Easter 2007 Newsletter
This newsletter comes to you at a time where we must at least bear witness to the continuing suffering amongst people affected either directly or indirectly over generations, by slavery and its legacies, in all its forms. For those amongst us who have a Christian faith, it also comes at a time when we remember how Christ urged us to love one another.
Whether or not we share a faith, what we can share is the vital message that what the world needs more of is love. We may not be able to make up for all the damage that has been caused by the past, but we can try and heal the present and future.
Parental Mental Health and Child Welfare Network
The continuing suffering from Black African and Caribbean communities is inescapable, and SPN feels privileged to be picking up coordination of the Parental Mental Health and Child Welfare Network where working to support and encourage good practice in working with parents with mental health problems in the context of their families, capacity as parents and broader social and political factors, will be one of our priorities. The next steering group of the network will be on 18th April after which we will be sharing details of our plans for the next year.
Treatment of Asylum Seekers
The pushing out of groups and individuals whose needs society finds it too discomfiting to grapple with is shameful. Witness the continuing abhorrent treatment of many asylum seekers detained in centres around the country from where their voices cry out for liberty and justice. (SPN Paper 10) As Barnardos takes on campaigning for the rights of twenty families threatened with deportation where one or more family members is HIV positive and in danger of imminent death if returned to their countries of origin, these are issues we can no longer afford to turn away from.
Mind Conference 2007 Bournemouth
You can read all about the Mind Conference in Raza's article. Sunny Bournemouth was on its best form, unlike the SPN Director who discovered in the taxi from the station that he had left his wallet and credit cards behind in London and rushed in to the conference Centre to borrow the taxi fare from the first person he knew. Add to that the food running out at the dinner and a 40 minute wait at the bar for a drink, and stress levels were high! As must those have been of Paul Farmer, Minds Chief Executive, as his timetable collapsed with the comings and goings of MPs geared to the Casino vote.
Mental Health Bill
The Mental Health Bill played a prominent part in the discussion, both formal and informal at the Conference. The publication of international experience of using community treatment orders shows little conclusive evidence for the measure. The Executive Summary can be found here.
Kwame McKenzie spoke about the Bill at the Conference. His powerful article in Guardian Society on being black in Britain is worth reading, but also read the range of responses which it generated. SPN Executive Member Peter Ferns comments on the article on the SPN website. Please send any comments you may have to us at SPN
GSCC Roles and Tasks Consultation
The work undertaken by GSCC on the roles and tasks of social workers has let to a consultation paper. A presentation by Owen Davies setting out the background to the review can be found here, and the full paper is on the GSCC website. It is important that the Consultation is extensive. The review's comments on multi-disciplinary working and where social work is the appropriate discipline are especially relevant to the mental health context.
SPN AGM
SPN is preparing for it's AGM on 26th April 2007 at the Kings Fund. We will be putting up a draft workplan on this site on 13th April so that members unable to attend the AGM can feed in their comments on priorities.
Transition
It is going to be a year of transition for CSIP/NIMHE as budget cuts restrict its activities and senior staff are in transitional roles. SPN has also been affected and our grant for 2007/8 cut by 20% from its 2005/6 level. Doing more with less is a recurrent theme in social care so we are in good company but inevitably it means that we will need to look hard at our priorities. More on that next time after the AGM!
Home | Privacy policy | Terms and conditions | Printer friendly
Site built by Net Efficiency Ltd