April 2009 Archives

writes Anna C Young

The benefits system penalises people for behaving responsibly and saving for your future - even if they have a major disability

A part-time job seemed a good idea at the time. I was a mature student with cerebral palsy, struggling in my fifth year of a three-year philosophy degree. A job would add lifeskills to my study and make me a more attractive candidate for meaningful employment. Ah, paid employment, that'll be the day. Yes, I received a grant and benefits, but surely I could work 16 hours a week without losing them. Couldn't I?

writes Blair McPherson

By Ray Jones

The government response to the Laming report may well bring dismay or even danger - let's hope there is a third option We are soon to have the government's full response to the Laming review. It could be a time of danger or of dismay.

The danger is that the government could knee-jerk dramatic but damaging changes. The political need to be seen to be doing something could mean premature ministerial announcements which are ill-informed but headline grabbing, and undermining the government-initiated Social Work Taskforce.

By Helen Bonnick

Family support workers have to be circumspect when dealing with mothers who have been subjected to domestic violence.

On the morning in March that home secretary Jacqui Smith announced a review into violence against women, I took a phone call from a school-based family worker who was seeking advice in her work with the mother of one of the pupils. The parent had appeared in the playground with extreme injuries, but offered an apparently credible explanation.

The government recently wrote to social workers with a message of support. Children's expert Kate Cairns responds.

FAO Ed Balls and Alan Johnson

Thank you for writing to me. In 40 years of social work I have never before received a personal letter from a secretary of state, so this is a significant event.

By Simon Heng

Whatever the care package, it still often takes a selfless parent to ensure that a disabled person has a good quality of life

 We've all met them, the parents - almost invariably mothers - who have cared for their disabled children since birth. With huge reserves of strength, stamina and enthusiasm, after decades of caring with little support and even less time for themselves, some of them even manage to spare the time and energy debt had to meet other people.

One such idea concerns schizophrenia. The notion of a biological brain disorder causing long-term hallucinations, delusions and thought disorders is so familiar that most people simply accept it. But just how strong is the evidence?

After being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia it has taken Alex Seggie seven years to find fulfilling work and good support

In June 2002 I was working as a mental health nurse in New Zealand. A month later I was doped up on medication at my parents' home in England, diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

By Michelle Mitchell

By Jim Wild

By Pam McClinton