SPN Newsletter July 2009

Apologies for the long gap since our last newsletter. It’s been a very busy time and a time of change for SPN.

SPN Move

The move to the second floor of Goldings House above the SCIE office has caused us major difficulties. We are grateful for the accommodation and rejoice in views of Tower Bridge and HMS Belfast but the smooth running systems operating in the SCIE office have fallen apart. The telephones did not work for a while. We were unable to update the website from SPN and had to rely on help from SCIE. And the computer system does not allow us to do many of the things we could formerly do at the press of a button.

Jean leaves

And to add to our woes Jean Healy decided at the end of April to move to work for SCIE so we have lost a lot of our expertise and technical skill although thankfully Jean is still around a floor below to guide and steer us. So if phone calls and emails have gone unanswered ,or our response has been slow, our profuse apologies. Things are getting better…. Slowly.

Personalisation Workshops

Now to the good news. We have been working flat out running 5 workshops for the Government Office for London and Commissioning Support for London aka CSIP London aka London Development Centre!! The workshops have been on personalisation in mental health and we are hoping to build on this work in London and the regions. We have also received our first grant from City Parochial Foundation. The grant is £22000 pa for 2 years and is designed to strengthen community capacity in London.

The Way Forward

What SPN will be doing is working with user groups in London on campaigns. SPN’s expertise in using the media, in surveys and research will be available to help local groups. The links established with user groups through the personalisation workshops will be invaluable. As a first step SPN will be meeting with Rethink, Together and Mind to discuss how we can work together most effectively.

Assessment and planning is the key to personalisation

The only way of maintaining a drive towards personalisation is to first improve the standards of assessment and planning in Mental Health towards a more holistic approach, says SPN Executive Committee member Peter Ferns. Read article

David's Journey

A person with alcohol and mental health issues talks about his positive and negative experiences of services and support.

Open Up calls for creative ideas to challenge stigma

The Open Up project is offering funding and support for service users who want to develop proposals that will challenge stigma and discrimination around mental health issues.

Trustees Meeting

Finally the Trustees met the day after news of the grant and are working up the staffing structure needed to enable SPN to meet its new responsibilities. But the dark financial clouds have rolled away at least for a while and we can plan realistically.

Have a good summer

From all at SPN.

If you have been affected by any of the articles, or would like to know more, please contact us

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