Genetic research into ‘schizophrenia’ – how much can it actually tell us?
Insidious Mission Creep. #DWP to invade #GP surgeries. #MentalHealth #DoNoHarm
The approach of sending ‘Job Coaches’ or similarly named state funded initiatives into places where people with disabilities usually seek safety and refuge is not as new as you may imagine. It’s not just another insidious Tory party invention, but it is more sinister than previous approaches.
Under New Labour Mental Health day services such as Drop In Centre’s and Support Group operated by our national mental health charities saw a central Government directive introduced that if they refused to comply with they would lose valuable funding to keep their services running. It was aimed at introducing employment organisations into the services with the idea of ‘signposting’ people who were interested in returning to work.
“Nothing wrong with that” I hear you say. “People want to return to work” you add. I agree, in principle the idea sounded perfect. In the service I worked we rented an enormous building, this…
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DWP Admits Disabled People May Have To Wait Longer For Disability Benefits
In a written question on Monday, Cat Smith MP asked:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the role of personal independence payment assessment providers in the increase in processing time between the case referral to assessment provider to return from the assessment provider to the government office since July 2015.
To which Justin Tomlinson responded:
Following a controlled start from July 2015, full Personal Independence Payment (PIP) roll-out commenced in October 2015, with an increase in the numbers of existing Disability Living Allowance claimants being asked to claim PIP.
In addition and in order to improve the customer journey, the Department has made some changes to the way in which it monitors Assessment Provider performance. These changes mean that Providers now have more time in which to complete assessments and return reports to the…
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Today in London’s radical history: Mental Patients Union founded to oppose psychiatric oppression, 1973.
The Mental Patients Union (MPU), in the early 1970s, could probably be seen as the first service user involvement movement. Founder member Andrew Roberts described the Union’s genesis:
“The idea of a Mental Patients Union was first developed by a small group of mental patients and supporters back in December 1972. A pamphlet was produced — which came to be known as the Fish Pamphlet (it had a picture of a fish struggling on a hook on the cover) — that was strongly Marxist in its analysis. Its argument was that psychiatry was a form of social control of the working classes in a capitalist state, and that the psychiatrist was the “high priest” of technological society, exorcising the “devils” of social distress through electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), lobotomy and medication. The thinking was that, in the same way that workers formed trade unions, mental patients also needed a union…
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Autism genes are in all of us, new research reveals
New light has been shed on the genetic relationship between autistic spectrum disorders and ASD-related traits in the wider population. Autism spectrum disorders are a class of neurodevelopmental conditions affecting about 1 in 100 children. They are characteriszd by social interaction difficulties, communication and language impairments, as well as stereotyped and repetitive behavior.
‘Staff need Mental Capacity Act training rooted in practice, not legalese’
Ahead of next week’s mental capacity action day, Community Care meets Baroness Finlay chair of the National Mental Capacity Forum
Source: ‘Staff need Mental Capacity Act training rooted in practice, not legalese’
Top tips on how to prevent and raise awareness of child sexual exploitation
Engage with wider community, recognise diversity of exploited children, and focus on those who are often overlooked
Source: Top tips on how to prevent and raise awareness of child sexual exploitation
Mark’s Story
The following is an interview, conducted with Mark Evans. The Network would like to thank Mark for this comprehensive and personal piece, which explains why he has chosen to leave the profession immediately after qualifying. At our recent conference, it was noted that one of the problems with teaching students a more critical outlook is that they may decide to leave (which is, of course, not a reason to avoid doing it, but certainly has important implications). It will be clear to readers that Mark’s choice is mental health nursing’s loss. However, as you will see, Mark is not someone who makes such decisions lightly.
Mark believes that the mental health system serves the elite within our society. We feel that no critique of mental health nursing could be complete if it ignored that premise. We also feel that Mark’s writing forms a first-rate explanation of what it means to say…
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Far be it from me - 