Mind in Croydon Advocacy at the Bethlem
Posted: December 30, 2012 Filed under: Croydon | Tags: Bethlem, bethlem royal hospital, Croydon, Croydon's Advocacy Service, Mind Leave a commentMind in Croydon’s Advocacy Service now has a base at the Bethlem Royal Hospital – more details to come via their website http://www.mindincroydon.org.uk or call 020 8763 6730
Schizophrenia linked to social inequality
Posted: December 29, 2012 Filed under: News | Tags: Deprivation, inequality, Population density, Psychosis, schizophrenia, Societal Factors in mental illness, urban areas Leave a commentHigher rates of schizophrenia in urban areas can be attributed to increased deprivation, increased population density and an increase in inequality within a neighbourhood, new research reveals.
Dr James Kirkbride, lead author of the study from the University of Cambridge, said: “Although we already know that schizophrenia tends to be elevated in more urban communities, it was unclear why.
“Our research suggests that more densely populated, more deprived and less equal communities experience higher rates of schizophrenia and other similar disorders. This is important because other research has shown that many health and social outcomes also tend to be optimal when societies are more equal.”
The scientists used data from a large population-based incidence study conducted in three neighbouring inner-city, ethnically diverse boroughs in East London: City and Hackney, Newham, and Tower Hamlets.
427 people aged from 18 to 64 were included in the study, all of whom experienced a first episode of psychotic disorder in East London between 1996 and 2000. The researchers assessed their social environment through measures of the neighbourhood in which they lived at the time they first presented to mental health services because of a psychotic disorder.
Using the 2001 census, they estimated the population aged 18-64 years old in each neighbourhood, then compared the incidence rate between neighbourhoods. The incidence of schizophrenia, and other similar disorders in which hallucinations and delusions are the dominant feature, still showed variation between neighbourhoods after taking into account age, sex, ethnicity and social class.
Three environmental factors predicted risk of schizophrenia: increased deprivation, which includes employment, income, education and crime; increased population density; and increased inequality, the gap between the rich and poor. Results from the study suggested that a percentage point increase in either neighbourhood inequality or deprivation was associated with an increase in the incidence of schizophrenia and other similar disorders of around 4 per cent.
Dr Kirkbride added: “Our research adds to a wider and growing body of evidence that inequality seems to be important in affecting many health outcomes, now possibly including serious mental illness. Our data seem to suggest that both absolute and relative levels of deprivation predict the incidence of schizophrenia.
“East London has changed substantially over recent years, not least because of the Olympic regeneration. It would be interesting to repeat this work in the region to see if the same patterns were found.”
The study also found that risk of schizophrenia in some migrant groups might depend on the ethnic composition of their neighbourhood. For black African people, the study found that rates tended to be lower in neighbourhoods where there were a greater proportion of other people of the same background.
By contrast, rates of schizophrenia were lower for the black Caribbean group when they lived in more ethnically integrated neighbourhoods. These findings support the possibility that the sociocultural composition of our environment could positively or negatively influence risk of schizophrenia and other similar disorders.
Dr John Williams, Head of Neuroscience and Mental Health at the Wellcome Trust, said: “This research reminds us that we must understand the complex societal factors as well as the neural mechanisms that underpin the onset of mental illness, if we are to develop appropriate interventions.”
The research, led by the University of Cambridge in collaboration with Queen Mary (University of London), was published in the journal ‘Schizophrenia Bulletin’.
#RT via Bridget via http://www.wellcome.ac.uk
Next Week’s Dragon Delights
Posted: December 27, 2012 Filed under: Arts, Southwark | Tags: arts, event, games, Mindfulness, New Years Eve, The dragon cafe Leave a comment
How to Get Over Regret
Posted: December 23, 2012 Filed under: Resources | Tags: boundaries, Forgiving, learning, overcoming regret, regret, Well-being Leave a commentRegret. We’ve all felt it at some point. Some of you are feeling it right now, and you are suffering because of it.
Something did or did not happen the way you wanted. You did or didn’t do something the way you wished you would have. And you want more than anything to be able to rewind time and get a do-over. You’ve replayed scenarios over and over in your head, thinking of all the things you could have done or said. You’re trapped in a shoulda/coulda/woulda perspective, and it’s a miserable place to be, isn’t it?
As much as you are aware that regret is a miserable place to hang out, you cannot seem to be free of it. But I have good news: Liberation from regret is 100 percent possible! And it is essential to your well-being that you commit to letting go of regret. Why? Well, because it feels awful, and feeling awful does not support the co-creation of an awesome life. Regret keeps you in the past, and when you are consistently looking behind you, you do not notice what is right in front of you. And, when you are hanging out in regret, you may be feeling depressed and beating yourself up — and that’s not useful in any way!
So how do you get out of regret? First, understand that when you are experiencing regret, you are evaluating a situation that happened in the past with the awareness you have in the present.
Let me break it down: Something happens. You react, you make a choice, you take an action. Then time passes. And you think about what happened. You analyze it, obsess over it and talk ad nauseam about it with your friends. You continue to gather more information and knowledge. Then you take all this awareness and information that you have now, and beat yourself up because you did not know it then. It is totally unfair and unreasonable to take what you know now and use it to beat yourself up for what you didn’t know then.
Please take this in: You really truly did the best you could at the time! Trust me. And until you really take in this truth, you will stay stuck in regret.
The wonderful thing about regret is that it gets your attention and offers you a tremendous opportunity for learning and transformation. But in order to do that, you have to let go of the shoulda/coulda/wouldas!
Now that you have the awareness that it is unreasonable to use what you know in the present to judge your actions in the past, you are ready to move on to a three-step process that will support you in fully moving out of regret.
Step One: Look for the lessons. Take some time to do some journaling about what you learned from whatever it is that you are regretting. What did you learn about yourself? What did you learn about someone else? What patterns do you see? What are you noticing about your reactions and responses? All situations in life are rich with learning. When you look at your past, view it from a learning-oriented perspective rather than a shoulda/coulda/woulda perspective.
Rewinding time is not possible, but “do-overs” actually are. Of course, we cannot get a do-over of the exact same situation, but the universe will deliver to you similar situations where you will get to practice what you learned. The first time it happened, you didn’t know any better. The second time you’ll know a little more, so you can do a little better.
Step Two: Take action. Regret keeps us stuck in the past, so ask yourself what you need to do right now to support yourself in moving forward. Is there support you need? Is there a conversation you need to have? Are there some boundaries you need to set and hold yourself accountable to? Regret is a reactive response. Identifying and committing to action steps you can take now is proactive. Reactive responses keep you stuck; proactive responses move you forward. You want to move forward, don’t you?
Step Three: Forgive yourself! This is the most important (and often most challenging) part. We all make so-called mistakes. Remember, you are a human being, so stop placing an expectation on yourself that you are supposed to get it “right” all of the time! Remember the truth: You did the best you could. You did the best you could. You did the best you could with what you knew at the time. Really. I encourage you to say to yourself, “I forgive myself for buying into the misunderstanding that I did something wrong. The truth is that I was doing the best I could.” Repeat that several times. Breathe. Take it in.
You do not have to suffer from regret. You can stop beating yourself up; it is not serving you. Learn, take action, forgive and stop looking behind you. Turn around. See what is right in front of you… and, better yet, what lies ahead.
With love,
Christine
For more by Christine Hassler, click here.
#RT via http://www.huffingtonpost.com
Thoughts on worrying
Posted: December 22, 2012 Filed under: Resources | Tags: Calming, message, Profound, Wellbeing, Worrying 3 Comments
Do you have experience of managing the highs and the lows? Would you come and support others develop their ways of coping? Paid opportunity
Posted: December 20, 2012 Filed under: Opportunities - Paid | Tags: Bipolar, Bipolar experiences, Paid Opporunity, service user opportunity, St Giles House Leave a commentWe are looking for someone to come and talk to our group for people with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and discuss our plans for the group. We are running a group in a community mental health team at St Giles House. This group is intended to support people to manage the ‘highs and the lows’.
We would like someone who has had experience of this diagnosis and have some sense of recovery or moving on and can discuss this with the group and would be able to share their experiences of managing with highs and lows in the first session.
This will involve coming to the group for one hour and meeting with the organisers for one hour a few days beforehand, at the persons convenience.
The group is on 10th January 2013
We would like the speaker from 2pm
Please contact Jo Allen at St Giles House on 020 3228 1800 from the 3rd January.
This will be paid at PC rate (£15 p/h)
Dragon Delights for 24/12/12
Posted: December 20, 2012 Filed under: Arts, Southwark | Tags: Christmas, Christmas Eve, events, The dragon cafe Leave a comment
Disabled should work for less than minimum wage, Tory MP suggests
Posted: December 19, 2012 Filed under: News | Tags: Disability rights, Jobs, mental health problems, Minimum wage, Work 1 CommentPeople with disabilities should be paid less than the minimum wage, a Conservative MP suggested yesterday, prompting angry criticism from rights campaigners.
Philip Davies, the MP for Shipley, claimed the disabled or those with mental health problems were at a disadvantage because they could not offer to work for less money.
Relaxing the law would help some to compete more effectively for jobs in “the real world” in which they are “by definition” less productive than those without disabilities, he claimed.
The remarks stunned MPs on all sides and forced Downing Street to distance the Prime Minister from Mr Davies. Charities and equality campaigners condemned the suggestion as “outrageous”. During a Parliamentary debate, Mr Davies told MPs that the minimum wage of £5.93 per hour meant disabled people who wanted to work found the door being “closed in their face”.
“The people who are most disadvantaged by the national minimum wage are the most vulnerable in society,” he said. “My concern about it is it prevents those people from being given the opportunity to get the first rung on the employment ladder.”
Mr Davies appeared unrepentant, however, blaming criticism running on the Twitter microblogging website on “Left-wing hysteria”. He later told BBC Radio 4 that disabled people should be allowed to “prove themselves” before moving up the pay scale.
#RT via http://www.telegraph.co.uk
Stereohype Festival – volunteers needed!
Posted: December 18, 2012 Filed under: Opportunities - Voluntary | Tags: African and Caribbean, creative arts, Performance, Stereohype Festival, Stratford Circus, Training, Volunteer opportunities Leave a commentThe Stereohype festival
Getting African and Caribbean communities talking about mental health
The Stereohype festival needs you!
Stereohype will take place at London ‘s Stratford Circus on Friday 25and Saturday 26 January 2013. We’re looking for volunteers with lived experience of mental health problems to help us!
This two-day festival of performance, talks and creative arts is being run with and for people from African and Caribbean communities, and aims to start conversations about mental health and wellbeing.
Volunteers will help us to encourage new understanding and challenge stereotypes around mental illness by talking to people about their experiences of mental health problems.
Come and join us and be part of the social movement to end mental health discrimination.
If you volunteer with us at Stereohype we’ll offer you:
- Full training before the event on how to speak to the public
- Support on the day from a dedicated volunteer coordinator
- Travel expenses of up to £15 to attend one training session
- Travel expenses of up to £15 will also be provided to attend the event on one or two days ( you can claim up to £30 if you volunteer on both days)
- Refreshments
- A T-shirt
- The chance to be a big part of the biggest ever movement to end mental health stigma and discrimination in England
When and where?
There will be a choice of training sessions taking place on Thursday 17 and Friday 18 January 2013. Time and venue to be confirmed.
What next?
Get involved and send us your contact details:
Email: volunteer@time-to-change.org.uk
Phone: 07876 500062 (voicemail and text)
Places are limited so please sign up NOW.
We’re also working with community partners in London – so if your organisation can help us find volunteers, please get in touch.
Mindful Money Webinar 11th January at 10am
Posted: December 18, 2012 Filed under: News | Tags: free event, mental health and debt, Mindful Money, Mindful Money Webinar, Webinar Leave a commentFREE WEBINAR: Mental Health and Debt; find out how local Minds can help…
Please contact j.netherton@mind.org.uk to register your interest.
During the past two years, over 1300 participants have attended 22 Mindful Money days to learn about financial capability and mental health awareness.
The local Minds involved in the Mindful Money project have found that it has raised their profile in their communities and had a beneficial impact on improving awareness of mental health and financial capability.
“This has turned out to be the Mental Health event of the year in the area. It’s been exciting, and it’s set the tone for trying to do something annually.” (Andrew Pritchard, event host for Mind in West Taunton and Somerset Mindful Money Day)
By attending this FREE webinar you can find out how local Minds’ can make a difference in their communities by:
o Developing their own financial capability and mental health awareness project with help from the newly published Mindful Money resource pack
o Helping people from financial advice and support agencies to improve their understanding of mental health issues.
o Supporting people with direct experience of mental health problems to manage money and avoid problem debt
o Encouraging community partners to work together to build local resources and support for better mental health awareness and financial capability
The webinar will be presented by Kathy McKenna and Kelly Colton (Washington and Lancashire Minds’ Mindful Money Day organisers), and Jackie Fisher; Mindful Money project manager.
Register now…….
DWP accused of ‘shameful whitewash’ over DLA consultation responses
Posted: December 18, 2012 Filed under: News | Tags: Department for Work and Pensions, Disability Living Allowance, DLA, DLA consultations, DWP, Personal Independence Payments, Responsible Reform Leave a commentThe Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is set to break its promise to publish thousands of public responses to its controversial disability living allowance (DLA) consultation by the end of this year.
The DLA consultation took place from 6 December 2010 to 18 February 2011, but the government was subsequently accused of misleading parliament and the public about the scale of opposition to the reforms.
Now disabled activists are claiming DWP is resisting their attempts to obtain proof of the overwhelming opposition to its plans to replace DLA with a new personal independence payment (PIP).
Disabled activists who worked on Responsible Reform – published in January and also known as the Spartacus Report – had analysed the 523 responses to the consultation that were submitted by disabled people’s organisations, disability charities and other groups.
But they have so far been unable to examine the individual responses, which they believe will show just as strong opposition to the reforms, due to be implemented from April 2013.
The Spartacus Report found that 99 per cent of groups objected to DLA no longer being used as a “passport” to other benefits; 92 per cent opposed plans to remove the lowest rate of support for those with care needs; and nine in ten opposed plans for a new assessment.
But in the government’s response to the consultation, there had been no suggestion of such a high level of opposition to its plans.
DWP even claimed later that it had not carried out any basic statistical analysis of these and other answers to the consultation responses.
Lord Freud, the Conservative welfare reform minister, said in a letter to fellow peers that group responses had made up only 10 per cent of the consultation, and that the Spartacus Report had ignored nearly 5,000 individual responses.
He said all 5,000 had been “thoroughly and appropriately considered in the Government’s analysis and have been used to inform the design of the new benefit and supporting processes”.
In the wake of his comments, disabled activist Sam Barnett-Cormack used the Freedom of Information Act to ask DWP to publish these 5,000 individual responses. It promised to do so – “in tranches” – by the end of this year.
But so far, less than three weeks from the end of 2012, not a single response has been published.
Barnett-Cormack said: “It’s clear that the DWP is using any tactic they can to delay or prevent the release of these documents.
“I find it very unlikely, especially given the DWP’s behaviour, that the individual submissions will substantially change the picture we got from the group submissions – massive disagreement with the Government plan.
“The fact that the consultation was described by the Government as supporting their plan means, if our suspicions are correct, that the Government is perfectly willing to use dirty tricks and misrepresentation to support their ‘reforms’.”
Disabled activist Sue Marsh, co-author of the Spartacus Report, said the government’s failure to keep its promise was “disgusting and shameful”.
She said: “The government said these other responses would show that actually there was great support for PIP. I said they wouldn’t.”
She accused DWP of “whitewashing” the consultation, and has already warned that she will write to every MP and peer to tell them the government lied about the consultation responses if it fails to back up its claims.
A DWP spokeswoman refused to say why it had failed to meet its own deadline, and would not even admit the deadline had been set, despite Disability News Service sending her a copy of its own Freedom of Information Act response.
She said: “We are sorting through the 5,000 individual responses to the DLA consultation and intend to publish them in tranches on the website as soon as we can.”
13 December 2012
News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com
Please join Hear Us for our first Open Meeting of 2013
Posted: December 18, 2012 Filed under: Croydon | Tags: 2013, Croydon CVA, Drug and alcohol problems, Hear Us, Mental Health, open meeting, Service Users Leave a commentDATE: Tuesday January 8TH 2013
TIME: from 1pm (starting with lunch)
VENUE: CVA West Croydon, 82 London Road (opposite Lidl)
- Special Guest Speakers from Dual Diagnosis, including WDP, Croydon DAAT, PLUG AND PLUGETTES
If you or someone you care for or work with is struggling with both Mental Health issues AND Drug and Alcohol problems – THIS IS THE MEETING FOR YOU
- We will also be inviting along Special Guests to talk about STIGMA
Hear Us welcomes anyone with an interest in Mental Health and Wellbeing to our meetings, particularly service users
– we also want to hear the views and opinions of Carers, Families and Staff.
If you work for an organisation which supports people with mental health issues – come along and NETWORK with other statutory and voluntary organisations over a sandwich and a cup of tea!
This year, Hear Us will be raising more of the issues that affect those of us who experience mental health problems, including:
If you have a subject that you would like Hear Us to campaign about, or an issue that you feel needs to be raised – WE WELCOME YOUR SUGGESTIONS.
Hope to see you on January 8th
Have a very Happy Xmas and a Healthy New Year
Jane White
Administrator
What’s in a name? What are your views?
Posted: December 18, 2012 Filed under: News | Tags: Mental Illness, Patient politics, Patients, Service user names, Service Users, stigma 2 CommentsPlaying politics with patients
When I was a bartender I had patrons. If I were a bank manager, I would have clients. Being a doctor I would normally have patients. However, when I worked on a psychiatric unit, (albeit for four months) I had service users. Yes, ‘service users’.
I really can’t understand it. These people have mental illnesses. The same mental illnesses that I see advertisements about on television highlighting that mental health issues affect one in four of us.
We are trying to destigmatise these illnesses by making them as acceptable as diabetes, epilepsy and cancer. Yet we do not call the people who are admitted to acute inpatient hospitals ‘patients’. The clue was in the title I thought. Apparently not.
I decided to do some research and asked several people who work permanently in this specialty (rather than me, the transient doctor) why this was the case. Was it political correctness gone mad? I asked the ward manager and his answer was simple: ‘It’s a political thing, someone decided that service users was a nicer term than patients.’
I asked one of the consultants in the weekly multidisciplinary meeting, who replied: ‘I don’t really know why they are service users, I call them patients, perhaps we will (indicating to the room) become service providers? I will be a senior service provider, you can be a junior service provider? We can have assistant service providers, directing service providers?’ The room started to giggle.
I can see the argument for not being a patient. Those with mental health problems do not just interact with doctors and nurses, they have support workers, care workers, social workers and care coordinators to name but a few. A proportion have alcohol and drug problems. Some have been in and out of mental health establishments longer than junior doctors have been at school, let alone university.
So I guess the argument is that they are somehow different from patients. And then when a patient with schizophrenia is stable on his medications, he is no longer a patient, but he may still use the services provided by the community to help keep him stable. When he is holding down a job, he isn’t a patient and I understand that, but someone with diabetes may not be my patient but still have diabetes, which may cause him to be my patient again. We do not call people with diabetes service users.
I wonder if we are in fact doing these service users a disservice by taking away the one label that may help those fearful of mental health to be more compassionate and less fearful; the label of patient.
TWIG Ops would welcome your thoughts 🙂
NB to get notified when other people comment, you’ll need to check the box at the bottom of the comments box where it says “notify me of follow-up comments via email”.
#RT via Bridget via http://bma.org.uk
Debt drop in Croydon this Thursday
Posted: December 18, 2012 Filed under: Croydon | Tags: Croydon, Croydon Law centre, Dept advice Leave a commentA ‘Debt Drop-in Day’ will take place at Croydon Law Centre, 79 Park Lane, Croydon on Thursday 20 December 2012 from 10.00am to 7.00pm.
Call 020 8767 2777 for more details or email debt@swllc.org.
Appointments also available.
Lambeth Mind is seeking to recruit a manager to run the Southwark User Council
Posted: December 17, 2012 Filed under: Job Vacancies | Tags: Lambeth MIND, Recruit, Southwark User Council Leave a commentAdvertisement: SUC Mananger advert
Role description: Job description SMUC Coordinator Dec 2012
Letter to applicants: Candidate letter post of Manger of Southwark User Council Dec 12
South London Involvement Forum 