May 2007 Newsletter
AGM’s are necessary rites of passage. They are a mark of accountability to the membership. They chart the progress made in the past year. They offer pointers to the year ahead. They accept the accounts. And mostly they are deeply boring affairs!!
Annual Report and Workplan
SPN’s AGM was a bit different. SPN’s co chairs Judy Foster and Stewart Hendry presented the Annual Report - Stewart in absentia having had a losing argument with a ticket machine at Birmingham New Street. Terry Bamford (Director), Raza Griffiths and Vicky Nicholls (Co-ordinators) then spoke to sections of the report and presented the draft work plan for 2007.
Budget 2006/2007
You can see how SPN spent its resources here. A surplus of around £12000 is carried forward to 2007/8. CSIP/NIMHE has been the major funder of SPN but the changes underway at CSIP/NIMHE create uncertainty for next year.
SPN Recovery Paper
Before, during and after the SPN AGM, Vicky was busy taking notes to inform our brief SPN-owned paper on recovery ("Feeding the Flowers"), which also draws on contributions we received when working on the joint commission and focuses mainly on positive coping strategies. This brief paper will be up on our website by early summer.
"Feeding the Flowers" will be accompanied by views from various service users, carers and practitioners including findings from a focus group to be held this week with black and minority ethnic women who have experienced mental or emotional distress. We think it is important to have space for a diversity of views, and we welcome your views too.
New Members of SPN Executive Committee
The Executive Committee was reinforced by 4 new members- Nick Hervey, Social Care Lead with SLAM, Jeannie Molyneux, Senior Lecturer in Social Work at Northumbria University who also co-ordinates a regional SPN group, Nathaniel Plange, a social worker and trainee barrister and Fran Witherden, who is involved with a variety of projects, including New Ways of Working and CSCI -a splendid blend of academic, managerial, practitioner and user/carer perspectives.
Peter Blackman Presentation
The highlight of the AGM was the presentation by Peter Blackman, Director of the Afiya Trust. Peter spoke powerfully of the impact on slavery on the self-image of the Afro-Caribbean community in the UK and the high levels of mental distress experienced by that community. He drew on his own experiences and argued that an apology would be one means of healing and reconciliation. Peter’s presentation is available here.
Update on Mental Health Bill
Meanwhile the Mental Health Bill is now in Committee in the House of Commons. A list of Committee members is available here. Lobbying the Committee, especially the Labour members, could make the difference on some of the key amendments under discussion in the next two weeks. It’s a strange irony when the House of Lords is a better representative of informed opinion than the Commons! Their amendments deserve to be upheld except the one which neuters the role of the responsible clinician and reasserts the primacy of the medical profession!
New Ways of Working
The report Mental Health: New ways of Working for everyone was published. It sets an important agenda for social care in mental health.
GSCC Led Consultation
In the wider social care world the two important events have been the debate about the GSCC led consultation on the role and tasks of social workers and the Government’s five point plan for social care announced by Ivan Lewis, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Care services including SocialCare21- a Skills Academy for social care leadership.
SPN Website
The SPN website has had its highest ever number of visitors in the last 3 months. Please let us know what you like and don’t like about the website. It’s the only way we will be able to meet your needs.
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