News Archive
November 2011
Robert Whitaker Anatomy of an Epidemic Lecture Cupar Fife
On Saturday 19 November 2011 Bob Whitaker spoke to a group of friends and colleagues in Elmwood College, Cupar, Fife. On his prize winning book Anatomy of an Epidemic. Prof Phil Barker and Poppy Buchanan-Barker opened and closed the event. Over 40 folk came from Fife and many parts of Scotland to hear Bob speak "The 'medical model' paradigm of care, which emphasises continual use of psychiatric medications, is a failed paradigm, and needs to be dramatically re-thought."
September 2011
At the Sharp Edge - Peer Led Crisis Alternatives Event
Photo, right to left, Shery Mead, Chris Hansen, Karen Taylor, Ron Coleman, Jacquie Nicholson.
We organised a dialogue event on peer led crisis alternatives - At the Sharp Edge - on Tuesday 20 September 2011 in the Carnegie Conference Centre, Dunfermline. Peer Support Fife and SAMH (scottish association for mental health) hosted the occasion and over 70 delegates joined us on the day.
We welcomed guest speakers Shery Mead and Chris Hansen, USA;
Ron Coleman and Karen Taylor, Scotland, and Working to Recovery Ltd;
Fiona Venner, manager of the Leeds Survivor Led Crisis Service; Jacquie Nicholson, Manager of the Edinburgh Crisis Centre; Jan Cameron, Manager of Redhall Walled Garden.
June 2011
Billy Wallace is now at Lands End!
Our friend and colleague Billy Wallace from Tynron in Dumfries & Galloway started his marathon bike ride from John O'Groats to Lands End on 4 June to promote mental health awareness and well being, challenging stigma and raising money for the charity Support in Mind Scotland.
Billy has supported many of our events by coming to Fife and taking part in workshops and training around peer support, recovery and service user involvement. He is a passionate believer in the benefits of peer support and demonstrates this by sharing his 'lived experience' with others on a voluntary basis in his home area and through the Kaleidoscope project in Dumfries.
May 2011
Leeds Survivor Led Crisis Service Visit
Ross Hatten and Chrys Muirhead visited Dial House, home of the Leeds Survivor Led Crisis Service.
The main work is done out of hours with a phone helpline on evenings and a drop-in service at weekends until 2.00am. Families in crisis are welcome and many visitors are helped to cope with crisis, suicidal thoughts and self harm. More information about this project from their website - www.lslcs.org.uk
Soteria Network members Jen Kilyon and Theresa Smith are carers and activists who have worked tirelessly with many others to "promote progressive approaches to people experiencing extreme states, distress, 'breakdown' or 'psychosis'"and to fundraise for a Soteria House in the UK. See more info on website - www.soterianetwork.org.uk
March 2011
Mary O'Hagan Workshop
Mary O'Hagan delivered a superb masterclass for managers and workshop for stakeholders in St Andrews, Fife, on 28 March 2011. Friends and colleagues joined us from Fife and many areas of Scotland. Roseanne Fearon, Head of Adult Services, Social Work Service, Fife Council, gave the opening address, and John Sawkins read from his book and poetry collection. There were many opportunities for learning and networking - a day to remember.
See Feedback Report and Mary's Powerpoint Presentation.
Mary O'Hagan's experience includes being an initiator of the service user movement in New Zealand, the first chair of the World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry, an advisor to the United Nations and World Health Organization, and a Mental Health Commissioner for New Zealand. Mary is presently an international speaker, consultant and writer, and a thought leader on service user perspectives.
More information on Mary's websites:
www.maryohagan.com
www.wellbeingrecovery.com
London and Ireland Visits
Chrys Muirhead, PS Fife Convener, has recently travelled to London and Ireland to hear and meet innovative international speakers on mental health topics:
Goldsmiths College, University of London, was the venue for the UK film premiere of Mere Folle, crazy mother movie, based on the book History Beyond Trauma by Francoise Davoine and Jean-Max Gaudillierre.
The Parisian authors are psychoanalysts who have worked with people in crisis for over 30 years and hold advanced degrees in the classics - French, Latin and Greek literature - and doctorates in sociology.
Robert Whitaker, American investigative reporter and author, was speaking at Athlone Institute, Ireland - a presentation on the findings reported in his new book Anatomy of an Epidemic. Bob laid before us the evidence about psychiatric drugs and their propensity to create chronicity in the long term. There was an opportunity to ask questions and to meet up with Irish colleagues who are establishing a Network of Critical Voices in Mental Health.
More information about these books on the Recommended Reading page.
Solution Focused Approaches Workshop
Steve Smith, Lecturer at Robert Gordon University, facilitated a workshop on Solution Focused Approaches at Cupar, Fife, on 28 February and 1 March 2011. People who use and have used services, and their carers, participated in this event and found it to be a very useful tool in both their own recovery and in helping others to keep well.
Read about solution focused interactions on the RGU website
information about the Module Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SCQF Level 9)
and the follow-on Module Application of Solution Focused Brief Therapy to Practice.
Workshop at SCVO's The Gathering
Chrys Muirhead facilitated a workshop Having a Voice and Making a Difference at The Gathering, Scottish Council for Voluntary Sector's national event in the Edinburgh International Conference Centre on Wednesday 23 February 2011. It was good to share stories of mental health involvement and the challenges faced in participating in service design and delivery.
February 2011
Tidal Newsletter Cupar Workshop
The February edition of the Tidal Newsletter from Phil Barker and Poppy Buchanan-Barker contained a write up, on pages 5 and 6, of the Cupar Tidal workshop held in January 2011:
"All the stories featured in this issue of the Newsletter address reclamation, in one form or another. Each story reminds us of the personal nature of reclamation: taking back something which has a particular meaning for the person."
Prof Phil Barker book - Mental Health Ethics - is described with reviews from the Amazon website
January 2011
Tidal Model Workshop Appreciation
On 20 & 21 January 2011 Phil Barker and Poppy Buchanan-Barker skilfully captained a workshop over 2 days in Cupar, Fife - a journey through the Tidal Model with ports of call on the way. The recruits set sail on a voyage of discovery, having made their way from the north and the south, becoming more than participants as they considered solutions. The realisation dawned on us that, although we were travellers together, it was up to each of us to carry our own load, to be strengthened for the journey and to encourage others to do the same.
Our photo shows some of the crew and the good fun we all had!
Thanks to Phil and Poppy for an informative and thought-provoking experience, and to everyone who took part and expecially to those who were there to the finish.
A flavour of the comments:
"I had a ball listening and speaking with everyone"
"Phil and Poppy were great to listen to ... very inspiring!"
"I had a great time and the group there was excellent"
www.tidal-model.com
November 2010
Acute Inpatient Care Workshop
Thirteen participants braved the wintry weather, coming from Dumfries, Dundee, Perth and other parts of Fife to share information and experiences at the 3rd PS Fife user carer involvment workshop in Cupar which had a focus on acute inpatient care. The guest speaker was Carolyn Little, Project Co-ordinator,
User Carer Involvement Dumfries & Galloway.
October 2010
29 October User Carer Involvement Workshop
Thanks to everyone who came along and participated in our user carer involvement workshop on Friday 29 October 2010 in Cupar Old Parish Centre. There were 26 of us taking part, including guest speakers from the Highland Users Group - Graham Morgan and a HUG member who travelled from Skye, and friends from Dumfries, Glasgow, Falkirk, Crieff, Perth and Dundee. Read Graham's Talk and 29 October workshop report.
This event followed on from our Mary O'Hagan workshop in May, see 14 May feedback report, and we explored the resources, training and networks that enable the involvement of users and carers in mental health service planning and provision.
September 2010
The Triangle of Care: Carers Included
The Triangle of Care - Carers Included: A Best Practice Guide in Acute Mental Health Care was launched at a reception at the House of Commons on July 28th.
The publication is the result of collaboration between The Princess Royal Trust for Carers (PRTC) and The National Mental Health Development Unit (NMHDU) and the title refers to the essential 3-way relationship between professionals, service users, their carers and families.
The guide emphasises the need for better local strategic involvement of carers and families in the care- planning and treatment of people experiencing mental ill-health and calls for better partnership working between service users, their carers and providers of services in order to achieve the best possible outcomes.
August 2010
SQA Peer Support PDA Link
Here is the link on the SQA (Scottish Qualifications Authority) website to the documents relating to the Mental Health Peer Support PDA (professional development award) - www.sqa.org.uk. The Arrangements document gives various information about the rationale for the award's development, aims, delivery, learning materials etc.
The 2 new unit specifications for the Mental Health Peer Support PDA (professsional development award) - Recovery Context and Developing Practice - are Higher National (HN) units and can be undertaken individually. The learning/teaching materials are being written and the award was launched in August.
It is encouraging to note the referencing of the strengths model pioneered at the University of Kansas and Shery Mead's website MentalHealthPeers.com
Buckhaven Peer Support Workshop
Thanks to everyone who attended our recent PS Workshop in Buckhaven Community Centre funded by the Kirkcaldy & Levenmouth Local Mental Health Partnership. Chrys Muirhead facilitated and was supported by a volunteer who lives in the Levenmouth area. It was encouraging to welcome friends from Fife, Glasgow, Dumbarton and Dumfries, many of them people who are working in a peer support role and promoting the model in their areas. The sharing of experience and information was positive for everyone present.
May 2010
Mary O'Hagan Workshop Went Well!
Over 40 delegates took part in our user/carer involvement workshop with Mary O'Hagan, NZ, faciliating, on 14 May 2010 in the Cupar Old Parish Centre - 'having a voice and making a difference!'. Friends joined us from the Dundee, Perth and Falkirk areas, sharing experiences of involvement from a service user and carer perspective. Mary spoke of her own experiences using services and of being a leader with others in the planning and provision of services, challenging tokenism and setting agendas rather than fitting in with decisions already made. It is hoped to have follow-up meetings, an opportunity to encourage and share experience(s).
See Mary's website and 14 May Feedback Report.
Caledonia Clubhouse Falkirk Visit
The visit arranged to the Caledonia Clubhouse in Falkirk went well, visitors were inspired by the member-led model and asked lots of appropriate questions. Thanks to Alison Ferguson, Manager, and her team for their warm welcome and hosting the visit. There were comments about how they could not differentiate between members and paid workers, the benefits of the open door policy where people can access all areas of the Clubhouse and how everyone takes part in activities, from reception work to preparing meals to learning IT skills and having a work placement or transitional employment. Here is a link to My Clubhouse Journey, an inspiring story of hope and recovery from Annette Callow, a member of the Caledonia Clubhouse, Falkirk.
March 2010
Promoting Inclusion Workshop
Funding from Fife Council and NHS Fife enabled PS Fife to host a Promoting Inclusion Workshop on 10 & 11 March 2010 in the Council Chambers, Town House, Kirkcaldy - see Poster. We invited Peter Bates, Head of Mental Health and Community Inclusion at the National Development Team for Inclusion, to facilitate. Peter wrote With Inclusion in Mind, the local authority's role in promoting wellbeing and social development. In November 2008 Fife Council held an event to introduce this guidance, attended by local representatives from mental health groups, also facilitated by Peter Bates. Chrys Muirhead had presented at this event on her experience of recovery and getting back into the community.
February 2010
Peer Support Workshop 24 March
We held another Workshop on Peer Support in Contact Point, Kirkcaldy, on Wednesday 24 March 2010, from 1.00pm to 4.00pm, see Programme. The previous PS workshop on 17 February went very well, 15 participants from a variety of backgrounds took part in discussions and feedback including the role of PS, definitions of recovery, benefits to those in the PS relationship and boundaries/risks.
Funding Awards
We have just been awarded funds from both Awards for All and Voluntary Action Fund which will enable us to recruit and train volunteers and to develop more training materials.
January 2010
AGM Thanks!
Thanks to friends and colleagues who supported our AGM and made the evening such an interesting and enjoyable one! We have added to our committee and gained supporters with a wide range of experience, skills and insight. Thanks also go to Wendy McAuslan, VOX Development Co-ordinator, for her interactive presentation on the benefits of Peer Support to mental health and employability. We all learnt more about each other and our own strengths.
2009
December 2009
WRAP
Wellness Recovery Action Plan is a self management tool for staying well and for helping you to feel better when not well. Scottish Government's mental health improvement plan, Towards a Mentally Flourishing Scotland, promotes self directed approaches to recovery and mentions WRAP.
WRAP was developed in the USA by Mary Ellen Copeland, in response to her own challenges of living with mental ill health, and in consultation with others. It helps us look at what we are like when well, what we do on a regular basis to keep well, and action plans for coping with triggers, things that happen and are outwith our control. The crisis plan is a document that can be included in the Advance Statement and shared with supporters who may be friends, colleagues or family.
What is WRAP?
November 2009
Peer Support Fife Bulletin - First Issue!
'Read all about it' in our first News Bulletin, including a write-up of the United We Stand event with photographs. There are also articles on peer support, WRAP and recovery, news about funding and quotes courtesy of the Pathways to Recovery workbook from the the University of Kansas.
October 2009
United We Stand 14 October 2009
More than 80 people joined us at Elmwood College, Cupar, on 14 October at our mental health networking event United We Stand, demonstrating that there is strength in unity and the importance of having a voice and making a difference. Graham Morgan MBE, keynote speaker, inspired delegates as he described the work of the Highland Users Group, mentioning the importance of 'fair and just lives' and the 'solidarity of a shared bond'.
Wendy McAuslan from the national service user organisation Voices of Experience was the final speaker, helping to gather feedback on potential development areas around networking and user/carer involvement.
Workshops numbered 14, including NHS Fife projects - Playfield Institute, Moodcafe, Gemini Team & Tidal Model developments; Angus Mental Health Association; Barony Contact Points; Fife Council Social Work Service; Going Forth SAMH; LINK Adolescent Befriending East Fife; Mental Health Network Greater Glasgow; Scotia Clubhouse & friends; User Carer Involvement Dumfries & Galloway.
Here is the event summary - read Summary.
And a link to Graham's talk:
Graham's keynote address
Funding for Peer Support workshops
We recently received welcome news to say that our bid for funding to hold Peer Support workshops in the Kirkcaldy and Levenmouth areas was successful. Thanks to the Local Mental Health Partnership for this award! It means that we can continue to promote the PS model to people who are living with mental ill health and to their supporters.
August 2009
Funding from Scottish Community Foundation
Peer Support Fife has today received welcome confirmation of an award from the Scottish Community Foundation to fund the user and carer involvement event United We Stand!. Further information about this free day event will be posted on the website shortly.
Workshops on Peer Support
We are planning some awareness-raising workshops in Fife, on the Peer Support model in the mental health setting. Topics will include 'what is PS?', the benefits of PS, skills & experience required for effective PS, boundaries and risks. The first Workshop will be on 2 September at Going Forth, SAMH, Dunfermline.
We've updated the Links page to include websites that we think are innovative and a bit different.
July 2009
United We Stand!
To support the user/carer voice in mental health, Peer Support Fife are planning to hold an event United We Stand in Elmwood College, Cupar, on Wednesday 14 October, 2009. This will be an opportunity for mental health users and carers in Fife to explore ways of networking, working together to have a voice and make a difference to the way that mental health services are planned and provided.
June 2009
Government's Mental Health Improvement Plan
Scottish Government's Action Plan for mental health improvement, 'Towards a Mentally Flourishing Scotland', continues to promote the model of peer support and WRAP.
March 2009
IIMHL Brisbane Conference & Auckland Exchange
After 24hrs flying Chrys Muirhead has returned from her trip of a lifetime to Australia and New Zealand for the International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership conference and exchange. The main highlights - meeting mental health activists, sharing experiences and seeing some sights. There was an opportunity to attend a Peer Support workshop led by Gene Johnson of Recovery Innovations.
and to meet up with Desley Casey, Development Manager of Consumer Activity Network, New South Wales.
January 2009
More Peer Support Training
Chrys Muirhead facilitated another PS workshop at Turning Point Scotland, Glasgow which included discussions around user involvement.
November 2008
Peer Support Workshops in Glasgow
Chrys Muirhead delivered Peer Support one day and two day follow up workshops to service users and staff at Turning Point Scotland in Glasgow, using the 'Pathways to Recovery' workbook from the University of Kansas for activities.
August 2008
First WRAP Training
On Monday 11 August 2008 the first 'Introduction to WRAP - Wellness Recovery Action Planning' workshop was held in the Rothes Halls, Glenrothes, Fife, facilitated by Chrys Muirhead and Eric Nicol, Recovery Impact Worker with Turning Point Scotland.
June 2008
WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action Planning) Facilitator Training
Chrys Muirhead completed the WRAP facilitator training in Edinburgh, delivered by Stephen Pocklington, Copeland Center, and Rona McBrierty. It was an opportunity to share with others, develop relationships and hear about this user led self management tool. Further information about WRAP is on the Recovery page.
April 2008
Celebrating Recovery! conference does what it says!
The recovery conference at Elmwood College on 10 April 2008 was attended by over 120 people, from Scotland and England. Taking part were Chrys Muirhead, conference organiser and Convener PS Fife, opening speakers Prof Phil Barker and Poppy Buchanan-Barker on their Tidal Model of recovery and reclamation; workshops from Ron Coleman, Moira Gillespie and Tommy Black, Greater Glasgow Mental Health Network, Edinburgh Crisis Centre, Horsecross Community drama group, Falkirk District Association for Mental Health with final address by Susan Archibald, disability rights activist and vote of thanks from Simon Bradstreet, Scottish Recovery Network Director.
books, articles, blogs, stories ....
Recovery and Liberation: One and the Same?
Blog post on Mad in America by Jack Carney, recently retired from social work in New York, and back to being an 'Alinsky-trained organizer, advocate and, politely, provocateur'.
"Recovery and Liberation: One and the Same?
You can't have one without the other. I'll explain as we go along .... In short, recovery appears to be co-terminus with that first breath of liberation, with the realization that you can live the remainder of your life free of the mental health system, free of dangerous medications, of the fear of losing your freedom whenever you have a weird or potentially subversive thought or feeling. So when we talk about recovery, we're talking about recovering the identity that was taken from psychiatric survivors or that they never had the opportunity to develop, and not about recuperation from putative mental illnesses that, as Bentall and others have pointed out, have no factual basis ..."
Read complete Blog post
Scotland the Brave Article - Andrew Roberts
"Scotland pioneered the user movement in the United Kingdom, according to recent research by the Survivor History Group. At least twice in as many decades it was Scottish patients who put their full force on the lever of history. Academic historians have given the credit, for both occasions, to London. But new evidence suggests Scotland led the way."
Survivors History archive of "Scotland the Brave" by Andrew Roberts - Secretary of the Survivors History Group. Originally published in Mental Health Today July/August 2009 (Pavilion Journals (Brighton) Ltd).
Link to article on Survivors History website: studymore.org.uk
Joanna Moncrieff Interview - The Myth of the Chemical Cure
Dr Joanna Moncrieff, course organiser for the Royal College of Psychiatrists examinations, is the author of '
The Myth of the Chemical Cure: A Critique of Psychiatric Drug Treatment'. Here is a link to a 2009 interview with Michael F Shaughnessy, Senior Columnist at EducationNews.org, Eastern New Mexico University where Dr Moncrieff responds to questions about this so-called 'chemical imbalance' and the treatment of depression:
Interview
"We are pretending to treat or cure people with mental illness because that makes us feel alright about controlling them. Sometimes we need to control them but we should at least be honest about what we are doing. Pharmaceutical companies are cashing in on our dishonesty."
Crazy Like Us: The Globalisation of the Western Mind
Book by
Ethan Watters
"It is well known that US culture is a dominant force and its exportation of everything from movies to junk food is a world-wide phenomenon. But it is possible that its most troubling export has yet to be accounted for? In Crazy Like Us
, Ethan Watters reveals that the most devastating consequence of the spread of US culture has been the bulldozing of the human psyche itself: it is in the process of homogenizing the way the world goes mad." Amazon
Myth of Mental Health Nursing and the Challenge of Recovery
The latest paper by
Prof Phil Barker and Poppy Buchanan-Barker 'Myth of mental health nursing and the challenge of recovery' is published in the International Journal of Mental Health Nursing.
"Abstract: Although the concept of 'mental health nursing' has grown in popularity over the past 35 years, it remains a myth. People believe that they know what it is and value it highly, but cannot describe or define it other than in vague terms. This paper briefly charts the rise of 'mental health nursing', emphasizing its political implications, and in particular, the drive towards an embrace of a person-centred, recovery-focused approach to care. If nurses are to realize such ambitions, they must resolve their historical association with psychiatric nursing. The concept of the 'mental health nurse' might signal the emergence of a new vision for human services, but might also signal the need for 'mental health nurses' to negotiate a formal separation from the traditional 'psychiatric' family."
Read Paper
Robert Whitaker (Anatomy of an Epidemic) Video
Bob Whitaker, author of Anatomy of an Epidemic, speaks in Victoria, Canada on May 17, 2011. He overviews the past 30 years of scientific research into psychiatric medications, showing how the drugs seem to be creating the very chemical imbalances they're supposed to cure, and why they develop chronicity in the long term: "a societal delusion driving us - we're fixing this 'known biological problem'"
See Video
Book for Carers
A Straight Talking Introduction to
Caring for Someone with Mental Health Problems
Edited by
Jen Kilyon and
Theresa Smith
This book tells how family and friends of people with complex mental health needs frequently have to battle for, and often with, mental health services, whilst they themselves can be stigmatised. Jen Kilyon and Theresa Smith help carers tell their stories. Although some of these stories end with a positive outcome and others tell of continuing battles, all demonstrate that it is frequently the carers alone who keep hope for recovery alive.
The book includes things they found most helpful in their struggles. Rather than accept that solutions to mental health problems are owned by the medical professions, these books look at alternatives and provide information so that the users of psychiatric services, their families and carers can make more decisions about their own lives.
Doctoring the Mind
Doctoring the Mind -
Is our Current Treatment of Mental Illness Really Any Good? - by Richard P Bentall
Bentall is one of psychiatry's most eloquent enemies . . . the drugs don't work (Sunday Times )
"Bentall's thesis is that, for all the apparent advances in understanding psychiatric disorders, psychiatric treatment has done little to improve human welfare, because the scientific research which has led to the favouring of mind-altering drugs is, as he puts it, "fatally flawed". He cites some startling evidence from the World Health Organisation that suggests patients suffering psychotic episodes in developing countries recover "better" than those from the industrialised world and the aim of the book is broadly to suggest why this might be so."
Salley Vickers, The Observer, Sunday 21 June 2009
Unshrinking Psychosis
Unshrinking Psychosis -
Understanding and Healing the Wounded Soul - by John Watkins
"This book takes a bold quantum leap beyond restrictive bio medical terms of discrete illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder to view these conditions from a holistic perspective that reveals a method of madness of psychosis. Some episodes may function as a desperate coping strategy while others reflect a profound developmental crisis or spontaneous self-helping process. As they originate in deepseated spiritual imperatives some tumultuous episodes are appropriately viewed as spiritual emergencies or potentially transformative psychospiritual crises."
Amazon UK - Kindle edition - for a paper book copy contact
Working to Recovery
Leeds Survivor Led Crisis Service
"LSCS is, at heart, a crisis sanctuary operating from 6pm-2am Fridays to Sundays, the hours when most mental health services are closed and isolation can, in particular, hurt. Support workers are on hand at Dial House which prides itself on offering non-judgemental empathy, safety and refuge space. The service offers itself as an alternative to hospital admission. Strong feelings of suicide are common. Visitors usually have a history of trauma. Those with 'challenging' behaviour are welcomed."
Read full article about the Leeds service in psychminded.co.uk.
History Beyond Trauma
By Francoise Davoine and Jean-Max Gaudilliere, professors at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris, who both hold advanced degrees in classics - French, Latin and Greek literature - and doctorates in sociology.
History Beyond Trauma
"In the course of nearly thirty years of work with patients in psychiatric hospitals and private practice, Francoise Davoine and Jean-Max Gaudilliere have uncovered the ways in which transference and countertransference are affected by the experience of social catastrophe. Handed down from one generation to the next, the unspoken horrors of war, betrayal, dissociation, and disaster in the families of patient and analyst alike are not only revived in the therapeutic relationship but, when understood, actually provide the keys to the healing process.
The authors present vivid examples of clinical work with severely traumatised patients, reaching inward to their own intimate family histories as shaped by the Second World War and outward toward an exceptionally broad range of cultural references to literature, philosophy, political theory, and anthropology. Using examples from medieval carnivals and Japanese No theater, to Wittgenstein and Hannah Arendt, to Sioux rituals in North Dakota, they reveal the ways in which psychological damage is done - and undone."
Postpsychiatry - a new direction for mental health
A British Medical Journal article by Patrick Bracken and Philip Thomas, consultant psychiatrists - Postpsychiatry - a new direction for mental health 2001 - talks about the diminishing belief in the ability of science and technology to resolve human and social problems.
From the conclusion:
" ... Postpsychiatry tries to move beyond the conflict between psychiatry and antipsychiatry. Antipsychiatry argued that psychiatry was repressive and based on a mistaken medical ideology, and its proponents wanted to liberate mental patients from its clutches. In turn, psychiatry condemned its opponents as being driven by ideology. Both groups were united by the assumption that there could be a correct way to understand madness; that the truth could, and should, be spoken about madness and distress. Postpsychiatry frames these issues in a different way. It does not propose new theories about madness, but it opens up spaces in which other perspectives can assume a validity previously denied them. Crucially, it argues that the voices of service users and survivors should now be centre stage."
read Article
The Trail is the Thing - new book from KU
Introducing a new book, hot off the press, from the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare, Office of Mental Health Research & Training - The Trail is the Thing - a year of daily reflections based on their successful Pathways to Recovery strengths self help workbook.
"The thing to remember when travelling is that the trail is the thing, not the end of the trail." ~ Louis L'Amour
This book "is the result of almost 2 years of work from 4 authors and more than 20 individuals who provided their ideas, edits and support to bring readers of Pathways to Recovery a new tool ... it is about finding the things in life that give passion, purpose and meaning." The authors of this book do not receive profit from sales of this workbook. All profits are designated for reprinting of the book and to provide scholarships for Kansas residents with the lived experience of mental illness or trauma to return to post-secondary education.
Pathways to Recovery, Supported Education Group, Office of Mental Health Research and Training @ School of Social Welfare, The University of Kansas
The Caring Focus of RD Laing
Phil Barker and Poppy Buchanan-Barker 2001
"... Laing's influence extended far beyond psychiatry, psychotherapy and medicine. However, the practical application of Laing's thought - by the man himself and some of his most famous allies and former pupils - was largely non-medical. Indeed, we might interpret the application of his philosophy - especially through his frequently revised views on psychotherapy - as a nursing approach, focused on nurturing the conditions - social and interpersonal - under which people might finally seize their own power and use this, constructively, to define themselves, rather then be subjugated, if not actually driven to madness, by others ..."
read Article
Open Dialogue Approach Finland
Five-year experience of first-episode nonaffective psychosis in
open-dialogue approach: Treatment principles, follow-up outcomes,
and two case studies
Psychotherapy Research, March 2006; 16(2): 214-228
Abstract: The open dialogue (OD) family and network approach aims at treating psychotic patients in their homes. The treatment
involves the patient's social network and starts within 24 hrs after contact. Responsibility for the entire treatment process
rests with the same team in both inpatient and outpatient settings. The general aim is to generate dialogue with the family to
construct words for the experiences that occur when psychotic symptoms exist. In the Finnish Western Lapland a historical
comparison of 5-year follow-ups of two groups of first-episode nonaffective psychotic patients were compared ...
read Article
Anatomy of an Epidemic
Anatomy of an Epidemic, a book by Robert Whitaker, author of 'Mad in America' and investigative journalist.
"Anatomy of an Epidemic investigates a profoundly troubling question: do psychiatric medications increase the likelihood that people taking them, far from being helped, are more likely to become chronically ill? In making a compelling case that our current psychotropic drugs are causing as much - if not more - harm than good, Robert Whitaker reviews the scientific literature thoroughly, demonstrating how much of the evidence is on his side. There is nothing unorthodox here - this case is solid and evidence-backed. If psychiatry wants to retain its credibility with the public, it will now have to engage with the scientific argument at the core of this cogently and elegantly written book."
David Healy, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry, Cardiff University and author of The Antidepressant Era and Let Them Eat Prozac
Still Crazy after all these Years
San Diego Weekly Reader, Vol. 32, No. 2, Jan. 9, 2003
"Dr Loren Mosher, a San Diego psychiatrist, was the principal architect of the Soteria experiment. What unfolded during the years it operated (1971 through 1983) shaped his ideas about schizophrenia, a condition estimated to afflict 1 to 2 out of every 100 Americans. Unlike the majority of his professional colleagues, Mosher was never persuaded that psychotic behavior is caused by brain abnormalities. He moreover came to believe that if schizophrenia is not an organic disease, then it's wrong to force schizophrenics to take drugs that change their brains. He acknowledges that the powerful antipsychotic medications prescribed for schizophrenia nowadays often do suppress the symptoms of lunacy and make disturbed individuals easier to control. But Mosher argues that there are better ways to help most schizophrenics recover their sanity - cheaper, more humane and libertarian, less devastating to the human body and soul."
read Article
Crisis and Connection
"Psychiatric interventions for crisis care lie at the center of the conflict between forced treatment and recovery/wellness systems in mental health services. Though crisis can mean completely different things to people who have the experience, the general public has been taught a unilateral fear response based on media representation. More and more
this has led to social control but is erroneously still called treatment This does nothing to help the person and in fact further confuses people already trying to make meaning of their experience.
This paper offers a fundamental change in understanding and working with psychiatric crises. Rather than objectifying and naming the crisis experience in relation to the construct of illness, people can begin to explore the subjective experience of the person in crisis while offering their own subjective reality to the relationship."
Shery Mead & David Hilton
read Paper
www.mentalhealthpeers.com
Leadership for Empowerment and Equality:
By Mary O'Hagan
Published in the International Journal of Leadership in Public Services
Volume 5, Issue 4, December 2009:
"The leadership of people with lived experience of mental health problems is underdeveloped, when it comes to leadership in one's own recovery, at the service level, and at the systemic level. Unlike the mental health system, the user/survivor movement has a values base of empowerment and equality. But the movement has not yet created an explicit model of leadership based on these values. "
read more
Realising Potential
An action plan for allied health professionals in mental health
"I just want to get back to an ordinary life that I can function in .."
Service User
Realising Potential is a document that brings together the work of the allied health professions (AHPs) in mental health, in partnership with service users and carers, professional organisations and NHS boards.
"...it brings benefits
to service users through the promotion
of realistic hope of meaningful recovery
and positive engagement with social,
educational and work opportunities." from the Foreword by Shona Robison MSP, Minister for Public Health and Sport.
What is Narrative Therapy?
An easy-to-read introduction on
Narrative Therapy by author
Alice Morgan. It includes simple and concise explanations of the thinking behind narrative practices as well as many practical examples of therapeutic conversations.
"Narrative therapists are interested in working with people to bring forth and thicken stories that do not support or sustain problems. As people begin to inhabit and live out the alternative stories, the results are beyond solving problems. Within the new stories, people live out new self images, new possibilities for relationships and new futures."
more info
Mental Health Ethics: The Human Context
Phil Barker is the editor of a new book -
Mental Health Ethics: The human context.
Offering a comprehensive and interdisciplinary perspective, it includes six parts, each with their own introduction, summary and set of ethical challenges, covering:
fundamental ethical principles
legal issues
specific challenges for different professional groups
working with different service user groups
models of care and treatment
recovery and human rights perspectives.
Full details from www.routledge.com.
Peer Support and Peer Led Alternatives
Peer Support - What is it?
"a system of giving and receiving help founded on key principles of respect, shared responsibility and mutual agreement on what is useful ..... This connection, or affiliation, is a deep, holistic understanding based on mutual experience where people are able to 'be' with each other without the constraints of traditional (expert/patient) relationships.""
Shery Mead 2003
Peer Support Workshops
On 16 August 2010 a Peer Support Workshop was held in the Levenmouth area of Fife, in Buckhaven Community Centre. Again there were participants from outwith Fife as well as local folk interested in hearing about the benefits of PS, both formally and informally.
Contact Point, Kirkcaldy was the setting for two Peer Support Workshops organised by Peer Support Fife, on 17 February and 24 March 2010.
Participants came from a variety of settings and areas, including Edinburgh, Dumfries and Fife.
History of National PS Developments
Scottish Recovery Network held a conference in Glasgow, December 2005, to promote the formalised Peer Support model, with speakers from
Recovery Innovations and the
Georgia Certified Peer Specialist Project.
Following this, in November 2006, a group of Scottish service users in Edinburgh were trained in the PS Worker model by a Recovery Innovations trainer and again in January 2008. Pilot PS Worker projects were set up in 5 health board areas of Scotland (not Fife) in 2008.
An independent evaluation of the peer support worker pilot schemes, November 2009, has recommended further roll out of the PSWorker model at the same time as making recommendations for future implementation:
Summary of Research Findings
Full PS Worker Evaluation Report
Peer Support PDA
Here is the link on the SQA (Scottish Qualifications Authority) website to the documents relating to the Mental Health Peer Support PDA (professional development award) -
www.sqa.org.uk. The
Arrangements document gives various information about the rationale for the award's development, aims, delivery, learning materials etc.
The 2 new unit specifications for the Mental Health Peer Support PDA (professsional development award) - Recovery Context and Developing Practice - are Higher National (HN) units and can be undertaken individually.
It is encouraging to note the referencing of the strengths model pioneered at the University of Kansas and Shery Mead's website MentalHealthPeers.com
International Peer Work Examples
Shery Mead is a consultant working in the area of peer support, including 'social action and social change', peer run crisis alternatives and training professionals in recovery based practices. Articles by Shery Mead include "Defining Peer Support" and "Peer Support: What makes it unique?" This explores the peer support role and what makes it different to other relationships in the mental health setting. Topics like mutuality and shared experience(s), personal responsibility and being in control.
www.mentalhealthpeers.com
Recovery Innovations of Arizona provide individual and hospital-based peer support: "Peer Support Specialists and Recovery Coaches are powerful recovery role models that engage each individual served in a personal recovery program. Based on the person's goals the peer staff offer a wide range of support activities, skill building, and case management".
www.recoveryinnovations.org
The Georgia Certified Peer Specialist Project has trained over 437 specialists to fill 'key roles in the public mental health system'. As a consumer (user) movement the Georgia CPS project believes that the understanding of 'what creates recovery' is key to their delivery of services and integration of peer workers. Their mission statement includes the desire "to promote self-determination, personal responsibility and empowerment inherent in self-directed recovery".
www.gacps.com
read all about it ...
website links
madinamerica.com
Robert Whitaker's blog Mad in America -
In the News: A journalist's review of reports in medical journals and the media on psychiatric disorders and treatments. Guest bloggers writing about their experience of the psychiatric system and medications. Information about Robert Whitaker's book 'Anatomy of an Epidemic' and other works.
wellbeingrecovery.com
Wellbeing Recovery Learning, now called PeerZone, is being developed by Mary O'Hagan and Sara McCook Weir, and is structured life learning in a peer support context - designed and delivered by and for people with experience of mental distress. The learning packages are aimed at working age people, particularly younger people with severe mental distress.
workingtorecovery.co.uk
Working to Recovery is a small, dynamic training and consultancy organisation with directors, Ron Coleman and Karen Taylor, offering training and assistance. Based in Scotland and specialising in Mental Health practice, they work across the UK and the rest of the world, in response to different training needs.
soterianetwork.org.uk
Soteria Network are a network of people in the UK promoting the development of drug-free and minimum medication therapeutic environments for people experiencing 'psychosis' or extreme states. They are part of an international movement of service users, survivors, activists, carers and professionals fighting for more humane, non-coercive mental health services.
triestesalutementale.it
The Trieste Mental Health Department is a public, community-based mental healthcare service which evolved directly from the pioneering de-institutionalisation experiences of Franco Basaglia and his collaborators in the 1970's. It remains a leader in innovative approaches to mental healthcare aimed at the emancipation and social reintegration of people with mental health problems.
dulwichcentre.com.au
Dulwich Centre is an independent centre in Adelaide, Australia involved in narrative therapy, community work, training, publishing, supporting practitioners in different parts of the world, and co-hosting international conferences.
power2u.org
National Empowerment Center, Massachusetts, USA
Mission: To carry a message of recovery, empowerment, hope and healing to people who have been labelled with mental illness.
Kansas University Office of Mental Health Research & Training
Pathways Publications
Pathways to Recovery: strengths recovery self-help workbook, a valuable resource for anyone on their journey of recovery. It has over 400 pages of materials, stories and activities that aid a person in self-discovery, life goals and in establishing hope. "Pathways to Recovery translates the evidence-supported approach of the Strengths Model - an approach developed in Kansas and that has been used effectively for over twenty years worldwide - into a person-centered, self-help approach."
tidal-model.com
"The Tidal Model is a philosophical approach to the discovery of mental health. It emphasises helping people reclaim the personal story of mental distress, by recovering their voice. By using their own language, metaphors and personal stories people begin to express something of the meaning of their lives. This is the first step towards helping recover control over their lives"
Robert Whitaker, USA author of Anatomy of an Epidemic, gave a public lecture in Elmwood College, Cupar, Fife, on 19 November 2011 - see Video of event.
