CITY PAROCHIAL FOUNDATION
Raza has drawn up plans and a timeline for the project, embarked on a whirl of meetings and networking events and is planning a series of stakeholder surveys and consultations to set a baseline against which improvements in services and support will be measured.
PMHCWN AT THE ALL PARTY PARLIMENTARY GROUP MEETING ON PARENTAL MENTAL HEALTH AND CHILD WELFARE
On Monday 22 March members of the PMHCWN steering group participated in a meeting at the House of Commons jointly hosted by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Social Care and the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Children.
Amanda Edwards deputy Director of SCIE, spoke about the reasons for the need for guidance to support services around the country. Many children’s and adults’ services are already working together to put the needs of the whole family at the heart of their practice, but they face an uphill struggle for many reasons including a lack of confidence on the part of staff about areas outside their expertise, and an unwillingness to ask for help. As both adult mental health and children’s social care services are areas of high stress and high risk people tend to close down and pass responsibility on to someone else. A key message is to build strengths and resilience in families with one eye on risk, and building workers’ knowledge of mental health behaviours that could present a risk to children.
The crucial context for this is understanding that almost all parents are doing their best to bring up their children, and that simple and practical steps such as explaining to children what is the matter when a parent becomes unwell, helping parents to get their children to school on time, and creative combinations of individual budgets and direct payments can make a difference to parents’ ability to look after their families.
Amanda’s presentation was interspersed with moving clips from Social Care TV, SCIE’s channel, which will be available from June. Louisa from Keeping the family in Mind spoke about the responsibilities she had had to take on as a child when her mum was ill, including feigning her mum’s signature on any number of letters so that she would be taken seriously by services to whom she was largely invisible as a child. Louise Wardale from Barnardos Keeping the Family in Mind and the Merseyside collaborative explained how they had got their ‘think child, think parent, think family’ site up and running including by having senior representation from adults’ and children’s services at all levels of the system. The current set-up has been built on years of background work which crucially involved listening to service users’ views and involving young carers from the outset – this was unifying and motivating for everyone.
A lively discussion ensued with points about the need to have underpinning structures to support the parent-child relationship and how the division between adults’ and children’s services works against this. Work on pushing for a family threshold for services as advocated in the SCIE guidance was welcomed and is reflected in recent DSCF publications including the review of Family Pathfinders.
"THINKING FAMILY: NEW MODELS OF PRACTICE” PMHCWN STUDY DAY 30 APRIL 2010 IN BIRMINGHAM
What does it mean to be a ‘thinking family’? Who are the people and who are the families the current complexity of government initiatives are designed to include? Is ‘thinking family‘a treasure chest or a minefield? PMHCWN’s forthcoming study day will bring together mental health policy leads, adults’ and children’s services practitioners, service users and carers to discuss ways of unlocking the potential of families and what ‘family-focussed' practice might really mean. Crucially this will include recognition of the wide diversity of family structures in England and the interplay of cultural and social factors on relationships within families.
Taking place at Birmingham’s BVSC on Friday 30 April this crucial event will give delegates an unmissable opportunity to hear from and debate with those driving national policy and those supporting children and families across the country.
Kate Billingham, lead for the Department of Health’s Family Nurse Partnerships programme, will present findings from the latest DH evaluation. A programme of workshops on a range of pressing issues will generate discussion, enable delegates to hear about different ways of working and inspire practice.
To view the programme and book your place please visit www.pmhcwn.org.uk
PREVIOUS STUDY DAYS
LIVING WITH PERSONALITY DISORDERS – HOW CAN WE SUPPORT BETTER PARENTING? NOVEMBER 2009
The full report from this thought provoking and interactive study day will be available online from 31st March at www.pmhcwn.org.uk The report includes write-ups of the inspirational sessions run by women and men from around the country who have survived the traumatised childhoods that often lie behind diagnoses of personality disorders and gone on to find creative pathways to better living.
SPN REGIONAL EVENTS
Thursday 27th May - Steve Nash will be discussing the MHNE Personalisation Research Project. The meeting will be at Gateshead Civic Centre from 1.00 pm - 3.00 pm. Please check the board in reception area for room.
Everyone is welcome and please pass this message on to anyone else you feel may be interested. For more information please contact jeaniemolyneux@phonecoop.coop
DCSF
REMINDER - SUPPORT FOR ALL – THE FAMILIES AND RELATIONSHIPS GREEN PAPER
Launched on Wednesday 20 January 2010 and closing on Wednesday 21 April 2010 this Green Paper sets out a wide range of measures to support all families as they bring up their children and to help families cope with times of stress and difficulty.
SPN will be submitting our response to the Green Paper and expressing our concern that they will founder in the current climate of public spending cutbacks.
YORK CONSULTING THINK FAMILY PATHFINDERS – MARCH 2010
York Consulting has just published the first in a series of updates from the Think Family Pathfinders Evaluation. Update includes overview of families the Pathfinders are working with, their needs and levels of risk and emerging evidence of impact.
For more information click here
GOVERNMENT PUBLISHES BUILDING A SAFE AND CONFIDENT FUTURE: IMPLEMENTING THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE SOCIAL WORK TASK FORCE
The government has set out how it plans to transform social work in England.
Children’s social work teams across England will receive £48m in 2010-11 to transform conditions on the frontline.
The funding includes £23m to help reduce pressure on frontline workers, £15m to improve IT systems and £10m to help Cafcass tackle the backlog of cases. Have a look at both of these downloads.
Social Work Task Force Implementation doc
For Sector responses
Sector Welcomes Building a Safe and Confident Future
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
FROM CHILDREN, FAMILIES AND MATERNITY E BULLETIN
Latest e-bulletin includes update on Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) and information regarding age appropriate environment provision for under 18s receiving hospital treatment for mental health problems.
Children Families and Maternity Bulletin
FROM THE EQUALITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS BULLETIN
Latest e-bulletin includes report from Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust on their involvement as one of the 17 Focused Implementation Sites created at the initial stages of the Department of Health's five year Delivering Race Equality Action Plan.
Equality and Human Rights Bulletin
LAW COMMISSION LAUNCHES PROPOSALS FOR ADULT SOCIAL CARE – DEADLINE 01/07/2010
On 24 February the Law Commission launches its consultation to streamline and consolidate adult social care legislation.
Article from Community Care on the proposals.
Law Commission to Draft New Adult Social Care Law.
Summary and comment from players in the social care sector.
Article also from Guardian and comment from David Brindle.
GOVERNMENT PUBLISHES RESPONSES TO NEW HORIZONS CONSULTATION
Over 1000 individuals and organisations responded to last summer’s consultation ‘New Horizons: Towards a shared vision for mental health’.
Click here to see the response.
CONSERVATIVES LAUNCH CHILD PROTECTION: BACK TO THE FRONTLINE POLICY PAPER
Conservatives are proposing that social workers will be able to establish social work practices similar to GPs' surgeries, and failing local authorities may be obliged to contract out all or part of their children's social care provision.
The Conservatives' plans would also see the creation of a national post of chief social worker, the scrapping of the children's database, ContactPoint, and the anonymous publication of all serious case reviews.
OFSTED REPORT FINDS THAT INCONSISTENT MENTAL HEALTH PROVISION IS DISADVANTAGING YOUNG PEOPLE IN CARE – FEBRUARY
Access to child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) is inconsistent for young people in care, with provisions varying from good to none at all, according to Ofsted’s latest report.
GOVERNMENT PUBLISHES RESPONSES TO NEW HORIZONS CONSULTATION
Over 1000 individuals and organisations responded to last summer’s consultation ‘New Horizons: Towards a shared vision for mental health’.
Download the response here
CONSERVATIVES LAUNCH CHILD PROTECTION: BACK TO THE FRONTLINE POLICY PAPER
Conservatives are proposing that social workers will be able to establish social work practices similar to GPs' surgeries, and failing local authorities may be obliged to contract out all or part of their children's social care provision.
The Conservatives' plans would also see the creation of a national post of chief social worker, the scrapping of the children's database, ContactPoint, and the anonymous publication of all serious case reviews.
OFSTED REPORT FINDS THAT INCONSISTENT MENTAL HEALTH PROVISION IS DISADVANTAGING YOUNG PEOPLE IN CARE
Access to child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) is inconsistent for young people in care, with provisions varying from good to none at all, according to Ofsted’s latest report.
SAINSBURY CENTRE’S NEW REPORT BLURRING THE BOUNDARIES – MARCH
Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health’s new report found that health and justice services are working more closely together than ever, but with mixed results for the people who find themselves subject to both of them.
In its coverage of Blurring the Boundaries, the Independent highlighted the amount spent on the DSPD programme, which was set up to treat Britain’s most dangerous offenders, and criticism of the programme’s effectiveness. Click here for the full article.
THE AFIYA TRUST LAUNCHES HEALTH EQUALITY MANIFESTO – MARCH
The Afiya Trust’s new manifesto for BME well-being, Achieving Equality in Health and Social Care: A framework for action shows alarming disparity in health outcomes for BME communities. Patrick Vernon, Chief Executive of The Afiya Trust, said: ‘There is disturbing evidence that health inequalities are getting wider between the general population and BME communities. The findings of our manifesto show that the life expectancy and the quality of life for BME communities in England is a human rights issue. We are dying younger and experiencing long term health conditions and disability. We need to break this vicious cycle so that everyone is treated equally and fairly. This requires a major cultural and leadership shift in mainstream services and government.”
NMHDU PUBLISHES PATHS TO PERSONALISATION: A WHOLE SYSTEM, WHOLE LIFE FRAMEWORK - MARCH 16
Published by the NMHDU Personalisation in Mental Health Programme, this guide has been produced to help all those involved understand how things will need to be done differently to make personalisation a reality for people with mental health needs. Click here< for article.
NMHDU CONFERENCE: BETTER MENTAL HEALTH CARE FOR BLACK AND MINORITY ETHNIC (BME) ELDERS - 29 MARCH LONDON
Better Mental Care for Black and Minority Members
NMHDU CONFERENCE: ETHNICITY AND USE OF THE MENTAL HEALTH ACT - 24 MAY LONDON
Ethnicity and use of the mental health act. More details on NMHDU resources and events can be found www.nmhdu.org.uk.
SCIE LAUNCHES AGE EQUALITY CONSULTATION PAPER
In recognition that ageism is a deep-rooted feature of society in England, including health and social care, SCIE is launching a consultative paper to involve a range of stakeholders, including people using, working in, commissioning and providing care hand support, in co-producing guidance for practice. For further information, see the SCIE website
SCIE/NICE PRODUCE LOOKED-AFTER CHILDREN GUIDANCE
SCIE and NICE have teamed up to produce guidance on the physical and emotional wellbeing of looked-after children which is out for consultation until 14 April. Registered stakeholders for this guidance are invited to comment on the provisional recommendations via the NICE website. The final guidance, due out in the autumn, aims to address these inequalities and improve the outcomes for looked-after children and young people. Looked After Children Guidance.
NEW FILMS ON SCIE SOCIAL CARE TV
Five films looking at the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people who receive social care have been added to Social Care TV.
TIME TO CHANGE ANNOUNCES PLANS FOR 2010
Time to Change, the anti-discrimination campaign has announced that to support the forthcoming burst of activity launching mid April, they will be updating their toolkit and as producing a brand new Campaign in a box that will include everything an organisation needs to run its own local campaign.
Time to Change's Get Moving week takes place 9 to 17October 2010 and aims to involve over 80,000 people in activity events all over England.
To find out more go to the website.
MIND'S OPEN UP PROJECT SEEKS CONTRIBUTORS FOR JUNE 2010 ANTI-DISCRIMINATION CONFERENCE, CHALLENGING DISCRIMINATION TOGETHER
Open Up is asking people with direct experience of mental distress to talk about their experiences of running an anti-discrimination project and share their practical skills to benefit others at the aforementioned conference. The conference is part of Open Up’s work as part of the Time to Change programme
More information and application forms are available for download on the Open Up and Time to Change websites.
Deadline for applications is 4pm on Wednesday 7th April 2010.
NEW HORIZONS CONFERENCE
SPN Executive member Daisy Bogg will be speaking at a Healthcare Events conference on New Horizons on Tuesday 25th May. The confererence is part of the Mental Health 2010 series and will be chaired by Conference chair Ian McPherson Director National Mental Health Development Unit (NMHDU). Download information here.
DATES ANNOUNCED FOR RACE EQUALITY AND CULTURAL CAPABILITY TRAINING FOR TRAINERS OPEN PROGRAMME
PROGRAMME.
INVOLVE CONFERENCE 2010 and call for presentations–see Feb newsletter
TOGETHER HOSTS OUR STORIES EXHIBITION –see Feb newsletter
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