NSUN news

Members Blogs

Two experts by experience reflect on their role as Community Navigators - Jackie Hardy and Anjie Chhapia have been involved in a project aiming at reducing loneliness

Dad your cruel criticisms still haunt me - a woman writes an open letter to her father

Call for blogging contributors

Share experiences, suggestions and opinions with e-bulletin readers, website visitors and social media friends. To get an idea of the variety of topics and points of view, please visit our blogs section. To send a blog, please email the editor.

Are you a Londoner who has been detained under section 136 or attended A&E in a mental health crisis?

Are you willing to share your experience, in the strictest confidence, for this study?

NSUN AGM and members' event and Shaping Our Lives report launch

Over 100 people attended this years event in June. We were also pleased to join forces with Shaping Our Lives for the launch of the report From Mental Illness to a Social Model of Madness and Distress.

Members generously took part in the Soap Boxes, sharing their experiences, initiatives and concerns. You can view some of the films here. This was followed by a rich debate in the afternoon. The full report can be downloaded here.

Previously shared information available online

Please visit our website to find members projects, involvement opportunities, jobs and events we shared in previous e-bulletins. This includes our guides to support involvement in reducing the use of restraint in mental health settings.

Professor Diana Rose receives Wellcome Investigator Award

Along with an array of six outstanding international collaborators, Diana Rose, the first and only Professor in User-Led Research in the world, has received a grant which will fund a pioneering project.

Bringing together for the first time the different elements of user-led research, and going beyond the current highly influential ‘patient and public involvement (PPI) in research’ model, the three-years-long project will explore other approaches in the UK and abroad.

Professor Rose said: ‘This is my dream project. Nearly 30 years ago, I was involved in one of the first ever pieces of user-led research carried out by my local user group. So much has happened in the intervening years and this programme of work seeks to capture and conceptualise all these developments across the globe. It is a very exciting time although not always easy work to do. I hope this will be my legacy and of use to the new generation that is pushing forward the boundaries of user-led research today and in the future.’

Read more here

Congratulations to Diana Rose, Andrew Roberts (Chair of the Survivors History Group) Til Wykes (champion of the English tradition) Sergio Carvahlo (specialist in collective health from Brazil) Jayasree Kalathil, (researcher of Indian origin who has written on racialisation in psychiatry and is critical of the Global Mental Health research agenda) Peter Beresford (who specialises in cross-disability issues and new forms of welfare provision) and Sarah Gordon (service user researcher from New Zealand working on coercion).

How well is the Government upholding your Human Rights?

This is your opportunity to have a say on disabled people's rights under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

In 2017 the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities will examine how well the UK government, including the devolved jurisdictions in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, is doing at promoting, protecting and ensuring disabled people’s human rights.

The Committee needs help to carry out this task and is seeking evidence and insight from disabled people and their organisations in the UK. 

For more information and how to participate, please visit this page

Related blog by George Szmukler on co-ercion, rights and mental health - on which comments are welcome - see https://disabilityrightsuk.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/mental-health-disabilities-and-will-and.html.

Inquest opens into the death of a 15 year old in mental health detention

Before HM Coroner Selena Lynch,South London Coroners Court, Sitting at Bromley Civic Centre, Stockwell Close, Bromley BR1 3UH.

Christopher Brennan died at Bethlem Hospital on 31 August 2014. He was 15 years old and had been admitted to hospital as a voluntary patient 6 weeks earlier following several incidents of self harming.

Christopher Brennan is one of at least 12 child deaths of mental health in-patients INQUEST has identified over the period 2010 to 2014 through its casework.

Read more here

Crisis Care Concordat National Summit

The Crisis Care Concordat National Summit is a full day programme celebrating progress, innovation, and improving practice since the launch of the Concordat in February 2014. In 2014 and 2015 the day brought together 200+ national and local leaders from across health, policing, social care, local government and the voluntary and community sectors, and people who use services and carers.

This year the focus will be on what more we can all do to maintain the momentum and ensure that anyone who experiences mental health crisis receive appropriate, timely and urgent care and support, irrespective of where they are in the country, or which service they turn to first.

• Tuesday 25 October 2016, Registration and refreshments from 9.30 am, Programme 10 am – 4.30 pm
• The England Suite, The Kia Oval, Surrey County Cricket Club, Kennington, London, SE11 5SS

Places are limited, so please register online as soon as possible.

NSUN members offered free places and discounts 

1.Three free places on 'Psychosis and Schizophrenia in Adults' conference

The event: Psychosis & Schizophrenia in Adults conference on Friday 30 September 2016 in London

Quote ref: hcuk00nsun when booking online or emailing jayne@hc-uk.org.uk
FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED

2. 20 % discount on any other HCUK mental health themed event

The offers concerns events listed here. The 20% discount is available by quoting ref: HCUK20NSUN  when booking.(*Cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer.  Full T&Cs available upon request.)

BPD awareness workshops in Derbyshire

Borderline Arts offer a Certificate in Professional Development for those who want to gain an understanding of BPD.

The Creative Educational Workshops ( run with Derbyshire Mind) raise awareness and reduce stigma surrounding Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). The workshops are interactive and engaging. The organisers try to include a facilitator who has a diagnosis of BPD for genuine feedback and Service User expertise.

As the workhops are set up on a flexible basis, please get in touch with Borderline Arts if you feel your Team/Staff Group/yourself could benefit from this unique training. Borderline Arts are the only Charity in the UK who offer BPD specific training.

Email: contact@borderlinearts.org

Address: 119 Osmaston Road, Derby,  DE1 2GD

Cost:  Waged: £75 /  Unwaged: £25

Mental Health Matters Sunderland seek Development Worker

MHM Mental Health User Voice services promote service user involvement and social inclusion.

An opportunity is available in MHM’s Sunderland Mental Health User Voice service for a Development Worker who can demonstrate proven experience of service user involvement and development work. To fulfil this role you will have experience of engaging people who have a range of mental health needs. You will also have a good knowledge of mental health service provision across the voluntary and statutory sectors.

• Location : Sunderland
• Closing date : 25/09/2016
• Salary : £22,221 per annum, pro rata
• Employment type : Permanent / 30 hours per week
• More information and how to apply: please click here

For an informal discussion about the post, please contact Mish Loraine on 07810 657292

Metropolitan Police seek critical friends

The Metropolitan Police Mental Health Team have organised a meeting of partners, independent advisors, carers and people who access mental health services to assist in increasing the competence and capabilities of the MPS in all matter of its mental health delivery service.
The Mental Health Consultative Forum does not have an audit role. Each member brings a unique set of skills and knowledge which will contribute to improvements to service delivery with the consequent aim of increasing the confidence of communities across London.

There is a maximum of 15 forum members. The group meets three times a year and also reacts to communications circulated between meetings.

For more information, please download the PDF provided by the Metropolitan Police

Have you had, or care for someone with, cancer and experience of mental ill health? Share your story!

Macmillan Cancer Support is working to gather personal stories from people living with, or caring for someone with both mental health problems and cancer.

Cancer affects nearly 1 in 2 people during their lifetime, and mental health/emotional wellbeing problems affect 1 in 4 adults during any one year, so there will be lots of people out there with this dual lived experience.

Macmillan’s Mental Health and Cancer Taskforce aims to better understand the needs and ideas for change of people affected by both cancer and mental health problems. The overall aims are to

• Improve and innovate services, through input of and creative collaboration between experts by experience, Macmillan staff and health professionals
• Build evidence of the need for better integration of mental and physical health care
• Raise awareness and influence nationally on these issues

Interested? MacMillan are looking for people who

• have lived experience of mental health problems and cancer, either living with both themselves, or caring for/having cared for someone who has both themselves
• are happy to share their story via telephone or email, with a view to improving things for others with mental health problems and cancer in the future
• would be willing to share their story via interview or e-mail

For more information and a contact email please take a look here

Mental health research among the projects to be funded by £816 million investment in NHS research

Leading NHS clinicians and universities will benefit from new world class facilities and support services built by the 5-year funding package totalling £816 million – the largest ever investment into health research.

Mental health research will see funding increase to nearly £70 million, dementia to over £45 million, deafness and hearing problems will receive over £15 million and antimicrobial resistance research rises to around £45 million.

The full news article is available here