January 2009 - Fighting Monsters

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Saving Memories

I went to see Mr A earlier this week. He has Alzheimer’s. He turned 18 in 1942 and was enlisted that day into the Navy. While he couldn’t remember where he went in the morning, he told me in great details a string of tales from his wartime...

Published 31 Jan 2009 5:27 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: British Army, dementia, elderly, History, memories, mental health, old age, personal history, social care, Twentieth Century, uk, United Kingdom, war time memories, work
Office Politics

There is an icy chill in the office at the moment. Two people have had a big falling out. I’m not sure of all of the details and of course, even if I were, I wouldn’t be able to post about it, but it has made my desk a fairly unpleasant place...

Published 30 Jan 2009 6:32 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: AMHP, elderly, guardianship application, health, local authority, mental health, mental health act assessment, office politics, old age, personal, social work, stress, uk, work
Pratchett, BBC and Infra-red Helmets

I noticed from some trailers on the TV that next week (and the week after), BBC2 is airing ‘Living With Alzheimer’s’. It will be broadcast in two parts on February 4 and 11. The BBC mini-site includes an interview by Terry with Prof...

Published 29 Jan 2009 6:46 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: Alzheimer, Alzheimer's Society, bbc programme, Conditions and Diseases, dementia, headroom, health, infra-red helmet, mental health, Neurological Disorders, programme on alzheimer's, terry pratchett, uk, work
Midnight Ramblings

I’m writing this in the middle of the night. I know we are told not to take work home with us. And for the most part, I’m pretty good at that. Currently though, the reason for my wakefulness is concern about a particular individual or rather...

Published 28 Jan 2009 5:53 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: carer, carers, dementia, Emotional Health and Wellbeing, health, insomnia, long-term care, mental health, old age, older people, personal, sleepless nights, social care, social issues, social work, taking work home, work, work-related stress, worry
Follow The Sun

Yesterday the make up of the shiny new government Task Force on Social Work was announced. This is a focus group who are to be involved in the ‘root and branch’ review of front-line practice of the Social Work profession as a whole in the...

Published 27 Jan 2009 6:15 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: agony aunt, Alan Johnson, change in social work, deirdre sanders, Ed Balls, personal, politics, Secretary of State for Children Schools and Families, Secretary of State for Health, social care, social issues, social work, social work taskforce, Sun, task force, uk, uk social work, work
Asking for help

The Guardian has an article today explaining about how Haringey, in the fallout from the failing Child Protection services, issued an email to every other London Borough, asking for ‘one good quality person’ (namely a social worker) from each...

Published 26 Jan 2009 7:14 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: Child protection, Haringey, local authority, local government, london, London Borough of Haringey, personal, politics, social care, social issues, social work, uk, Unison, work
Lewy Body Dementia Information

The Tangled Neuron pointed me to a leaflet available from the Lewy Body Dementia Association called ‘An Introduction to Lewy Body Dementia’. I’d never come across the Lewy Body Dementia Association before but the website has a lot of...

Published 25 Jan 2009 10:33 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: Conditions and Diseases, dementia, dementia resources, Dementia with Lewy bodies, elderly, health, Lewy Body Dementia, mental health, Neurological Disorders, old age, older people, resources, work
Abuse and Stress

The BBC reports on a study published in the BMJ (British Medical Journal) which questioned carers of people who suffer from dementia and found that a third admitted “significant abuse” Predominantly, this abuse is emotional and verbal abuse...

Published 23 Jan 2009 6:22 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: Abuse, alzheimers, BMJ, caregiver, caregiver support, carer, carer support, carers, dementia, elder abuse, elderly, emotional abuse, health, old age, older people, social care, social issues, social work, socialcare, ucl, uk, University College London, work
Combating Stigma

Community Care reports that a large, in fact, the largest ever, campaign to tackle stigma relating to Mental Health was launched yesterday in England. The Campaign, called ‘Time to Change’ is a joint effort between Mind, Rethink and Mental...

Published 22 Jan 2009 6:28 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: discrimination, England, health, mental health, Mind, rethink, social issues, Social network service, social work, work
Questions

Generally, I’ll answer most questions I’m asked honestly and simply. I tell people when there is a question they ask that I won’t answer but usually, my view is that people are expected to lay their lives and history before me and it...

Published 21 Jan 2009 7:12 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: anti-semitism, elderly, Jew, Judaism, london, older people, questions, racism, Religion, Religion and Spirituality, social care, social issues, social work, work
Hail to the Chief

As just about everyone will be aware, today is President Obama’s inauguration day. Over the weekend, I collated some information (ok, I used Google and it took me precisely 3 mins) about what might be being done to note the occasion in the UK to...

Published 20 Jan 2009 6:42 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: work
A Call to Arms

Yesterday, the Scottish Sunday Mirror had a column entitled ‘Sack the bad Social Workers’. The article can be found here. I read it briefly and although I would never condone poor practice or poor practitioners, I can’t help but feel...

Published 19 Jan 2009 6:38 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: Anna Smith, Criminal justice, prison, social work, social worker rant, work
Alzheimer’s, Screening and Stigma

A report published on the Science Daily website yesterday explains that UK older adults were far less likely to want to access dementia screening than their US counterparts. The premise of the study was to find out what difference access to universal...

Published 16 Jan 2009 8:02 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: Alzheimer, Alzheimer's disease, dementia, elderly, health, mental health, old age, older people, social issues, stigma, uk, United Kingdom, United States, US, work
Bed Blocking

I hate the term ‘bed blocking’ but it’s something that came up a lot when I was working in the Adult Community team. It seems to imply some kind of intent or purposeful wish to disrupt the smooth-running (or not) of hospitals. The term...

Published 15 Jan 2009 4:51 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: AMHP, ASW, bed blocking, community care (delayed discharge) act 2003, delayed discharge, elderly, health, hospital, Medicine, mental health, mental health act, old age, psychiatric hospital, social work, work
Positive Influences

I came across a tribute written by Clare Allen in the Guardian, to her own Social Worker, Bernadette, who is retiring this week. Allen writes about the positive influence that her social worker and the relationship between them has resulted in. I could...

Published 14 Jan 2009 5:58 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: approved mental health professional, approved social worker, clare allen, good social worker, health, local authority, mental health, social work, work
Support for Alzheimer’s

Tonight, on Dispatches (Channel 4 - 8pm) is going to be looking at support (or rather the lack of support) that is available for people with Alzheimer’s Disease and their families and carers in the UK. The Guardian ran a brief story with Fiona Philips...

Published 12 Jan 2009 6:44 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: Alzheimer, Alzheimer's disease, carer, carers, Channel 4, dementia, dispatches, elderly, fiona philips, health, long-term care, memory clinic, mental health, old age, older people, social care, social work, socialcare, work
Training at the Top

Ed Balls, the Secretary of State for Children has announced a new training package for the Heads of Children’s Services throughout the UK. The Guardian reports that this is to plug the gap of skills as since the creation of the Children’s...

Published 9 Jan 2009 6:59 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: baby p, Child protection, children's services, Ed Balls, Education, Haringey, local government, retraining, social care, social work, United Kingdom, work
Safety and Carbon Monoxide

Carbon Monoxide poisoning has a lot of manifestations, none of them pleasant and some (obviously including but not restricted to death) permanent. The BBC site, linked above, explains some of the symptoms which might be mistaken for something else entirely...

Published 8 Jan 2009 6:54 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: Carbon monoxide, Carbon monoxide detector, CarbonMonoxidePoisoning, confusion, dementia, elderly, mental health, old age, older people, social issues, work
Back to Work

I possibly mentioned it previously but for the record, I was working all the designated ‘working days’ up to and between Christmas and the New Year (so I had three days off, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day). I didn’t...

Published 7 Jan 2009 6:56 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: dementia, mental health, mental health act assessment, psychiatric hospital, work
Method in her Madness

Over the weekend, the Guardian printed an excerpt from a book which is about to be published by an author called Nora Vincent titled ‘Voluntary Madness : My Year Lost and Found in the Loony Bin’. Apart from squirming at the title for a number...

Published 5 Jan 2009 7:20 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: book extract, book review, health, hospital, Medicine, Norah Vincent, patient, poppy shakespeare, psychiatric hospital, voluntary madness, work
Thanks

Much thanks to Mental Nurse who have recognised this blog in their ‘TWIM (This Week in Mentalists)’ Annual Awards! (in the Professional category). I am humbled and frankly a wee bit embarrassed by the honour. Especially when I consider the...

Published 3 Jan 2009 8:56 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: blog, blog awards, mental health, mental nurse, personal, Weblogs
Remembering Suzman

Just a brief note today to pay tribute to Helen Suzman, who died yesterday. Over the past few weeks, I have been generally pondering the nature of politics and particularly those who involve themselves in politics as being something of a closed shop for...

Published 2 Jan 2009 7:04 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: Africa, Helen Suzman, personal, politics, South Africa, South Africa under apartheid

January 2009 - Fighting Monsters

Syndication

Recent Posts

Tags

Archives

Saving Memories

Office Politics

Pratchett, BBC and Infra-red Helmets

Midnight Ramblings

Follow The Sun

Asking for help

Lewy Body Dementia Information

Abuse and Stress

Combating Stigma

Questions

Hail to the Chief

A Call to Arms

Alzheimer’s, Screening and Stigma

Bed Blocking

Positive Influences

Support for Alzheimer’s

Training at the Top

Safety and Carbon Monoxide

Back to Work

Method in her Madness

Thanks

Remembering Suzman