May 2011 Archives

I haven't had much time for this blog recently, being pulled in various other directions including Community Care's new podcast, various videos, and looking after CareSpace.

However, having had a little look around this morning I've found a slew of noteworthy mental health items:

• The brains of violent video game players may become less responsive to violence and could therefore increase aggressive behaviour.
• Scientists believe they have found a link between bipolar disorder and postural control which 'raises the question of whether therapies that improve motor symptoms may also help mood disorders'.
• Fish oil, containing omega 3 fatty acids, may have a therapeutic benefit for those with mood disorders
• Psychology Today has a whole series of articles on laughter, its benefits and risks
• And a small study has found that psychotherapy and drugs were associated with a greater reduction in the brain chemicals linked to stress than drugs alone

(Pic: Omer Wazir on flickr)

I know almost nothing about agriculture. But I do know that every now and again crops planted in a field are rotated, swapped with other crops, to prevent the field becoming fallow. As I understand it, too much of the same crop over a long period of time sucks all the nutrients out of the soil.

I mention all of this, because there is a thread on CareSpace in which a user suggests that social workers should have a mandatory two year period every five years where they have to leave the profession, do something else and generally get a chance to recharge their batteries.

This sounds like an excellent idea and could be worthwhile for all manner of stressful jobs. Like a field gets drained of nutrients after years of the same crop, so a person gets drained of enthusiasm and energy after years of doing the same, stressful thing. A couple of years being a plumber, driving instructor or professional snooker player would do the world of good for many a stressed social worker.

Perhaps you agree, or strongly disagree? Then why not take part in the poll below.

(Pic: jayneandd on flickr)

 

"Hello everybody!" Regular compere and crowd pleaser Jeremy Vine bounds to the front of the stage and even manages to get the normally reticent social work audience to applaud the speakers. "That doesn't happen every year," he jokes. Too right it doesn't - this is a tough crowd and Vine knows he can't waste too much time on pleasantries. We're straight into the "erosion of the social work profession" - a reassuring conference staple.

All is going to plan until shadow care minister Emily Thornberry starts to speak. She is surprisingly posh. Close my eyes and I could be listening to Joanna Lumley. Can't really concentrate on what she's saying.

But I'm brought straight back down to earth by Turning Point chief executive Lord Victor Adebowale. Firstly, I think all lords should wear top hats and Lord Adebowale isn't wearing a top hat. Secondly, he's a Yorkshireman who says what he thinks - kind of like the Fred Trueman of social care.

Jeremy Vine looks more like a lord - he's wearing cufflinks. And he has his own separate table, to quarantine himself from the dangerous opinions of the panellists. His table has a blue velvet cloth. I can't see the top of it but I imagine he might have a deck of cards up there.

The debate has moved onto the two colleges of social work - cue nervous laughter from College of Social Work co-chair Corrine May Chahal. "We aspire to one college," she says.
But what will you do with the other college? Are you better than them? Will you put them out of business? Vine's on a roll and asking the kind of questions that polite people just don't ask. Cue more nervous laughter and Joanna Lumley suggesting the whole issue is "funny but unfortunate".

Big Society next and I am on full bullshit alert. Luckily Lord Adebowale is on similar high alert. Has the Big Society helped Turning Point, asks Vine.
"Not really," says the lord.

Oh no, what's happened now? Vine has mentioned Cardigan the Dog and his campaign to become chief social worker. I get enough self-congratulatory emails from this particular canine already - now it's going to become unbearable. 

You only need to take a quick look at CareSpace to find out that social work offices are perhaps not the most stress-free environment you could find.

Social workers might therefore want to take a look at these five tips to make their office a mentally healthier place to work. They are part of Mind's Elephant in the Room (Facebook page) campaign to improve workplace mental health. I'm going to try out 'giving' tomorrow - it should prove a novel experience.

Regular CareSpace blogger and early onset dementia sufferer Norrms is leading a campaign to set up a dementia awareness day in September.

You can find out more and get involved in the campaign here.

Good to see right-wing think tank The Policy Exchange publish a report claiming that public sector workers are living a life of Riley compared to those in the private sector.

According to The Telegraph, public sector wages are "spiralling". Pardon? I don't know of any public sector pay deals that have not been frozen or offered below the rate of inflation. That's a pay cut.

I'm sure private sector staff are also having a hard time of it - although the report admits that those at the top are doing just fine. Public sector staff earn more partly because they are more highly unionised, so they can negotiate pay from a position of greater strength rather than having to just accept whatever private sector bosses feel they can get away with offering. Public sector employers also often feel they have a social responsibility to pay staff a living wage, something which does not trouble many private employers.

There may well be a discrepancy between public and private sector rates of pay but the answer is not to bring everyone down to the lowest possible baseline just so those at the top can make themselves a bit richer.

(Pic: Tax Rebate on Flickr - original source: TaxFix.co.uk)  

Wev'e set up a new sub forum for international social workers on UK social work community site CareSpace.

All non-UK social workers are welcome to use it to share information, good practice or ask questions of their international colleagues.

It's just an experiment at the moment but we'll see how it goes. Do have a look around CareSpace to get a sense of the kind of things being discussed and feel free to get in touch if you have any questions.

(Pic by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center on Flickr)

Great documentary on BBC2 last night about the history of council housing in the UK.

The programme documented the change in attitude towards council housing, from being seen as an amazing privilege from the 20s to 60s to a source of stigma by the late 70s.

Presenter Michael Collins argued that the main turning point was the 1977 Housing Act, which gave local authorities a duty to use council housing for those considered homeless where previously they had operated strict entrance criteria for council housing. One interviewee told how in the 60s the local authority had required strict job references before allowing him into a council house.