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TAG: Mental Health

Podcast: The politics of mental health

The panel try to make sense of mental health policy and politics

This week Anne, Rachel and John are joined by two special guests to discuss the politics of mental health. What are the main initiatives in mental health policy? What do the different political parties have to say? Are there even any meaningful differences between them? And does the recent Mental Health Act Review move us forward? To help us think though these questions we had some help from Akiko Hart and Mark Brown, two people far more involved in political conversations than we are. We also have an interview with our colleague, child psychologist Trish Joscelyne, who takes us through the changing landscape of children’s mental health.

Podcast: Working so that people don’t need us anymore

John McGowan talks to six clinical psychology trainees just about to qualify

 

Every September we say goodbye to a qualifying cohort of our clinical psychology trainees. They’ve been with us for three years and it’s always a pongiant moment. This year John McGowan sat down with six of our leavers to talk about their hope for qualified life and the challenges of planning a career in public service. The discussion ranged from the kind of teams they want to work in to whether health services are always the best place to help people. We’d like to thank all of the participants: Abi Davison-Jenkins, Marguerite Gallagher, Helen Layton, Rebecca Newman, Hannah Prytherch and Owen Thompson. We’ll miss you!

 

Guest Post: Fewer Conferences, More Conversations

Photo: Pushing Up Daisies Festival. Skull cake: Thyme for Tiffin

 

Akiko Hart makes a plea for mental health to go outside mental health

I am, for my sins, a conference person. I organise, speak at and attend many mental health conferences every year. But this week, I went along to Pushing Up Daisies, a ‘community-grown festival’ around death and dying, in the beautiful Yorkshire market town of Todmorden. I came away reflecting that we need to rethink some of the conversations we are having around mental health.

Podcast: Race and Mental Health

Rachel Terry, Laura Lea, John McGowan and guests discuss two recent high profile publications on the subject of race in mental health

 

Though the effects of race and ethnicity on mental health have been written about and researched for many years, a wide range of inequalities persist in the mental health system. In particular, young black men are over represented in secure services and in the figures for detentions under the Mental Health Act. The last few months have seen the publication of two documents which attempt to improve this situation. One is a recent statement by the Royal College of Psychiatrists aiming to tackle the effects of racism and discrimination in the UK health system. The second is a BME (Black and Minority Ethnic) service user led document, the ‘Kindred Minds Manifesto’. To discuss these, and the multiplicity of ways in which race can influence mental health outcomes, the regular panel is joined by Raza Griffiths, the author of the Kindred Minds Manifesto, and by Trainee Psychologist Lauren Bryan. We also have interviews with sociologist Harshad Keval, Clinical Psychologist and journalist Masuma Rahim, and Psychiatrist Samei Huda*. All have considered the effects of race and discrimination and all have views on what has failed to happen thus far and what needs to happen now.

Don’t turn Britain’s schools into mental health centres

Jennie Bristow argues that government plans for ‘Mental Health First Aid’ risk pathologising ordinary childhood while doing little for those with more serious difficulties

Britain’s schools are changing: not just in terms of what is taught, but also what we expect them do to help pupils. In June 2017, the Times Educational Supplement reported that the government had put £200k behind a plan to train ‘mental health first-aiders’ in every secondary school. The funding is intended to train 3,000 teachers and teaching assistants over the next three years. ‘Teachers will receive practical advice on how to deal with mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, suicide and self-harm,’ explained the TES.

If £200k doesn’t sound like it would go a long way, in February this year, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced a £5 million programme to train primary school staff in mental health first aid. It’s hard to argue with the proposition that providing more support for the emotional wellbeing of school children is a bad thing, but these proposals may pose problems for children with mental health difficulties and for children who are simply going through the struggles of growing up.