful. That is not to say that people with mental health conditions never talk of being cured or completely recovered. Some do.
The predominant experience of living with a long-term mental health condition is one of managing symptoms and maintaining a life.
So recovery becomes a form of health management that allows for hopes, dreams and aspirations to develop and continue according to an individual's wishes and choices.
Thinking around recovery is intimately linked with ideas and concepts of social inclusion. These ideas go back a long way. They have their roots in the civil rights movement. Activist Rosa Parkes' refusal to vacate a bus seat reserved for whites in Alabama Mississippi in 1955 marks a crucial moment in the history of social inclusion. In some ways it changed everything.
As recently as the early 2000s social inclusion formed a major part of UK government thinking. It was developed under the (then) office of the deputy prime minister and had a strong impact on policy and funding streams.
Along with recovery and social inclusion is a third term - 'mainstream'.
Mainstream is a key part of social inclusion and recovery because it is in the mainstream world that someone with a mental health condition is required to live, just as we all are.
With the knowledge that 'recovery takes place regardless of symptoms or problems' (New Horizons 2008), individuals with mental health diagnoses have the right to access mainstream areas without prejudice. Someone with a mental health condition has dreams, hopes, aspirations and goals and it is only in the mainstream world where these have a chance of realisation.
In line with this thinking and policy-making, a whole body of materials was created in the early 2000s to help organisations make mainstream social inclusion possible. By the mid-2000s third sector organisation working in mental health were often more likely to receive commissions and funding the more they could show a commitment to promoting mainstream.
The old way of thinking that limited people with long-term conditions to handouts, clinical settings, day centres and drop-ins was fast being re-shaped and re-made.
Mainstream recovery approaches are fast disappearing under the tide of cuts to funding and changes in commissioning. It is an initiative in danger of being consigned to the category of yet another transitory trend in mental health and social inclusion. This is despite the fact that referral to mainstream is highly cost-effective and has a deep impact on the lives of individuals.
'Recovery' is controversial and misunderstood. Recovery can be associated with 'cure' and the concept of a 'cure' in mental ill-health is not always helpful. That is not to say that people with mental health conditions never talk of being cured or completely recovered. Some do.
The predominant experience of living with a long-term mental health condition is one of managing symptoms and maintaining a life.
So recovery becomes a form of health management that allows for hopes, dreams and aspirations to develop and continue according to an individual's wishes and choices.
Thinking around recovery is intimately linked with ideas and concepts of social inclusion. These ideas go back a long way. They have their roots in the civil rights movement. Activist Rosa Parkes' refusal to vacate a bus seat reserved for whites in Alabama Mississippi in 1955 marks a crucial moment in the history of social inclusion. In some ways it changed everything.
As recently as the early 2000s social inclusion formed a major part of UK government thinking. It was developed under the (then) office of the deputy prime minister and had a strong impact on policy and funding streams.
Along with recovery and social inclusion is a third term - 'mainstream'.
Mainstream is a key part of social inclusion and recovery because it is in the mainstream world that someone with a mental health condition is required to live, just as we all are.
With the knowledge that 'recovery takes place regardless of symptoms or problems' (New Horizons 2008), individuals with mental health diagnoses have the right to access mainstream areas without prejudice. Someone with a mental health condition has dreams, hopes, aspirations and goals and it is only in the mainstream world where these have a chance of realisation.
In line with this thinking and policy-making, a whole body of materials was created in the early 2000s to help organisations make mainstream social inclusion possible. By the mid-2000s third sector organisation working in mental health were often more likely to receive commissions and funding the more they could show a commitment to promoting mainstream.
The old way of thinking that limited people with long-term conditions to handouts, clinical settings, day centres and drop-ins was fast being re-shaped and re-made.
Mainstream recovery approaches are fast disappearing under the tide of cuts to funding and changes in commissioning. It is an initiative in danger of being consigned to the category of yet another transitory trend in mental health and social inclusion. This is despite the fact that referral to mainstream is highly cost-effective and has a deep impact on the lives of individuals.
Thursday 25 October 2012
Wednesday 17 October 2012
Sunday 14 October 2012
Sunday 7 October 2012
Music Production & Animation - free courses
The London borough of Merton has commissioned a joint venture between JVT and visual arts charity ACAVA (Association for Cultural Advancement through Visual Arts). The initiative comprises animation and music production workshops.
The music production workshops are scheduled to take place at Crown Lane studios in the heart of Morden town centre. The first session will be in early November. There are still a few places left.
Animation workshops will take place at ACAVA's arts space studios in Lombard Road Merton. The initiative is part of borough plans to promote long-term health and development in accordance with the cultural Olympiad.
If you have a mental health condition and live in the London Borough of Merton, you are eligible for this free course programme.
For more information please e-mail john@mhfatrainings.com or phone Isabella Niven on 0208 960 5015
The music production workshops are scheduled to take place at Crown Lane studios in the heart of Morden town centre. The first session will be in early November. There are still a few places left.
Animation workshops will take place at ACAVA's arts space studios in Lombard Road Merton. The initiative is part of borough plans to promote long-term health and development in accordance with the cultural Olympiad.
If you have a mental health condition and live in the London Borough of Merton, you are eligible for this free course programme.
For more information please e-mail john@mhfatrainings.com or phone Isabella Niven on 0208 960 5015
Saturday 6 October 2012
Sunday 23 September 2012
Wednesday 19 September 2012
Tuesday 18 September 2012
Friday 24 August 2012
Thursday 9 August 2012
Saturday 4 August 2012
Friday 3 August 2012
Friday 27 July 2012
Confusiasm
So just what is confusiasm? (apart from being a word invented by John Vanek).
Confusiasm is strongly expressed opinion, energy or activity that has uncertain thinking behind it.
Confusiasm can be observed when someone disagrees with your point-of-view vehemently, then gives their own version which happens to be remarkably similar to the idea you proposed in the first place.
Confusiasm is a course of action embraced with great conviction without the genuine confidence of conviction behind it.
Confusiasm can occur when others convince you that a particular course of action is the right one and you go ahead with their counsel when inwardly you sense it is contrary to your own instincts.
Confusiasm is evident when people are full of certainty and propose that certainty to another when their certainty is no more than insecurity or defensiveness.
Best way to avoid confusiasm? Act on your own deepest convictions regardless of what anyone else proposes may be right for you.
Confusiasm is strongly expressed opinion, energy or activity that has uncertain thinking behind it.
Confusiasm can be observed when someone disagrees with your point-of-view vehemently, then gives their own version which happens to be remarkably similar to the idea you proposed in the first place.
Confusiasm is a course of action embraced with great conviction without the genuine confidence of conviction behind it.
Confusiasm can occur when others convince you that a particular course of action is the right one and you go ahead with their counsel when inwardly you sense it is contrary to your own instincts.
Confusiasm is evident when people are full of certainty and propose that certainty to another when their certainty is no more than insecurity or defensiveness.
Best way to avoid confusiasm? Act on your own deepest convictions regardless of what anyone else proposes may be right for you.
Thursday 26 July 2012
Wednesday 25 July 2012
The mainstream venue
For many people with a diagnosis of severe and enduring mental ill-health, there is a strong chance of never being employed again.
There are a variety of reasons for this. Stigma is often put forward as the main block to obtaining work. Stigma by employers. Stigma by societal attitudes. But there is more to it than stigma.
For a significant group of people with mental health conditions, living a life outside of employment is part of the diagnosis. Not only diagnosed with clinical illnesses they are also prescribed 'a career in mental health' (Dr. Pat Deegan).
Stigma is only a small part of the rationale behind this exclusion. Certainly, stigma in employment is still prevalent. But there are many steps to employment that people may wish to take before they feel ready for work after illness or hospitalisation. These steps take in any area of aspiration, goals, hopes and dreams that an individual may feel are appropriate. All of these areas once identified should be in mainstream venues. No-one is going to reach their hopes and goals from a day centre or a clinical setting.
Do mainstream outlets stigmatize against people with mental health conditions? No, by and large. Leave out employment where stigma is alive and well. But elsewhere - in mainstream venues of all kinds stigma is not the issue.
Should people with long-term mental health conditions disclose this to mainstream venues they wish to access? Only if they personally wish to do so. It's the individual's choice and no-one should disclose on their behalf.
Someone might feel that disclosure to a mainstream venue might be beneficial or helpful to their progress in that venue. There may be a key worker or support worker in place. But the motive behind accessing a mainstream venue is not for 'support' per se.
The motive for a person with a long-term mental health condition to access mainstream is the same as anyone else. We go to adult education centres to do courses of our choice. We go to rehearsal studios to play music with our mates. We go to art galleries to enjoy art. We go to gyms to do exercise and get fit. We go to libraries to check out books, use computers and get information.
The person with a mental health condition who accesses these venues is a consumer along with everyone else. As such he or she is included within the rights of access, protection and insurance that all venues must provide as part of their service.
Monday 23 July 2012
Sunday 22 July 2012
The songs of Martin Elliott
The music of London busker Martin Elliott featured here in his song 'Will you know me?'
Sunday 20 May 2012
Recovery and mainstream
“Recovery is about building a meaningful and satisfying life, as defined by the person themselves, whether or not there are ongoing or recurring symptoms or problems.” Shepherd, Boardman and Slade 2008.
There are implications for any mental health recovery programme if it is to take place regardless of 'ongoing symptoms or problems'. Firstly, it requires that the recovery programme is not determined solely by an individual's clinical diagnosis. Instead, it must be determined by a person identifying what he or she needs to build a life that is 'meaningful and satisfying'.
An appropriate service and environment in which this identification can take place needs to be in place to help signpost the journey towards invidual goals and aspirations. Fortunately, there are strategies built in to the care pathway that can enable individuals to identify personal goals and locate the sites in mainstream where hopes and goals can be realised. Whether these services are commissioned locally and regionally in specific areas is another matter.
It is important that aspirational settings are embedded in mainstream because individual goals are not fulfilled in clinical environments, although they may be identified therein. It is in mainstream where each and every one of us makes the path to achieving our goals. Mainstream is where we live, work, learn, create, exercise, develop and grow. Mainstream venues are the sites where these developments can take place. Sites that include the arts, sports, education, retailing, volunteering, befriending, family, friends, faith and employment. It is broadly one or more of these areas that an individual will identify as useful to his or her developmental choices.
When this person-centred practice is backed up by a team that can help direct an individual to the appropriate mainstream setting, then a recovery programme can start in earnest. It may well be that other settings have helped or continue to help in achieving this - settings such as day services and what used to be referred to as 'sheltered' activities or community projects. The clinical teams also - assertive outreach, O.T.'s and key workers all contribute to client independence.
It is important that the initial conversation about an individual's mainstream goals and aspirations takes place in a mainstream setting. This may well be an individual's first re-introduction to the mainstream world after what could have been years of semi-institutional or supported environments. It is extremely unlikely that the practical hope of achieving mainstream is communicated in a hospital consulting room or even in an individual's own home. Those areas are associated with support, care and treatment. Mainstream recovery has to go beyond these boundaries.
So what sort of team can best support an individual when it's not support he or she is requesting but access to goals and self-development? I would argue that this needs to be provided by a bridge-building team, each member equipped to identify the mainstream venues appropriate to the goals the client has identified.
Mainstream is often achieved indirectly and obliquely. For example, a client who has identified music as a mainstream goal may not go on to achieve in that field or may change their mind about music as a choice in their recovery. This can be disappointing for me as arts bridge builder, but it is often the case that these individuals benefit immensely from other aspects of mainstream that the team is able to offer. I frequently find that some clients who have not engaged through the arts are nonetheless following mainstream goals via the befriending service or through volunteering and sports activities.
Conversely, it can be the case that a client who has been signposted to a music outlet in mainstream, goes on to achieve goals that go far beyond the initial contact with a music studio or rehearsal room that he or she has requested. Such clients can and do develop employment and self-employment pathways or go on to further and higher education opportunities. These goals have been achieved through the initial contact with mainstream and couldn't have been realised any other way. Mainstream itself will often generate these opportunities for the client independently of the bridge building service.
Because bridge building has the strength to enable an 'oblique' approach, there can be limitless opportunities for motivated clients choosing their recovery pathway. Even a relapse can only hold up rather than destroy the process. There are confidence and skill levels that clients develop in mainstream, both from mainstream itself as well as support from peers who accessing the same or similar venues.
Thursday 10 May 2012
Thursday 22 March 2012
The personalisation agenda
In my review of the year 2010 in this blog I wrote about the crucial importance of the personalisation agenda. Participants in twenty pilot schemes that took place around the UK have been video-documented on the NMHDU (National Mental Health Development Unit) under personalisation stories.
The testimonies by service users, carers and family members are very powerful. They provide formidable evidence of the effectiveness of direct payments for people who happen to have long-term mental health conditions. Through these individual budgets, the evidence shows individuals getting back control of their lives and making their own choices. A wide spectrum of individual progress is shown in the videos, with people accessing mainstream routes that lead to a much fuller participation in mainstream living. These pathways can include training, employment, education, creative arts, volunteering and many others.
What the testimonies show is that the road back to any kind of mainstream life can be a long and demanding one. Before major steps such as education, training and employment can take place there often need to be baby steps to support the process. Baby steps which are effectively giant steps. With the help of her care coordinator Stella wrote her own support plan based on the proposition 'what would you like to be different about your life?'.With Stella's clear plan, her care coordinator told her that 'yes, some of this may well be possible'. As a result, Stella has progressed to far greater independence and confidence levels, managing her home life, using a computer and getting out and about on her new bicycle. These small steps are testimony to how mainstream life and recovery can take place - with support, with a budget and by looking at the whole person and her individual choices and plans.
From the vantage point of 2011 and this year, it is clear that the personalisation agenda has pretty much been scrapped. The enlightened key workers who helped enable this to happen for service users are probably still able to continue the support. For new service user applicants, it is unlikely that direct payments will be an option. This may not be true in all parts of the UK, but from my experience it is unfortunately the case. In many areas personalisation for mental health is completely misunderstood.
In the south London borough of Merton for example, direct payments for mental health service users has only happened in a few individual cases for people who were historically fortunate enough to have an enlightened key worker.
Contacing the direct payments' users group in Merton will shockingly reveal that the entire lobbying process revolves around individual budgets for people with physical needs. The idea that direct payments can be used to enable independence and access to mainstream life for people with mental health needs is entirely off the radar.
In the meantime, new mental health applicants for incapacity benefit or its equivalent are routinely turned down and categorised as fit for work. It's a game. You get turned down and then you appeal where you may just as routinely get the the decision reversed. Your file may have been sent on to any number of offices, often in other regions of the UK far from where you happen to reside. Divide and rule.
What the personalisation stories show is that the journey back to mainstream activities has to be done holistically. The road back to employment for example may take months and years in many cases. It needs to start with small steps - participation in a creative activity, sport, exercise, I.T. training, volunteering, returning to a church, mosque or temple, meeting people, getting out and about.
The blunt instrument of assessing people with mental health conditions as fit or unfit for work would be funny if it wasn't so tragically grotesque. As Christian testifies: sitting in the day centre for seventeen years meant that I had 'no interaction with the outside world. I was so isolated'. Like Della, Christian wrote down his goals which included things like 'going shopping on my own', 'studying maths' and 'doing cooking, ironing and cleaning'. It took Christian around ten months to get direct payments with the help and support of his mum. As a result, he has a personal assistant Denise who is there to support with his road to independence. At the time of filming, Christian felt that he had achieved more in the last two years than in the previous seventeen.
Individual budgets for people with long-term mental health conditions does not always require the involvement of a personal assistant. Many service users can access a mainstream activity of their own choice simply with the help of a bridge builder or someone who can signpost the individual to an appropriate mainstream venue. As a bridge builder myself I have done it many times. Often the client only requires that initial introduction and then chooses to run with it him or herself. The beauty of the direct mainstream approach is that it allows anyone who chooses to access their right to a niche in mainstream. All service providers, whether commercial, retail, community or statutory-based, must under the law extend their contract of duty to everyone who wishes to access their services or products. This most certainly includes people who may happen to have long-term mental health conditions.
The testimonies by service users, carers and family members are very powerful. They provide formidable evidence of the effectiveness of direct payments for people who happen to have long-term mental health conditions. Through these individual budgets, the evidence shows individuals getting back control of their lives and making their own choices. A wide spectrum of individual progress is shown in the videos, with people accessing mainstream routes that lead to a much fuller participation in mainstream living. These pathways can include training, employment, education, creative arts, volunteering and many others.
What the testimonies show is that the road back to any kind of mainstream life can be a long and demanding one. Before major steps such as education, training and employment can take place there often need to be baby steps to support the process. Baby steps which are effectively giant steps. With the help of her care coordinator Stella wrote her own support plan based on the proposition 'what would you like to be different about your life?'.With Stella's clear plan, her care coordinator told her that 'yes, some of this may well be possible'. As a result, Stella has progressed to far greater independence and confidence levels, managing her home life, using a computer and getting out and about on her new bicycle. These small steps are testimony to how mainstream life and recovery can take place - with support, with a budget and by looking at the whole person and her individual choices and plans.
From the vantage point of 2011 and this year, it is clear that the personalisation agenda has pretty much been scrapped. The enlightened key workers who helped enable this to happen for service users are probably still able to continue the support. For new service user applicants, it is unlikely that direct payments will be an option. This may not be true in all parts of the UK, but from my experience it is unfortunately the case. In many areas personalisation for mental health is completely misunderstood.
In the south London borough of Merton for example, direct payments for mental health service users has only happened in a few individual cases for people who were historically fortunate enough to have an enlightened key worker.
Contacing the direct payments' users group in Merton will shockingly reveal that the entire lobbying process revolves around individual budgets for people with physical needs. The idea that direct payments can be used to enable independence and access to mainstream life for people with mental health needs is entirely off the radar.
In the meantime, new mental health applicants for incapacity benefit or its equivalent are routinely turned down and categorised as fit for work. It's a game. You get turned down and then you appeal where you may just as routinely get the the decision reversed. Your file may have been sent on to any number of offices, often in other regions of the UK far from where you happen to reside. Divide and rule.
What the personalisation stories show is that the journey back to mainstream activities has to be done holistically. The road back to employment for example may take months and years in many cases. It needs to start with small steps - participation in a creative activity, sport, exercise, I.T. training, volunteering, returning to a church, mosque or temple, meeting people, getting out and about.
The blunt instrument of assessing people with mental health conditions as fit or unfit for work would be funny if it wasn't so tragically grotesque. As Christian testifies: sitting in the day centre for seventeen years meant that I had 'no interaction with the outside world. I was so isolated'. Like Della, Christian wrote down his goals which included things like 'going shopping on my own', 'studying maths' and 'doing cooking, ironing and cleaning'. It took Christian around ten months to get direct payments with the help and support of his mum. As a result, he has a personal assistant Denise who is there to support with his road to independence. At the time of filming, Christian felt that he had achieved more in the last two years than in the previous seventeen.
Individual budgets for people with long-term mental health conditions does not always require the involvement of a personal assistant. Many service users can access a mainstream activity of their own choice simply with the help of a bridge builder or someone who can signpost the individual to an appropriate mainstream venue. As a bridge builder myself I have done it many times. Often the client only requires that initial introduction and then chooses to run with it him or herself. The beauty of the direct mainstream approach is that it allows anyone who chooses to access their right to a niche in mainstream. All service providers, whether commercial, retail, community or statutory-based, must under the law extend their contract of duty to everyone who wishes to access their services or products. This most certainly includes people who may happen to have long-term mental health conditions.
Saturday 3 March 2012
Peer support workers
A good deal of discussion is taking place around the idea of peer support workers in mental health practice. A recent Guardian article entitled 'Putting the lunatics in charge of the asylum' has highlighted the debate.
It's not just the 'asylum', hospital, day centre or residential setting where peer support working can take place. Nor does a peer support or recovery worker have to be an official post, paid or voluntary within the NHS or any clinical setting.
Peer support in mental health is taking place informally all over the place. Many peer supporters would not even give themselves such a title. In many cases they are simply spending time with the friends they already know or with the peers who have accessed a setting or venue which attracts them too.
As a bridge builder who has signposted people with severe and enduring mental health diagnoses to mainstream settings of their own choice, I have witnessed this peer support happen over and again.
Four years ago I signposted a client to a mainstream recording studio. With the help of direct payments he has been accessing this venue weekly ever since, practising guitar and collaborating with others in the studio. He has also secured part-time employment as a studio assistant, getting the rehearsal rooms ready for bands and bookings.
What has happened as a result of this client's involvement is an informal cascading of peer support and group participation. Again, this has occurred with very little prompting from the bridge builder. As my client relishes working with other musicians, he is happy to have peers who also wish to participate i.e. start a band during his weekly studio sessions. This has resulted in a drummer peer and a singer peer rehearsing regularly together with Bernie (not his real name). Another peer also attends regularly - a long-term friend of Bernie who is learning guitar from him and who has previously been impossible to place by the bridge building team in any mainstream setting.
This is informal and highly effective peer support. Above all, it is taking place in mainstream not in any clinical, residential or daycare setting. Recovery that takes place in mainstream allows for hope, confidence, friendship, group projects and routes to employment.
It's not just the 'asylum', hospital, day centre or residential setting where peer support working can take place. Nor does a peer support or recovery worker have to be an official post, paid or voluntary within the NHS or any clinical setting.
Peer support in mental health is taking place informally all over the place. Many peer supporters would not even give themselves such a title. In many cases they are simply spending time with the friends they already know or with the peers who have accessed a setting or venue which attracts them too.
As a bridge builder who has signposted people with severe and enduring mental health diagnoses to mainstream settings of their own choice, I have witnessed this peer support happen over and again.
Four years ago I signposted a client to a mainstream recording studio. With the help of direct payments he has been accessing this venue weekly ever since, practising guitar and collaborating with others in the studio. He has also secured part-time employment as a studio assistant, getting the rehearsal rooms ready for bands and bookings.
What has happened as a result of this client's involvement is an informal cascading of peer support and group participation. Again, this has occurred with very little prompting from the bridge builder. As my client relishes working with other musicians, he is happy to have peers who also wish to participate i.e. start a band during his weekly studio sessions. This has resulted in a drummer peer and a singer peer rehearsing regularly together with Bernie (not his real name). Another peer also attends regularly - a long-term friend of Bernie who is learning guitar from him and who has previously been impossible to place by the bridge building team in any mainstream setting.
This is informal and highly effective peer support. Above all, it is taking place in mainstream not in any clinical, residential or daycare setting. Recovery that takes place in mainstream allows for hope, confidence, friendship, group projects and routes to employment.
Wednesday 18 January 2012
Mainstream in 2012
The future of the mainstream approach in mental health recovery is bleak. Once pioneered as the most radical yet realistic approach to the care pathway, mainstream has now been side-lined and pushed into a corner.
The thinking behind mainstream in mental health is simple. Linking up individuals with mainstream areas of their own choice as part of recovery. Social domains cover a wide spectrum: the arts, employment, volunteering, sport and healthy living, faith, worship or spirituality, employment, self-employment, education and business.
In 2012, the cuts in mental health provision are going deep and are across the board. Employment is touted as a be-all and end-all yet employment often only happens through a gradual re-introduction to mainstream living . This is especially true for people who are in secondary mental health care with a 'severe and enduring' diagnosis.
The outcomes that have been attained by individuals who have been referred or self-referred to a mainstream service are often formidable. Access to mainstream arts providers such as music recording studios, visual arts courses or creative writing workshops have led to individuals succeeding in employment, self-employment, higher education and collaborative enterprises with their peers.
The mainstream approach goes far beyond therapies and this blog contains many examples of its success.
Mainstream is based on recovery as opposed a 'cure'. It is also based on the individual claiming his or her right to mainstream living along with everyone else.
The opportunity to access mainstream on his or her own terms is not denied to an individual with a 'severe and enduring' mental health diagnosis. Mainstream can be highly supportive of clients' individual aspirations and self-development. Sometimes this encouragement comes directly from the mainstream outlet itself rather than being dictated by carers, statutory services or voluntary agencies. What can be denied and often is, is the opportunity to access the opportunities in the first place.
In many cases, an individual with a 'severe and enduring' mental health diagnosis will only have the chance to access a mainstream activity if it is built in to his or her care pathway and recovery plan. The professionals who can help signpost people to such activities will be skilled in allowing individuals to identify personal goals and aspirations. They will also need skills in knowing exactly where the mainstream sites are where an individual can develop and pursue his or her aspirations. Linking someone up with a mainstream activity of his or her own choice allows that mainstream venue to provide exactly what it is already providing for its clients, users and consumers.
The client with a mental health diagnosis will be treated no differently from anyone else, unless he or she has specificied particular adjustments. That too is part of person-centred planning, with individuals free to disclose or not as they deem fit.
There are sound reasons for mainstream being a lot less discriminatory and stigmatizing than it can be portrayed. Mainstream allows individuals to access services as consumers with consumer rights. If someone with a mental health diagnosis freely chooses to develop his or her aspirations in a mainstream environment, there is no good reason why that person should be denied any of the services that particular venue may provide. The client is accessing mainstream as a consumer of that service, not as a 'diagnosis'.
Once a firm relationship with mainstream has been established, there are multiple ways that mainstream finds to continue to develop individual hopes, dreams and aspirations. I have clients who have found employment through accessing music by rehearsing regularly in a mainstream recording studio. Others have opted to join higher and further education outlets to progress with their dream. Yet others have become volunteers in an environment they enjoy. This has not happened because I have requested the venue to provide employment for my clients Far from it - the venue itself often instigates the process or helps provide the signposting. In many cases this can lead an individual towards a working role in the environment where he or she happens to feel most fulfilled.
This is the viral effect of mainstream
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