Mad World

Are councils passing the buck over social work training?

2009-07-03T14:27:23Z

This is the suggestion Social Work Taskforce chief Moira Gibb has made at a conference today:

Ms Gibb said councils seemed to take little direct interest in training future social workers but currently expected external bodies to do the work for them - creating a reality gap between what was needed and what educators provided.

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She seems to have a point here. Local authorities often complain about recruitment shortages but then we often hear that social work students struggle to find statutory placements.

Similarly, authorities often demand experienced social workers for their teams when there are plenty of newly-qualified social workers who can't get onto that first rung of the ladder. Councils should be putting resources into training newly-qualified staff rather than relying on agency workers.

Like in many other spheres, employers want it all put on a plate for them and don't expect to have to make any investment themselves. That's not good enough - and it certainly leaves them little room to complain about a lack of suitable candidates.

Alcohol, smoking, tagging and schizophrenia

2009-07-02T14:57:13Z

A few things caught my eye today.

Only 8 units of alcohol a week is enough to increase the risk of hospital treatment of mental health problems during your lifetime, research suggests. Eight units? Is there anyone who doesn't drink 8 units a week?
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Criminals in secure mental health units are to be electronically tagged while out on leave.

And the Independent went big today on new research linking schizophrenia and manic depression. The story suggests it might eventually lead to treatments which tackle the causes rather than the symptoms but points out that they are a fair way away at the moment.

Social workers get more support and turn to novel writing

2009-07-02T13:23:12Z

Barnardo's chief Martin Narey has told delegates at this year's Local Government Association conference that they should do more to stick up for social workers. ]]> He painted a grim picture of the 'utterly distrustful' environment in which professionals carry out their duties. Searching on Google the night before his speech, Mr Narey found 1.5M results when searching for 'evil murderers' and 19M when searching for 'evil social workers'.
Grim indeed. But it's good to see another major figure stand up for social workers.

Meanwhile, how many of you think you have a novel in you? Almost all of you I would wager. You may therefore find it heart-warming to read about the latest social worker to have written a book.

Aaah the life of a novelist. Get up about 10... make a cup of tea, sit in front of the computer for a bit and before you know it, it's lunchtime. Perhaps you'll take the laptop down to the local cafe in the afternoon just to break the day up... One can always dream

CBT video

2009-06-24T11:10:21Z

Spotted a video from the NHS explaining cognitive behavioural therapy. ]]>

Are social work students leaving with the skills they need?

2009-06-24T10:59:14Z

The Family Rights Group charity is warning that social work students are graduating without the skills they need to prevent another Baby P, according to the Standard. ]]>
Is this really the case? I'd be interested to hear from students/tutors/managers.

On a different note, it sometimes makes me feel rather uncomfortable when I hear charities slagging off social workers. After all you don't necessarily need any qualifications to work for a charity.

Is social work in a permanent state of crisis?

2009-06-22T15:52:12Z

It sometimes seems that way. A quick look at some of the headlines from local papers today reveals that in Nottingham, a social services chief has had to deny claims that "children are being put in danger because of staff shortages and poor IT." ]]> in Suffolk and Essex: "Councils say they are working hard to recruit new social workers after it emerged there were almost 200 vacancies across Suffolk and Essex."

Of course both stories relate to figures recently released by Unison. But I also noticed a third story from Derry in Northern Ireland where "The Journal has learned that Children's Services have over 260 families or children who have been identified as 'at risk' yet no social worker has been allocated."

There seems no doubt that these kind of stories have increased over the past year - but is social work really in a state of crisis, as the stories suggest. Or is it being hyped out of proportion? And has it always been like this - or were there times when everything seemed to be running very smoothly and all the correct resources were in place? I suspect not.

Meditation, mindfulness and mental health

2009-06-17T11:14:58Z

OK, I've decided to explore the use of meditation in tackling mental health problems. I've not managed to track down any experts, so I'm going to have to rely on that trusty font of all erroneous knowledge - the internet. (If you are a meditation and mental health expert - please get in touch!)

My curiosity was initially pricked by a recent survey, which suggested that brain chemistry, particularly in relation to stress, could be altered by meditation.

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When in doubt you can't beat a good meta analysis, which draws together the findings of a host of relevant studies.

A recent meta analysis of mindfulness based stress reduction, which involves meditation, uncovered some positive results.

Our findings suggest the usefulness of MBSR as an intervention for a broad range of chronic disorders and problems. In fact, the consistent and relatively strong level
of effect sizes across very different types of sample indicates that mindfulness training might enhance general features of coping with distress and disability in everyday
life, as well as under more extraordinary conditions of serious disorder or stress.

Apparently, consistent improvements were found in depression, anxiety and coping skills.

The researchers do urge caution, however, due to the modest number of randomised studies and the relative lack of long-term follow-up data. Again, more research needed.

Meanwhile, a study cited on the NHS site finds there is not enough evidence to support the use of mediation to tackle anxiety disorder and even points to reported adverse effects.

A small scale preliminary study found some benefit in mindfulness based cognitive therapy (MBCT) for people with depression.

And an earlier study found that MBCT could be as effective as antidepressants.

Finally here's a list of meditation resources for those with a general interest.

The big question for me is whether meditation and mindfulness are approaches that need to be utilised more extensively within our mental health services. I shall attempt to garner some opinions and will return to this topic when I do.

Politically incorrect truths and the dangers of positive thinking

2009-06-15T13:54:45Z

Here's a few interesting things I've found around the web today.

Firstly, here's a list of "politically incorrect truths about human nature", according to Psychology Today. To be honest, I didn't really find them that politically incorrect but I'm sure it boosted their traffic.
]]> positive thinking may be bad for you if you have low self-esteem.

Dr Wood suggests that positive self-statements cause negative moods in people with low self-esteem because they conflict with those people's views of themselves.

And finally, a not so good story in The People, which takes a rather alarmist tone about mental illness and violence. It fails to mention that such violence is very rare, accounts for a small proportion of overall violence and does not allow any comment by anyone from the Department of Health.

Was Robert Burns a manic depressive?

2009-06-15T11:00:45Z

There is apparently a row brewing over whether 18th century Scottish writer Robert Burns suffered from manic depression. ]]>

There was real concern that we were painting this picture of a lunatic Burns, which we weren't trying to do at all. If you were to look at Burns's writing, you could term that a bit bipolar. But the trust thought that was a negative connotation."

Glad to see people are still linking bipolar with "lunatic".

This raises two points for me. Firstly it's a shame that the stigma around mental health is still so great that people are worried about linking mental illness to people who have been dead for 200 years.

But secondly it made me wonder if all this recent talk about historical figrues with mental health problems, is beginning to affect public attitudes. After all the campaign group Time to Change is claiming public attitudes have "turned a corner" over the past year. But is that the experience on the ground?

I'd be interested to hear what people think - either here or on CareSpace.

Teaching happiness: a story from the USA

2009-06-10T11:24:23Z

A student from UCLA in the US talks about happiness lessons in the video below.

I think teaching people how to manage their minds and look after their mental wellbeing are only going to get more important. I wonder how much techniques like this will become part of the armoury of frontline workers?

Interestingly, they are starting to introduce mindfulness meditation in hospitals and schools in the US.

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Eric Cantona visits a London football project

2009-06-08T14:30:49Z

Footballer turned actor Eric Cantona and director Ken Loach visited a Football Foundation funded project in east London last week. ]]>

Here is a picture of the great man (Eric, that is - although Ken Loach might also be considered a great man) alongside Loach and some lucky young folk from the Mile End Park sports facility.

I never thought I'd get a chance to feature a picture of ooh aah Eric Cantona on my blog so am most pleased and will probably now go off and retire.

Dr Liz Miller: the neurosurgeon who developed bipolar disorder

2009-06-08T10:55:24Z

There's a good interview in the Telegraph, with Dr Liz Miller, a former neurosurgeon who was sectioned three times because of her bipolar disorder but has now recovered and is an occupational therapist. ]]>

"How on earth did she get back to medicine after the third bout? "Slowly. It is harder each time, because you do get battered. Mental health rehabilitation needs to be done slowly. A lot of doctors come back part-time. Stress is a physical illness. People come to you when they are physically damaged, with non-specific symptoms like dizziness, gut aches, headaches. It's not the kind of damage you pick up on orthodox medical investigation. The tests come back normal, but they are ill."

She says her illness will not come back because she now knows what the triggers are. I'd like to have read more about that really, but perhaps she is saving it for her forthcoming book, which will look at how people can manage their own mental wellbeing.

Dad's threat to kill social worker

2009-06-08T10:44:44Z

This is a story from the Plymouth Herald, illustrating the hazards facing social workers. ]]>

Mental health headlines from Royal College of Psychiatrists conference

2009-06-05T13:24:27Z

OK, I'll stick to mental health news, following a very brief and very unsuccessful stint as a political commentator.

There's lots of news from the Royal College of Psychiatrists annual conference.
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Babies that fail to receive stimulation and love in the first year are at risk of poor brain development and social skills, a child health expert has warned.
Mental health care must improve to halt the staggering number of suicides occurring in prisons, new research has revealed.
Sexual abuse in childhood damages women far more than men and could account for just over a quarter of suicide attempts in women, according to new research.
The current financial meltdown has in part been caused by bankers who display the attributes of Hubris Syndrome, a former leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) has claimed.
An Australian psychiatrist believes Britain's stiff upper lip culture, its class system and the NHS means we are not supporting the mental health needs of war veterans adequately.

Will provide links once all this stuff is up on the RCP site.

Welcome John Denham as new health secretary.. or maybe not

2009-06-05T10:51:23Z

I was pleased to see John Denham appointed as the new health secretary. I worked as a Parliamentary volunteer for him for a couple of months back in the mid-90s. Unfortunately, he was never actually appointed as health secretary at all - but for a brief moment on Friday morning the BBC ticker was reporting that he had.

Ah the beauty of attempting to cover events as they happen! Denham was in fact appointed to communities and local government. My comments below were based on the assumption that Denham was going to health - they were valid and accurate for about 5 minutes!

3.30pm update: It's actually Andy Burnham who is health secretary
]]> I can't say I got to know Denham particularly well but he seemed like a thoughtful and reasonable guy and one who has since proved to be a principled politician in his stance over the Iraq war.

He also used to play squash, but that's about all I can remember.

Anyway, hopefully Burnham will make mental health and social care strong priorities. The adult social care green paper is obviously one pressing concern - it is expected soon - and it will be a good start if it isn't delayed. In addition mental health funding must be protected from cuts and the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies initiative needs continued support.