BBC News - West Midlands Police suspends officer's Twitter account - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-26205961 - In My Opinion this is an injustice! He is Mental Health expert.
West Midlands police should concentrate on achieving the practical steps he advocates that would improve policing for people with mental health issues and everyone else.
Any public service needs continuous analysis and improvement, partly in public, and always with involvement of other experts such as with conferences.
It is the right of people with mental health issues and of the public in general to have services held accountable so that they improve.
Saturday, 15 February 2014
Saturday, 4 January 2014
Mental health staff to be based in police stations - My Comment
BBC News - Mental health staff to be based in police stations - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-25588547 - 10 areas of England as part of a pilot scheme -
Mental health staff to be based in police stations - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25602179 - Video and Article.
This project is inadequate. The criminal justice system still send people with mental health issues to prison, which of course makes mental health worse. People should get the mental health treatment they need, always and without exception, whether or not there is police contact. So One Cheer for this postcode lottery effort to get some people treatment some of the times they are in crisis in some places.
A further need is for Crime Victims with mental health issues to be listened to when they report a crime -
BBC News- Mind 'shocked' crime victims with mental illness ignored - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24430556 - Video - Mentally ill crime victims 'disbelieved'.
Is anything going to be provided at police stations to ensure people with mental health issues who have been OFFENDED AGAINST are listened to?
Mental health staff to be based in police stations - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25602179 - Video and Article.
This project is inadequate. The criminal justice system still send people with mental health issues to prison, which of course makes mental health worse. People should get the mental health treatment they need, always and without exception, whether or not there is police contact. So One Cheer for this postcode lottery effort to get some people treatment some of the times they are in crisis in some places.
A further need is for Crime Victims with mental health issues to be listened to when they report a crime -
BBC News- Mind 'shocked' crime victims with mental illness ignored - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24430556 - Video - Mentally ill crime victims 'disbelieved'.
Is anything going to be provided at police stations to ensure people with mental health issues who have been OFFENDED AGAINST are listened to?
Friday, 3 January 2014
Mental Health Treatment is a Right
This post challenges the view that Mental Health Treatment is only a means to an end such as making the person employable.
Which sound reasonable statements from 1 or 2 ? -
1 a) We should treat someone with a broken leg.
b) We should treat someone with cancer.
2 a) We should treat someone with a broken leg so he/she can gain employment.
b) We should treat someone with cancer so he/she can gain employment.
I suggest that only the most harsh and uncaring person would suggest the simple statements in 1 need further qualification to suggest that the treatment is just a means to get the person into employment.
So who would advocate statement 2 for an illness?
2 c) We should treat someone with mental health issues so he/she can gain employment.
At the Conservative Conference in Autumn 2013 George Osborne promised help for people with mental health issues so they can get work.
"Only about a third of the 200,000 Jobseekers Allowance claimants affected will be on the work placements.
The other two thirds will either have to attend a jobcentre every day or undergo programmes to address the reasons they cannot find work like illiteracy or mental health problems."
George Osborne extends 'work for benefit' for jobless - 30 September 2013 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24327470
The treatment is a RIGHT and should be provided now anyway?
Statement 2 comes with a threat also that those who don't co-operate with their treatment will be forced to, or lose benefit. But who would argue that point for the broken leg or the cancer? - argue that people with a broken leg or cancer should be compelled to co-operate with their treatment, or lose benefit?
Of course there may be some people with mental health issues who don't co-operate with the treatment. However, given that mental health is an issue of the mind, and the mind is the source of decision making, that is hardly surprising! Even so, the vast majority (including the less co-operative) want to get better and/or manage their condition.
However, all healing depends on trust. Except as a last resort, any compulsion is a breach of trust, and so counterproductive. The last resort is for when the person is not coherent enough to make decisions, in that case it would clearly be wrong anyway to punish the person for bad decisions via benefit sanctions. Further, sanctions to Employment Support Allowance and/or disability benefits (which many with mental health issues can and should get) would clearly be illegal.
It is equally wrong to give treatment only to prevent offending -
Mental health staff to be based in police stations - My Comment - http://peterhaleserviceuser.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/mental-health-staff-to-be-based-in.html
The brilliant cartoon below satirises the discriminatory approach to mental health of expecting people to heal themselves and/or undergo treatment solutions that are easy and miraculous. The cartoon highlights the 'pull yourself together' attitude of ill informed people. It's especially worrying that some such ill informed people are in power!
Helpful Advice - If People 'helped' with physical health like they do with mental health - https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BaqVFWiCAAAZtUX.png:large
A further point about the stupidity of making people (many of them ill) work for free is highlighted in my post -
Why forcing people to work for benefit won't work - http://peterhaleserviceuser.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/why-forcing-people-to-work-for-benefit.html - Wombling for Welfare!
That post references -
Maslow's Hierarchy of needs - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23902918 - Abraham Maslow and the pyramid that beguiled business.
At least Step 1 and 2 needs must be met BEFORE someone is capable of work.
Added to all of the above failings is an attitude amongst public services that it is OK to neglect the physical health of those with mental health issues, and thus harm their physical AND mental health. These services to the most vulnerable should not be cut; this is a health budget not just a leisure budget. It is usually wrong to assume that people with mental health issues need the same non-specific exercise and health solutions as everyone else. It is wrong to treat exercise and health for those with mental health issues as a leisure activity, and so expect all mental health sufferers to join mainstream leisure centres, teams, and activities. Again, physical health treatment combined with a supported environment for health and exercise should be a right! This is covered in the post -
Mental Health and the Right to Life and Exercise -http://peterhaleserviceuser.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/mental-health-and-right-to-life-and.html - at risk of dying up to 20 years before the general population
Which sound reasonable statements from 1 or 2 ? -
1 a) We should treat someone with a broken leg.
b) We should treat someone with cancer.
2 a) We should treat someone with a broken leg so he/she can gain employment.
b) We should treat someone with cancer so he/she can gain employment.
So who would advocate statement 2 for an illness?
2 c) We should treat someone with mental health issues so he/she can gain employment.
At the Conservative Conference in Autumn 2013 George Osborne promised help for people with mental health issues so they can get work.
"Only about a third of the 200,000 Jobseekers Allowance claimants affected will be on the work placements.
The other two thirds will either have to attend a jobcentre every day or undergo programmes to address the reasons they cannot find work like illiteracy or mental health problems."
George Osborne extends 'work for benefit' for jobless - 30 September 2013 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24327470
The treatment is a RIGHT and should be provided now anyway?
Statement 2 comes with a threat also that those who don't co-operate with their treatment will be forced to, or lose benefit. But who would argue that point for the broken leg or the cancer? - argue that people with a broken leg or cancer should be compelled to co-operate with their treatment, or lose benefit?
Of course there may be some people with mental health issues who don't co-operate with the treatment. However, given that mental health is an issue of the mind, and the mind is the source of decision making, that is hardly surprising! Even so, the vast majority (including the less co-operative) want to get better and/or manage their condition.
However, all healing depends on trust. Except as a last resort, any compulsion is a breach of trust, and so counterproductive. The last resort is for when the person is not coherent enough to make decisions, in that case it would clearly be wrong anyway to punish the person for bad decisions via benefit sanctions. Further, sanctions to Employment Support Allowance and/or disability benefits (which many with mental health issues can and should get) would clearly be illegal.
It is equally wrong to give treatment only to prevent offending -
Mental health staff to be based in police stations - My Comment - http://peterhaleserviceuser.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/mental-health-staff-to-be-based-in.html
The brilliant cartoon below satirises the discriminatory approach to mental health of expecting people to heal themselves and/or undergo treatment solutions that are easy and miraculous. The cartoon highlights the 'pull yourself together' attitude of ill informed people. It's especially worrying that some such ill informed people are in power!
Helpful Advice - If People 'helped' with physical health like they do with mental health - https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BaqVFWiCAAAZtUX.png:large
A further point about the stupidity of making people (many of them ill) work for free is highlighted in my post -
Why forcing people to work for benefit won't work - http://peterhaleserviceuser.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/why-forcing-people-to-work-for-benefit.html - Wombling for Welfare!
That post references -
Maslow's Hierarchy of needs - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23902918 - Abraham Maslow and the pyramid that beguiled business.
At least Step 1 and 2 needs must be met BEFORE someone is capable of work.
Added to all of the above failings is an attitude amongst public services that it is OK to neglect the physical health of those with mental health issues, and thus harm their physical AND mental health. These services to the most vulnerable should not be cut; this is a health budget not just a leisure budget. It is usually wrong to assume that people with mental health issues need the same non-specific exercise and health solutions as everyone else. It is wrong to treat exercise and health for those with mental health issues as a leisure activity, and so expect all mental health sufferers to join mainstream leisure centres, teams, and activities. Again, physical health treatment combined with a supported environment for health and exercise should be a right! This is covered in the post -
Mental Health and the Right to Life and Exercise -http://peterhaleserviceuser.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/mental-health-and-right-to-life-and.html - at risk of dying up to 20 years before the general population
Monday, 2 December 2013
Frank Bruno - Fitness and Mental Health
Daily Mirror
Former World Heavyweight Champion Big Frank is taking on the illness that had him out for the count
Frank Bruno is back and is fighting fit but this time it's not boxers he's battling - via Daily Mirror Video & Article -
Former World Heavyweight Champion Big Frank is taking on the illness that had him out for the count
'FRANK Bruno is back on form and up for the fight of his life – to knock out the stigma around the bipolar disorder that floored him last year.
The former world heavyweight champion , 51, says he finally feels in control again after a decade in the grip of mental illness.
With a welcome return of the warm smile and deep belly laugh that made him a national treasure, the boxing legend tells the Sunday Mirror how he fought his way back to health.
“This time last year I was in a very dark place,” he says. “I’m determined to never go back there again.
“Mental illness is a terrible thing to have to cope with but I’ve learnt it’s a fight you can win if you live your life the right way.
“So that’s what I do now. Today my life’s about working hard, staying healthy and being happy.”
He works out most days, and looks fit enough to step back into the ring tomorrow.
Now Frank is using his experience to help fellow sufferers fight back. He says: “I am determined to help as many people as I can to believe they too can get through mental illness.”'
....
Bristol Post
Boxing legend Frank Bruno leads new fight in Bristol -
Boxing Gym - mental health trust Bristol Active Life Project
"WITH the sound of his distinctive laugh there was no need for the visitor to a Bristol gym to announce his arrival.
Former world heavyweight champion Frank Bruno needed no introduction as he made his way into Bristol Boxing Gym.
His visit, to a project supporting people with mental health issues through non-contact boxing sessions, was a perfect fit considering the difficulties he has himself suffered with depression and bipolar disorder since his career ended. And it proved an inspiration to the people running and benefiting from the service to meet someone who has overcome battles inside and outside the ring.
Bristol Boxing Gym ran its first session with the local mental health trust's Bristol Active Life Project last month on World Mental Health Day.
Now 11 people are benefiting from the box fit programme.
Mr Bruno spent time chatting with the people who attended yesterday's session and was also reunited with Bristol North West MP, who trained alongside him at Spaniorum Farm Gym in Compton Greenfield when he was in pantomime at the Hippodrome and she was a regular there as a teenager."
....
Sunday, 1 December 2013
War on Welfare - WOWpetition reaches 100,000 - Daily Mirror Article
100,000 sign War On Welfare petition asking for assessment of cuts to the sick and disabled
The achievement means the issue must be considered for debate in the House of Commons
"A hundred thousand people have signed a petition calling on the Department for Work and Pensions to look again at all cuts affecting sick and disabled people.
Led by comedian and campaigner Francesca Martinez, the War On Welfare or WOW e-petition asks the government to carry out a Cumulative Impact Assessment looking at the overall effect of cuts to sick and disabled people, as well and their families and carers.
It also asks for MPs to be given a free vote on the repeal of the Welfare Reform Act.
Campaigners are demanding an end to the Work Capability Assessment, and an independent inquiry into issues including charges for care homes, ATOS, and the closure of Remploy factories.
They also want to put a stop to "forced work under threat of sanctions for people on disability benefits".
The petition has achieved its target of 100,000 signatures with 12 days to spare before it closed.
Celebrities including Stephen Fry, Russell Brand, Yoko Ono and Bianco Jagger have endorsed the campaign."
.....
Daily Mirror Article - http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/war-welfare-petition-100000-sign-2870513
WOWpetition - http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/43154
Friday, 8 November 2013
From NHS Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health (NHS AWP) Conference Nov 7th - How BALP (Bristol Active Life Project) and Rethink helped me put my life back together
My Abstract and Poster from NHS AWP Conference November 7th -
How BALP (Bristol Active Life Project) and Rethink helped me put my life back together.
Dr Peter Hale, Volunteer Researcher Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust
halepv@yahoo.co.uk
BALP and Rethink constructive activities involved a mixture of completing my PhD (Computing), volunteering, mental health campaigning, temporary work and research, and BALP activities. I’ve also completed many vocational and academic web, programming, computing, business and administrative courses. This has greatly helped my mental and physical health. I have asthma and diabetes, but this doesn’t stop me exercising, this makes exercise more important (with the appropriate medical treatment and advice).
I first took up walking with BALP. We got together at MIND in Old Market, to meet before and have tea and coffee after. Whilst there, I saw a poster for BALP football training at St Pauls. So I took part in BALP football training and playing on Tuesdays at St Pauls.
The main organisations that have supported me are BALP, Rethink, and NHS. There are still setbacks to my physical and mental health due to the negative attitudes in society. But Rethink and BALP help me cope with this, and involve me in changing that. BALP provides a supportive environment, and prevent me becoming stressed as I would by playing in regular league team.
Monday, 28 October 2013
People with mental illness need help to get back to work – but coercion is wrong - Sarah Wollaston MP
This is a well informed and thoughtful article on mental health - fitness to work and assessement -
People with mental illness need help to get back to work – but coercion is wrong | Sarah Wollaston MP - http://gu.com/p/3jq9h/tw via Guardian
"This weekend the government announced it was delaying changes in disability welfare because it was unable to assess claimants in time. I welcome this decision, which affects the rollout of personal independence payments to replace disability living allowance. But ministers should also use this breathing space to examine the continuing problems of assessment and appeal for those with other disabilities such as mental illness"
People with mental illness need help to get back to work – but coercion is wrong | Sarah Wollaston MP - http://gu.com/p/3jq9h/tw via Guardian
"This weekend the government announced it was delaying changes in disability welfare because it was unable to assess claimants in time. I welcome this decision, which affects the rollout of personal independence payments to replace disability living allowance. But ministers should also use this breathing space to examine the continuing problems of assessment and appeal for those with other disabilities such as mental illness"
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