Emma + Kaori + Tom + Salman + Korea + gardening + thank you EHRC + stopping ECT +
A community-powered NHS: making prevention a reality
Healthy foundations: integrating housing as part of the mental health pathway
community land trust – housing affordable
Learning from other countries – energy
NHS paying £2bn a year to private hospitals for mental health patients
We could do so much with that money – Wendy
Inquiry investigates deaths of 1,500 NHS mental health patients in Essex
Not just Essex? - Wendy
“Where we are born into privilege, we are charged with dismantling any myth of supremacy.
Where we are born into struggle, we are charged with reclaiming our dignity, joy and liberation.”
“Solidarity does not assume that our struggles are the same struggles, or that our pain is the same pain, or that our hope is for the same future.
Solidarity requires commitment, and work, as well as the recognition that even if we do not have the same feelings, or the same lives, or the same bodies, we do live on common ground”
Can randomly selected citizens govern better than elected officials?
The law in 60 seconds – legal aid for inquests video
Hillsborough law – duty of candour -would this help with our Freedom of information requests?
Cannabis, ketamine and speed to be decriminalised in London by Sadiq Khan
A shorter working week for Europe
Children imprisoned on remand – the stark reality of racial bias
Combatting Structural Racism and Classism in Psychiatry: An Interview with Helena Hansen
Suman Fernando’s book Institutional racism in psychiatry + clinical psychology
Mental Health Act reform: race and ethnic inequalities
How Western Psychology Can Rip Indigenous Families Apart: An Interview with Elisa Lacerda-Vandenborn
People deprived of liberty due to misapplication of Mental Health + Capacity Acts
As a result of the Bournewood case the Mental capacity act came into being?
The mental capacity act
Assume capacity
Best interest
Least restrictive
People can make what others would consider unwise decisions
Supported decision making
Capacity can easily be assessed
Can someone make a decision?
Can they communicate the decision (not necessarily verbally)?
Can they remember the decision?
-Wendy-
Restraint, segregation and seclusion review: progress report
Half of people with a learning disability and autistic people reluctant to provide feedback on care
The authority gap: why women still aren’t taken seriously
Women disproportionately affected by soaring Mental Health Act detentions
Report Finds Monitoring of Electroshock Treatment Unsafe
New Study Finds ECT Ineffective for Reducing Suicide Risk
We can STOP ECT with lasting power of attorney?
Provide Tapering Strips for People Who Want to Withdraw Safely from Psychotropic Drugs
NICE Guideline Update Acknowledges Severe Antidepressant Withdrawal
NHS statistics show continuing rise in antidepressant prescribing
Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression – and the Unexpected Solutions
Long-term antipsychotic use linked to breast cancer
Government review finds 10% of drugs dispensed in England are pointless
Sedated, How Modern Capitalism Created our Mental Health Crisis - James Davies +
CRACKED – why psychiatry is doing more harm than good
Coronavirus and depression in adults, Great Britain: January to March 2021
“Almost 4 in 10 adults earning less than £10,000 a year experienced depressive symptom compared with around 1 in 10 earning £50,000 or more”
The data shows what we know to be true: struggling with your mental health doesn’t happen in a vacuum.
Why not Diagnose Social Conditions Instead of Individual Symptoms?
The WHO Calls for Radical Change in Global Mental Health
Emotional CPR: Heart-Centered Peer Support
How do we pay for a basic income?
Welsh basic income pilot has been published
In a statement from Jane Hutt, Minister for Social Justice
The pilot will be targeted at care leavers
All young people leaving care that turn 18 over a 12-month period starting this summer will be invited to participate
That is expected to be about 500 people
Participants will receive the payments for 24 months starting from the month after their 18th birthday
A £1,600 a month basic income will be paid each month
Twickenham repair cafe – 3rd Saturday of each month 10:30 to 13:30
Institute of Mental Health International conference – 21 September
£1 Concession Tickets for Kew Gardens
As part of their new 10-year strategy, Kew Gardens is committed to ensuring that cost is not a barrier to accessing their gardens in both Kew and Wakehurst.
They have introduced a new admission price of £1 for anyone on Universal Credit, Pension Credit or Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).
Visitors just need to present proof of their benefit on arrival to be eligible for the new concessionary ticket
Your gardening update from the RHS
A Trinity Buoy Wharf walking tour, an exhibition at Greenwich Yacht Club
Earth Overshoot Day: the record no one wants to break
Coffee that protects the environment
Swift or hobby, slow worm or snake? Your August guide
Foraging finds for August and available courses
Getting stuck in to Grow Your Own
London Photo Festival & Gallery: July 2022 News
Your gardening update from the RHS
Your Grow Your Own news for August
Hope and help after UK wildfires
Mass choirs galore and more at Totally Thames 2022
Community based organisations + community recommended organisations
Shield Developments and Actions You Can Take to Help Find and #FreeDavid
Letter from Ron Bassman, Executive Director of MindFreedom International – 23 July 2022
Dear Psychiatric Survivors, Advocates & Friends
I write this letter of resignation today knowing full well that there is a great deal more work that needs to be done.
I hope that my tenure as executive director of MindFreedom International has been meaningful and has laid the groundwork for future advances of the work and vision begun by the amazing David Oaks and my good friend and Board president, the extraordinary Celia Brown.
I wish also to acknowledge the selfless dedicated work and support of our office staff, Sarah Smith, and Kelli Williamson.
During my time as E.D.
I have had the honor and privilege of meeting and making new friends, initiating new programs and addressing the many rights violations coming into our Shield program.
I am most proud that we have made substantial progress in establishing cross-disability alliances.
56 years ago, I was involuntarily hospitalized and labelled with a diagnosis of schizophrenia.
The horrendous treatments I was subjected to over the next 6 months – 40 insulin comas coupled with electroshock – resulted in the almost complete loss of my memory, along with being deprived of my personal agency.
The ensuing journey of transformation centered around a vow to myself to not only recover but to do whatever I could to prevent others from being forced to undergo similar harmful “for your own good” interventions that masquerade as treatments.
Although I will not be representing MFI, I will continue to actively engage in the programs in which I think I can make a positive contribution.
I strongly believe that those of us who have been doing this work for a long time need to inform and help mentor a diverse group of young and BIPOC people to take on leadership roles.
I have been most fortunate and grateful to collaborate with many talented, compassionate, dedicated people who bravely fight to protect our rights while ignoring the risk and personal cost of speaking truth to power.
My last day of work as Executive Director of MindFreedom International will be at our Board of Directors meeting on August 18, 2022.
I appreciate all of you and I hope that MFI continues to expand its important work in activating a Nonviolent Revolution of freedom, equality, truth and human rights that unites people affected by the mental health system with movements for justice everywhere.
Create, Debate and Imagine a different local democracy
CITIZENS: Why the key to fixing everything is all of us
F.E.E.L. - Friends of East End Loonies
A Caring Mind | A blog for carers of mental health
Poverty eradication organisations + self-expression
The Community Power Act in full!
Joseph Rowntree foundation (JRF)
7 September – another world is possible
Stark rise in people living in very deep poverty
From disability to destitution
Social justice in a digital age
Making a house a home: Why policy must focus on the ownership and distribution of housing
Why the Chancellor shouldn't cut Universal Credit
Including Economic (in)justice explainer video – A redesigned economy
Why we need a new conversation about social security
A Minimum Income Standard for the United Kingdom in 2021
The biggest overnight cut to the basic rate of social security since the Second World War
People living in social housing claiming Universal Credit are struggling to afford the essentials
Why we must #KeepTheLifeline and what you can do to help
House prices see their biggest annual rise in decades, and rents are up too
New analysis exposes impact of planned Universal Credit cut
"The Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, you must Keep the Lifeline"
Rashford targets a win on Universal Credit
what's causing structural racism in housing?
it's going to be a “very difficult winter” for low-income families
less than a week for the Government to #KeepTheLifeline
Biggest ever overnight cut to social security makes a mockery of levelling up
Invest in social housing for almost 1 million families paying private rents they can't afford
Millions of low-income households pulled under by arrears while living costs rise
A tale of two Budgets for low-income families
A just transition to net zero is necessary, and key for maintaining public support
Paving the way for good jobs through participatory co-design
Including Navigating power dynamics within participatory projects + Where next for social security after recent Universal Credit announcements?
Winning hearts and minds for decent, affordable housing
Families furthest below the minimum income standard excluded from social security gains
Inflation is pushing people deeper into poverty
Including housing ideas
Elections Bill could disenfranchise millions of voters
600,000 people pulled into poverty by Spring Statement
JRF welcomes Chancellor's cost of living measures
addressing poverty with lived experience (APLE)
Allow all people to work flexibly if they want to – PETITION
Sign the petition: We need an emergency budget that boosts Universal Credit now
Ending the need for food banks. Can we count on you?
Record 2.5 million food bank parcels given to people in crisis in the past year
95% of people referred to food banks in our network are living in destitution – CONTACT YOUR MP
Have you personally needed a food bank or experienced poverty?
Are you ready to support us to Keep the Lifeline? – EMAIL MP
Here is why we are calling on the UK government to #KeeptheLifeline!
Why the design of Universal Credit is driving the need for food banks
Urge your MP to write to the Chancellor ahead of the Spring Statement
Thank you for standing with us
Over 2.1m food parcels have been given to people facing hardship
Some relief for people on the lowest incomes
No one should have to roll the dice on their lives
Ask your MP to call for a stronger social security system
Paying your energy bills: help is at hand
A Marshall Plan for People and Planet Starts with Africa’s Green Recovery
Communities in Africa trek for weeks to survive drought
National Survivors User Network (NSUN)
NSUN is a great organisation with a great newsletter …
You can sign up to it here ….
NSUN's strategic direction: redistributing power and resource in mental health
NSUN also has a directory page here
Extracts from the newsletters …
Blog by Akiko Hart via NSUN
resourcing user-led work
Blog by Ruairi White via NSUN
state violence + distress – the false separation between migrant justice + mental health
Blog by Rose Ziaei via NSUN
beyond serotonin – I will see you there
Blog by Heather Cobb via NSUN
trauma leads to trauma that leads to trauma
Blog by Emma via Self Injury Support
episode 3 – Saartje Tack + the “where” from which suicide is read
Podcast by The Suicide Cultures Podcast
why health inequalities need to be addressed for the specific community
Blog by Sukhjeen Kaur via Shaping Our Lives
dear mental health professionals- even “good” formulations can harm
Blog by Wren Aves via Psychiatry is Driving Me Mad
trauma-informed care left me more traumatised than ever
Blog by Wren Aves via Psychiatry is Driving Me Mad
Paper by Hartley et al., 2022 via The Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health
the police failed my cousin – Gaia Pope – 5 years on, others like her are still at risk
Article by Marienna Pope-Weidemann via The Guardian
Secret reviews into DWP deaths more than double in three years
Article by John Pring via Disability News Service
Barriers to Mental Health Support for People of Colour and Migrants
Article by Micha Frazer-Carroll via NSUN
Disabled activists will push for changes to draft mental health bill that - breaches right
DWP dismisses 300 pages of evidence linking its actions with countless deaths
Article by John Pring via Disability News Service
help us document evidence of welfare – related death
Reimagining Safety Beyond Safeguarding
Blog by Ruairi White via NSUN
Working together against faux-production
Blog via Co-Production Collective
Barriers to Mental Health Support for People of Colour and Migrants
Article by Micha Frazer-Carroll via NSUN
What researching the benefits system has taught us about being trauma informed when people encounter traumatising systems
Article with illustrations by Louise Page via Disability Arts Online
Mental Health and the Politics of Exhaustion in the UK Asylum Process
Blog post by Tianne Haggar via University of Oxford's Border Criminologies
less Than 2% Episode 3: Beyond Trauma
Podcast by Chayn via Less Than 2% ft. NSUN's Ruairi White
Pink Gin in the Street - Derren Brown and the Corona Virus #10
Blog by Jennifer Reese via MadCovid
New podcast – lived experience work: anti-racism & mental health
E158 Rianna Walcott: The Colour of Madness
Podcast by Surviving Society
Community accountability peer support hub (CASH)
Are you in groups that are trying to move away from punishment as a way of dealing with problems in society?
Do you think that it’s important for your group to deal with harms that happen to people within the group?
It can feel easier to hope for a neat solution, in the form of a person or people, who can parachute into a situation and 'fix' it for us.
While this might be understandable — this stuff is hard! — this treats community accountability like a service that can be provided for us rather than community-led and community-created processes or a set of shared values and practices that we build together.
Join us to talk about the impetus to “outsource” community accountability work, why this should be resisted, and how we all can integrate community accountability into our everyday organising.
MIND should include side effects in their research surveys - PETITION
17 + 24 + 31 August + 7 September
by 15 August
alternative support resource list – Asylum
Take part in research to improve care for women with mental health conditions
contact ccolegate1@sheffield.ac.uk
service user recruitment: PhD project on providing more holistic care
contact elizabeth.tuudah@kcl.ac.uk
rainbow of promise: Poetry book
Call to action – catalyst 4 change
Unpicking the complex dynamics of racism, anti-Blackness and class within mental health services
Article by Mental Health Today via LinkedIn ft. Mary Sadid from NSUN
Obituary by Mark Brown via The Guardian
The Communication and Restraint Reduction Study
Blog by Colin King via NSUN
Why don’t they ask us? The role of communities in levelling up – Institute for Community Studies
Provide Tapering Strips for People Who Want to Withdraw Safely from Psychotropic Drugs
NICE Guideline Update Acknowledges Severe Antidepressant Withdrawal
Petition to Scrap Care Charges Inclusion London
Coronavirus and depression in adults, Great Britain: January to March 2021
“Almost 4 in 10 adults earning less than £10,000 a year experienced depressive symptom compared with around 1 in 10 earning £50,000 or more”
The data shows what we know to be true: struggling with your mental health doesn’t happen in a vacuum.
The state of disability benefit assessments and the urgent need for reform - #peoplebefore process
Guidance on community mental health services: Promoting person-centred and rights-based approaches
World Health Organisation (WHO) – NSUN’s response
Lived Experience Practioners Revolution - New Website
UNIVERSAL CREDIT: WHAT NEEDS TO CHANGE TO MAKE IT FIT FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES?
Mental Health Act: Call for "unequivocal commitment " to improve access to advocacy
Disability Benefits Research 2021 – Survey
Update on FOI Requests: Who's Ballin' & Who's Stallin?
To Solve Britain’s Mental Health Crisis, We Must Fundamentally Change Society
Article by Mark Brown via Novara Media – Listen to the piece here
Blog by Akiko hart via Charity so White
Blog by Ellie Thompson via NSUN
Refugee and Migrant Wellbeing with Benny Hunter from Da'aro Youth
Podcast with Benny Hunter via The Eriwellbeing Podcast
Article by Yas Necati via gal-dem
NHS trusts criticised over system that films mental health patients in their bedrooms
Article by David Batty via The Guardian
Abolition of State Power, Regardless of the Uniform
Article by Liv Wynter & Ros B via NSUN
How I learnt of Revolutionary Love
Article by Guppi Kaur Bola via Medium
Graceful resolve: Attitudes for navigating a psychological crisis
Article by Amy Pollard via Centre for Mental Health
Blog by MiserySquid via Mad Covid
Podcast with Rai Waddingham via Mad Tunes Podcast
Disability strategy is unlawful, court confirms… and denies DWP permission to appeal
Article by John Pring via Disability News Service
Sometimes I want to be unreasonable
Blog via Mad Covid
My ADHD diagnosis isn’t ‘wrong’ and it isn’t an ‘identity’ for you to challenge
Blog by RoseAnnieFlo via Animated and Excitable
Free advice – for upholding adults' Health and Care Act rights
Loneliness – themed photo project on show in Wakefield
Article via Amateur Photographer
Secret DWP report reveals unmet needs of disability benefit claimants
Article by John Pring via Disability News Service
A Philosophy of Madness’ Book Forum: Part One
Book review by Jeremy Spandler via The Polyphony
tokenistic “service user” involvement must be addressed
Article by John Pring via Disability News Service
Caught in a Trap: Psychiatric Sabotage
Article by Liam Kirk via Asylum Magazine
Magical thinking and moral injury: exclusion culture in psychiatry
Follow-up blog by Dr Chloe Beale & Ellen Thomas via Cambridge Core Blog
Article by Jenni Ajderian via Recovery in the Bin
New concerns over equality watchdog as it scraps disability committee
Article by John Pring via Disability News Service
Write to your MP to fix the cost of living
Willful Subjects*: Decolonizing the Psychiatric Institution
Panel discussion viaBarnard Center for Research on Women
Government bows to pressure over accessible versions of Human Rights Act consultation
Article by John Pring via Disability News Service
Report: We're just numbers to them – The DWP failure to investigate death and serious harm
Write to your MP to fix the cost of living – turn2us
Understanding Why Using The 'Real Men..' Approach In Men's Mental Health Is Harmful
NHS trust to stop filming mental health patients in their bedrooms
What is trauma and how do we decide to disclose or not disclose?
DWP: deaths, cover ups, and a toxic 30 year legacy – an investigation
Article via Disability News Service – based on evidence compiled by John Pring and the Deaths by Welfare project
Do you know of any groups, networks or individuals who do hospital visits for people on mental health wards?
If you know of anyone, or have any thoughts on this as an idea, please contact Wendy at wmicklewright@yahoo.co.uk with details (including whether the people you know of are region-/hospital-specific).
Please also copy in info@nsun.org.uk if you wish.
Many thanks
Mental Health Act young people's survey
Help disabled people survive surging energy bills – WRITE TO MP
+ Jobs + Funding + MUCH MUCH MORE
Build Back Fairer in Greater Manchester: Health Equity and Dignified Lives
Survivor Researcher Network (SRN)
Tell your MP to restore Disabled people’s rights
Protect Everyone Bill – EMAIL MP
Take Action and abolish the tax on disability – EMAIL MP
Government rule changes on social care cap hits poorest hardest – EMAIL MP
UNCRDP Westminster Government civil society shadow report sign up
URGENT – Email your MP to help avoid catastrophic care costs
Help Disabled people survive the cost of living crisis – write to your MP
Opportunities for user-led organisations
Tickboxes and tokenism? Our new report
New guides for Disabled people and social workers
Seven essentials for effective involvement – new blog
Can you help us with a new project on social care?
Opportunities in film and TV, new poetry, lots of art!
Living with ME, Trans Aid Cymru raffle, funding and jobs
Art groups, a Deaf festival, and inclusivity in heavy metal
Z2K – fighting poverty – EMAIL MP
Z2K has caseworker to help people
We need your help
Nearly half of all people in poverty in the UK are either disabled themselves or live with someone who is disabled
EDM 19 disability benefits assessments – CONTACT MP
Homelessness + renter organisations
New guidance for housing management teams
Housing First England Newsletter – New Survey Alert
Housing First England Newsletter – Minister responds to funding request
Housing First England Newsletter – Join our call for a national Housing First programme
Housing First England Newsletter – Commissioning Housing First through RSI budgets
including setting out core milestones along someone’s Housing First journey
Here’s the statistics:
24% of private renters have had to borrow money to pay their rent
18% have cut back on food or skipped meals to pay their rent
12% have cut back on heating their home to pay their rent
Our research shows the true scale of the problem.
That 3.2 million people from across the country have been forced to live in dangerous or unhealthy privately rented homes because they fear complaining will trigger a retaliatory eviction.
That's 39% of all private renters.
Too scared to complain for fear of losing their home, the effects of insecure tenancies and 'no-fault' Section 21 evictions hang over every renter's head.
Contact your MP today asking for their support
Social Housing – CONTACT YOUR MP
Time to open up, OpenRent! – EMAIL
2,688 sleeping rough during the pandemic
Sign to protect renters’ rights – PETITION
Do you have a renting horror story?
Want to challenge DSS Discrimination?
Eviction ban lifted – INFORMATION
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH: Demand better from renting - PETITION
Meet Krystalrose – she's fighting for change
Shelter’s new campaigns and organising training programme – YOUR IDEAS NEEDED
Today, 1 in every 52 Londoners is living in temporary accommodation.
This is costing huge amounts of money and doesn’t provide the stability or security families need to thrive.
I'm done with renting because…
Let’s build a better future: Call on the government to build social housing - PETITION
What happened to ‘Everyone In’?
23% left without any move on accommodation and may be at risk of returning to the streets or forced to turn to insecure arrangements like sofa surfing 22% remain in emergency accommodation
23% of those still in emergency accommodation have No Recourse to Public Funds and are stuck without access to homelessness assistance or housing benefit, meaning it is hard for them to move on to a secure home
45% of England’s private renting adults – that's 3.7 million people – have been the victim of illegal behaviour from a landlord or letting agent.
Michael Gove: New Housing Secretary of State – SIGN OPEN LETTER
Fix renting
Build social housing
Help people at risk of sleeping rough
Are letting agents refusing you for being on benefits?
Next step contact the property ombudsman (TPO)
Will you help us get council leaders to support renters?
London Assembly Unanimously Passes Motion on Affordable Housing for Care and Support Workers
A good Home is a human right
Level Up Housing
On the 2nd Feb 2022, the government released its plans to ‘level up’ the country.
It included three very important announcements on housing:
Build more genuinely affordable social homes ✔
Give tenants of social homes more protection ✔
Bring forward a national landlord registry, improve standards in privately rented homes and strengthen the rights of renters ✔
Gove ‘ashamed’ of Social Housing conditions
I’m being evicted – EMAIL MINISTER
octopi have three hearts and produce their own ink yet humans call octopi violent for throwing seashells underwater!
humans also medicate confined creatures for 'zoochosis' - that antipsychotic medication first tested on animals gave us our 2 heart-attacks as 'side-effects'.
bleak humour is proven to aid survival. heartfelt is about reframing narratives & learning to grow. a game of competitive empathy will be played; psychiatry will be reduced to firewood; edible-love-poetry will be offered to all.
have a heart, & come watch this wildly inventive disability-led solo theatre show!
Don't leave young people out on the streets – PETITION
Summer fete – 21 August – 1pm to 9pm – FREE
Pelican House
144 Cambridge Heath Road
London
E1 5QJ
We beat my landlord. Now let’s take on the system.
Be a part of challenging 'Right to Rent' in court
Contact rowan@leighday.co.uk
We're campaigning to make sure councils #SideWithRenters
increasing regulation of landlords, expanding landlord licensing and hiring more enforcement officers
reducing attempts to move people out of the borough and reducing use of “intentional homelessness” decisions
campaigning for rent controls
setting stronger targets on social housing and standing up to developers
Evicted after 47 years – PETITION
Safe, secure and affordable homes for all: A renters’ blueprint for reform
The White Paper: Generation Rent's Verdict
CAMPAIGN UPDATE: National Register of Landlords
Ask your MP to back the Renters Reform Bill
Private renters in nine London boroughs face paying half of their income or more on rent, analysis by campaign group Generation Rent has found.
Rent on the typical two-bedroom home costs 45% of a full-time salary in London.
Campaigners say this pushes families into poverty and financial stress, and makes it harder to save or to start a family.
Paying more than a third of your income in rent is considered unaffordable.
Generation Rent is calling on the next Mayor of London to lead a campaign to demand powers from the government to reduce rents.
Measures would include freezing rents within tenancies, to give tenants more certainty, a rent control system that aims to reduce rents overall, and tough penalties for landlords who break the rules, overseen by a city-wide Rent Control Board.
In March 2020, the rent on the median 2-bedroom home in London was £1450 and the median full-time salary was £38,592.
That would mean that a single-earner family with a baby would be spending 45% of their earnings on rent.
The situation is worst in inner London, Newham and Haringey where this figure is above 50% and reaches 76% in Westminster.
The most affordable borough is Bexley, with median rent worth 33% of the median full-time salary.
However, affordability has improved over the last five years, with just five boroughs – Camden, Greenwich, Havering, Redbridge, and Westminster – becoming less affordable since 2015.
Alicia Kennedy, Director of Generation Rent, said: “High rents force people into poverty and make it almost impossible to save towards the future.
No one should have to spend more than 30% of their income on rent, yet this is a reality for most Londoners who are stuck in the private rented sector.
“Londoners urgently need bold action to make renting more affordable. Investment in housebuilding is needed to make renting more affordable long-term, but rent controls would offer immediate protection and relief.”
Join our Day of Action - #RentersAreWaiting - PETITION
Since March 2020, 8% of private renters who responded to a Survation survey had received a Section 21 notice from their landlord, which would represent 694,000 private renters across England.
Nearly a third of those surveyed (32%) said they were concerned about the possibility of their landlord asking them to move out this year, which would represent 2.78m private renters across England.
The survey was commissioned by Generation Rent, with results published this week.
We need a COVID Rent debt fund - PETITION
Join us in preventing a homelessness crisis – PETITION
A new report, 'A safe place to call home: Ending unfair evictions for good'.
The report sets out the changes the Government must make to ensure every renter has access to a stable home where they can put down roots and thrive.
You can read all about the report here.
We are calling for:
Open ended tenancies
More time to find a new home
Compensation for a blameless move
No excessive rent increases to force an eviction
No mandatory evictions for people in rent debt
Close the holiday let tax loophole – PETITION
Renters are being forced out of their homes to make way for more lucrative holidaymakers.
We have been able to get the research done to prove it!
In the last two years rental listings in Wales and South West England have halved and rents have gone up by around 25%.
That's one of our findings that have been reported in today's i newspaper
In North Devon there are 2,591 short-term holiday lets but just 21 private rental listings on Rightmove and 30 on Zoopla.
In Gwynnedd, Wales, there are 4,007 holiday lets but just 99 homes for private tenants.
The collapse in the supply of homes to rent are pricing renters out of their local communities – away from their family and friends.
Renter reform coalition – EMAIL MP
Tell your MP we need homes not hotels
Ask your MP to protect vulnerable renters (Content warning: sexual offences)
Campaign win! Government to require landlords to register
'Sex for rent' public consultation
Stop renter evictions during the cost of living crisis – PETITION
Helping rough sleepers – PETITION
Close the eviction loophole – PETITION
You can sign a petition without making a donation
Cardboard Citizens: Survey for Members
Cardboard Citizens' Inclusivity & Equality Agenda
In recent years movements such as Black Lives Matter and #metoo have prompted shifts in our society and highlighted the work that needs to be done to address social inequality.
As a result Cardboard Citizens Staff, Board of Trustees and Member Representatives have completed a course of training over the last six months with Fearless Futures
This focused on understanding and unpicking systems of inequity (the behaviours and processes which have a harmful or negative impacts on marginalised groups), reflecting on our own practices as individuals and an organisation.
Through these sessions we have explored:
Privilege
Intersectionality
where different categories overlap such as race and gender resulting in multiple forms of oppression
Gender-norms
Racism and Anti-Racism
Colonialism
Calling people in’
i.e., challenge prejudices or narratives that reproduce inequities
Social justice is at the heart to Cardboard Citizens’ work in the theatre and beyond.
We continue to learn, striving to create inclusive environments and challenge oppressions in society.
This is a key area of focus for the company and we would love to involve some more Members in these conversations.
If you’re interested being part of this and for more information, please email Bonny: Bonny@cardboardcitizens.org.uk
Community check-in every Friday
Access Free Energy Bill Support
Groundswell partnership | Chris speaks to Streetwise Opera | Resistance Theatre audio plays
WATCH: Eight brand new short films about social housing
Creative + nature + advocacy
The 2022 National Poetry Competition is open for entries
Dragon cafe have hosted laughing therapy + wire sculpture activities in the past
Groundwork is a federation of charities mobilising practical community action on poverty and the environment across the UK.
We’re passionate about creating a future where every neighbourhood is vibrant and green, every community is strong and able to shape its own destiny and no-one is held back by their background or circumstances.
START THE NEW YEAR WITH A WARMER HOME
Charities unite to urge for a green and resilient response to the gas crisis
Apply for a One Stop University Scholarship
From The Ground Up – Empowering communities through environmental action
Stop gambling suicides – publish the gambling act white paper – PETITION
No more Gambling Act whitepaper delays. Write to your MPs now!
Everton FC: Don’t use our shirt to advertise gambling products
Me and You and a Global Pandemic
Medicating Me: Personal Impressions of Psychiatric Medication
reflections on advocacy during Covid
Is our GP system working? - 30 August
Putting patients at the heart of healthcare – 13 September
National Development Team for Inclusion
Leeds Autism AIM: #PowerOfPartnership
NAC – Guidance regarding emotional enrichment
Staying mentally well this winter
Audit of MH services – PLEASE COMPLETE
This resource helps mental health services think about how to provide a good service to autistic people and people with learning disabilities.
There’s more information about it at Green Light Toolkit – NDTi
People organised + information
Connected Kingston – including providing information about Legal drop-in clinic + welfare benefits information
Calling the police on someone in distress IS a threat of violence
"How Big Pharma & Psychiatry Gaslight Us"
Man Arrested in Mistaken Identity Case Locked in Hawaii Mental Health Hospital for Two Years
Open Letter Re: Shooting Death of Orlando Taylor
What We’re Still Getting Wrong About What Happened to Orlando Taylor III
Justice for Miguel Estrella: Event & Statements + More
including events
Mad in the Family Monthly Newsletter
This week’s newsletter here
Pathologized Since Eve: Jessica Taylor on Women, Trauma, and “Sexy but Psycho”
Catherine’s Story: A Child Lost to Psychiatry
Inside A Forensic Psychiatry Unit: Where I’ve Come From and Where I’m Going
How Grief Became a Disorder and What This Means About Us: An Interview with Kaori Wada
Psychiatry Textbooks Are Filled with Errors and Propaganda
The Parts Within Us: An Interview with Richard Schwartz, Creator of Internal Family Systems
Andrew Scull—Desperate Remedies: Psychiatry’s Turbulent Quest to Cure Mental Illness
Exercise Associated with 25% Lower Risk for Depression, Researchers Say
The Powerful Allure of Psychedelics in Today’s Disenchanted World
Books Under Review: Summer 2022
Psychiatry’s Failure Crisis: Are You Moderately or Radically Enlightened?
Response to Criticism of Our Serotonin Paper
No Evidence Low Serotonin Causes Depression
Are People with Psychosocial Disabilities Welcomed in Public Spaces?
Addressing Racism-Related Stress and Trauma in Psychotherapy
Treatment Pathways for Psychosis Vary by Race
How Does Spiritual Voice Hearing Compare to Psychosis?
The Transformative Potential of Psychosis
a diagnosis + it’s damage – Schizophrenia
Laura Van Tosh: The Life of a Psychiatric Survivor Activist
Pollution’s Mental Toll: A Talk with Journalist Kristina Marusic
Psychology’s “Winning Streak” Is a Failure of Science, Not Success
Industry Sponsorship of “Cost Effectiveness Analyses” Produces Biased Results
Pharma’s “Evergreening” Patent Tactics Mean High Costs and Low Benefits for Consumers
Nothing At All: How Antidepressants Failed Me
The UK’s IAPT Service Is an Abject Failure
Less Than a Quarter of Those with Depression Respond to Treatment in Real Life
Doctors Renew Campaign Against Overdiagnosis and Overmedication
Coercive Psychiatric Practice Goes Beyond Seclusion and Restraint
Researchers: Study of Schizophrenia Held Back by “Cult-Like” Belief System
Does Humanistic Psychology Support the Capitalist Status Quo?
Psychiatric Drugs Do Not Improve Disease or Reduce Mortality
Pharmaceutical Industry and FDA Use Mob Tactics to Silence Whistleblowers
Peer Values Versus Violence: A View from Lived Experience
Treating Grief with Addiction Drug Jeopardizes Social Connections
Antidepressant-Induced Serotonin Syndrome a Danger for the Elderly
Social Interventions for “Serious Mental Illness” Show Promise But Face Resistance
Can Secure Attachment Reduce Death Anxiety and Obsessive Compulsions?
Why Some Therapists Consistently See Better Results with LGBTQ Clients
Open Season on Mental Patients
Psychedelic Therapy Will Not Save Us
Jock McLaren – The Biopsychosocial Model is a Mirage, Time for a Biocognitive Model?
open season on mental patients
Industry Corruption in Systematic Review for Injectable Antipsychotics
Racism, Poverty, Inequality: Social Ingredients for Psychosis, Depression & More
Psychiatry’s Medical Model: How It Traumatizes, Retraumatizes & Perverts Healing
Behaviorists Must Confront Psychiatry’s Pseudoscience
Tara Thiagarajan: Mental Well-being Better in Venezuela than in United States: Why?
The Shady World of Shock Treatment
A Different Psychiatry Is Needed for Discontinuing Antidepressants
The Failings of “Mental Health”: How a Seemingly Benign Concept Might be Dangerous
A Blood Test for Suicide? Not When the Cases Overlap with Healthy Controls
A Hopelessly Flawed Seminar in “The Lancet” About Suicide
The New York Times Comments Section: A Literary Rorschach Test for the Masses
Depression Stigma May Be Decreasing; Psychosis Stigma Increasing
Mainstream Psychology Slow to View Police Brutality as Systemic Racism
Does Psychiatry’s Buzzword “Flourishing” Reflect the Real World?
The Emperor’s New Clothes: The Upcoming NICE Depression Guidelines
New Tools to Support New Moms: An Interview with Jennifer Barkin, PhD
Peer Support Research: Is It Time Yet?
Bringing Integrative Community Therapy to Pittsburgh: An Interview with Alice and Kenneth Thompson
Study Highlights Uptake of Voice Hearing Groups in Brazil
Social Media Influencers Now Marketing Drugs to Niche Audiences for Big Pharma
Conflict of Interest Policies in Europe May Hide Pharma Influence
How Concepts Like Trauma and Resilience Reinforce Neoliberalism in the Global South
Inner Fire Is the Only Place I Would Go for Emotional Distress
Thomas Insel makes a case for abolishing psychiatry
Antidepressants Do Not Improve Quality of Life
Did Psychiatry Ever Endorse the Chemical Imbalance Theory of Depression?
Capitalism and the Biomedical Model of Mental Health
Mad by design: an ancient paradigm of psychiatric thought
Trans lifeline: naming trans-specific harm in Mental Health
Council of Europe Releases Report to Promote Voluntary Mental Health Treatment
Psychology “Incompatible with Hypothesis-Driven Theoretical Science”
Including racism + informed consent
Patient Reports Reveal SSRI Antidepressants Often Lead to Emotional Blunting
Social Security and Asylum: How States Produce Negative Affect to Stigmatize and Deter
“From the Victorian workhouse to contemporary welfare reforms, the provision of ‘welfare’ has long coexisted alongside policies and practices that mobilize negative affect to deter specific groups from claiming state support, and to craft public affect (such as fear and disgust) about these target populations.”
My Letter to an Advocate for Involuntary Treatment
The WHO Calls for Radical Change in Global Mental Health
The Transformational Qualities of Hearing Voices Groups
BMJ: 20% of Health Research Is Fraudulent
Pharmaceutical companies are no longer attempting to hide their financial influence.
The face of commerce is visible at every stage of the process: the biased design of the trials, the spinning of the results, and the subsequent touting of the drugs to prescribers.
Antipsychotics Linked to Increased Breast Cancer Risk
Coercion and Dehumanization in Mental Healthcare
Combatting Structural Racism and Classism in Psychiatry: An Interview with Helena Hansen
Responsibility Without Blame in Therapeutic Communities: Interview with Philosopher Hanna Pickard
Reason and Madness: How Psychiatry Marginalizes Those Who Contradict Western Norms
Art, Music, Exercise, and More: What Are the Recommended Doses for Improving Mental Health?
How Western Psychology Can Rip Indigenous Families Apart: An Interview with Elisa Lacerda-Vandenborn
Research Reveals Mental Health Professionals’ Participation in Rape Culture
Emotional CPR: Heart-Centered Peer Support
Inside A Forensic Psychiatry Unit: Here’s How to Survive
Lithium No Better Than Placebo for Preventing Suicide Attempts
Lithium, Antidepressants, Esketamine—All No Better Than Placebo?
Qualitative Evidence Supports the Ban on Conversion Therapy in Canada
Adverse Childhood Experiences Associated with Higher Anxiety in College Students
What Role can the United Nations Play in Rights-Based Global Mental Health?
When It Comes to Mental Health Problems, The Disability Framework Fails
Mental Health Care Must Support Consent and Basic Human Rights
The Psychiatric Hospital Is an Institution of Social Control
Common Statistical Method Conflates Withdrawal with Relapse
New Review: Antidepressants Come with Minimal Benefits, Several Risks
Family Physicians Must Change Antidepressant Prescribing Practices
Person-Centered Approach to Psychopathology Eschews Diagnosis
The Crisis in Psychiatry and The Slow Way Back: Interview with Vincenzo Di Nicola
When Tapering Antidepressants, is Going Slow Always the Best Strategy?
Ketamine Withdrawal Has Severe Consequences
Inside A Forensic Psychiatry Unit: The Ground Where Death Meets Life
For Life: Opera on Psychiatry and Its Drugs
Unscientific Diagnoses Medicalize Normal Human Experiences
Can Anything Good Come Out of Therapy?
Critical Psychology for a Better Society: An Interview with Sebastienne Grant
De-Psychiatrization and the Promise of Open Dialogue
Ekaterina Netchitailova: "Mental Health” Is a Euphemism for Policing Social Deviance
SSRI Antidepressants Do Not Improve Depression After a Stroke
Why We Need a Neurodiverse Philosophy of Autistic Happiness
Navigating the meaning of psychosis important for recovery
Guardianship Destroyed My Family
Fireside Project: Peer Support for Psychedelic Experiences
Understanding the Youth Mental Health Crisis: An Interview with Elia Abi-Jaoude
No Meaningful Brain Differences in Depression
New NICE Guidelines for ECT Are Dangerously Inadequate, Say 50 Patients and Professionals
August 20, 1985: The Day My Psychotic Episodes Ended
How Socioeconomic Class Affects Therapy
Clinicians and Patients Often Disagree on Mental Health Outcomes
Psychiatry and Psychology Fail in Response to Farmer Suicides in India
Online Debates on Psychiatric Diagnosis Often Rely on Rhetoric Instead of Facts
Home Alone: Finding Connection During the Pandemic
Why Is Child Sexual Abuse So Common in Institutions?
Why Is Psychiatry So Defensive About Criticism?
Did Pharma Companies Hide Failed ADHD Drug Studies From Regulators?
Study Discovers Extensive Undisclosed Conflicts of Interest in Medical Research
Roll-out of 988 Threatens Anonymity of Crisis Hotlines
Johann Hari: Stolen Focus – Why You Can’t Pay Attention
Major Review Finds Limited Effectiveness for Medication and Therapy
Evidence Distortion in Medicine Explained in One Single Chart
Negative Antidepressant Trials Still Unlikely to Be Published
Shifting Away from ECT and Antidepressants for Depression
Put Psyche Back Into Psychiatry and Add Psychological Intimacy
The New DSM Is Coming and That Isn’t Good News
Michael Hengartner – Evidence-biased Antidepressant Prescription
Inside a Forensic Psychiatry Unit: Earning the Right to Sleep on the Floor
Jane Engleman: Consternation of the Bees
Christine Burnett: The Danger of Marginalizing People
Philip Hickey: Why Is Psychiatry So Defensive About Criticism? Part 2
Read Rebuts Biased ECT Defenders
The Medicalization of Women’s Suffering: An Interview with Dana Becker
Can the Psychodynamic Manual Move Therapy Beyond the DSM?
How Providers Can Support Psychiatric Drug Discontinuation
John Read: Fear and Loathing in the ECT Debate
James Knochel: Malignant Do-Gooderism: The Tragedies of Allopathic Psychiatry
Michael Hengartner: Regulators Are Approving Drugs Without Clear Evidence That They Work
Research News: Ketamine No Better Than Placebo for Reducing Suicidal Ideation in Depression
Medicating Preschoolers for ADHD: How “Evidence-Based” Psychiatry Has Led to a Tragic End
Ibrahim Ba: The Unveiling of the Truth: A Journey Into the Invisible World
Richard Vernall: Collateral Damage: The Negative Impact of Antidepressants on New Zealand Youth
Evidence Lacking for Mobile Mental Health Apps
Toxic Marketing: The Business of Selling TMS
How Psychiatry Perpetuates a Culture of Exclusion
Addressing Cultural Bias in the Treatment of Personality Disorders
The Censors Are Coming for Mental Health
MIA’s Suicide Hotline Transparency Project
Robert Spitzer on DSM-III: A Recently Recovered Interview
Official Guidelines on Antidepressant Discontinuation Fail Practitioners and Patients
Sexual Assault at Any Age is a Risk Factor for Psychosis
Dying to Stay Alive: A Ketamine Disaster
For the Love and Care of the People: An Interview with Vanessa Green on Call BlackLine Organizing
How Effective Are Therapy and Medication, and What Do They Treat?
Inside a Forensic Psychiatry Unit: Access to the Courts—A Right and Survival Tool
Esketamine: Dangers and Lingering Questions
Pharmaceutical Industry Corruption Goes Beyond Conflicts of Interest
Racism Evident in Patient Health Records
A “Mass Possession” Event in Nicaragua Exposes Inadequacy of Western Mental Health Approaches
The Looting of “Outsider Art” by Psychiatry Continues Today
Anti-Psychiatry, Szasz, Torrey, Biederman & the Death of Freethinking
The Social Unconscious and Character Formation in Neoliberal Culture: An Interview with Lynne Layton
Jane Engleman: Fifty-Eight Years Beyond the Community Mental Health Act, 1963
UK Finds Success with Peer Supported Open Dialogue Program
Democratizing Psychiatric Knowledge Production Through Lived Experience Leadership
Study Investigates Burdens Placed on Survivor Researchers
Why Do People Self-Harm, and How Can We Stop It?
Antipsychotics Worsen Cognitive Functioning in First-Episode Psychosis
Parenting Changed My Perspective on “ADHD”
Nature: Brain Imaging Studies Are Most Likely False
How Evidence Based Medicine Became an Illusion
Antipsychotics Often Prescribed Without Informed Consent
Police Killings and the Pseudoscience of “Excited Delirium”
Becoming Whole: How a Change in Me Became a Change in My Practice
Thomas Jobe: The Legacy of Research He Leaves Behind
The Functions of the Mental Health System Under Capitalism
Inside a Forensic Psychiatry Unit: Calling in AIR Strikes
Mental Wellbeing Poorest in English-Speaking Countries of the World
Trusting People as Experts of Themselves: Sera Davidow on the Wildflower Peer Support Line
The impact DSM has had on us all – podcast
False Positives in Brain Imaging, Unpublished and Missing Trials, and Conflicts of Interest
Many Service Users Interested in Decreasing Antipsychotic Use with Professional Help
Human rights should be central to Global Mental Health approaches
From Labeled to Healer: A Road Less Traveled
Council of Europe Releases Report to Promote Voluntary Mental Health Treatment
Results of the Inpatient Alternative Soteria Model in Israel
Apples and Oranges in Peer Support Research
Saving Lives or Cementing Stigma? A Review of “Just Like You…”
Psych Concepts Creep Into Our Everyday Experiences: An Interview with Nicholas Haslam
London hearing voices network – update
Spiritual crisis Network (SCN)
including beyond the pill
Self- development
happier – kinder – together
We can't change what happens, but we can choose our response
Happiness isn't about everything going well – it's about responding constructively, even in difficult times
10 keys to happier living groups
How to live mindfully, even in stressful times
How to feel part of something bigger every day
Making time to be mindful helps us reduce stress levels,
by turning our focus to the here and now, rather than dwelling on the past or future
Canopy + stars – a life more wild – podcast
“The qualities of kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity are the attitudinal foundations and qualitative tone of mindfulness.
Cultivating these qualities plays a central role in freeing the mind from patterns that create and recreate distress?”
The richest human isn’t the one who has the most, but the one who needs less.
Wealth is a mindset.
Want less and appreciate more today.
Latest News from the Coalition for Personalised Care
Including events + NHS statutory guidance for working in partnership with people + communities – start with people
5 Quotes for Coping with Things You Can't Control
Today, use frustration and disappointment to motivate you rather than annoy you.
Breathe and be mindful.
You are in control of the way you respond to life.
It’s not what you broadcast to everyone else that determines the trajectory of your life;
it’s what you whisper to yourself behind closed doors that has the greatest power and influence.
Some people will never understand, and it’s not your job to teach or change them.
Prioritize your peace.
Learning to let go of certain expectations and detach from certain people, are two of the great paths to inner peace.
Your worth is not dependent on someone else’s ability to be kind and loving.
Accept this, and start acknowledging your own worth.
Stop waiting for others to tell you how important you are.
Tell yourself today, and believe it.
The goal this year is to gradually change your response to what you can't control.
To grow stronger on the inside, so that almost nothing on the outside can affect your inner peace and wellness without your conscious permission.
Our perspective on just about everything comes from the psychological cage we’ve been conditioned to live in.
A cage created by...
A difficult or disappointing experience
A privileged or sheltered life
Social influence
Pop-culture and mass-media stereotyping
And the list goes on.
Gradually, unbeknownst to us, our cage—our conditioning—drains our mental energy, leaving us vulnerable to bad decision making?
When we were young, we saw the world through simple, hopeful eyes.
We knew what we wanted and we had no biases or concealed agendas.
We liked people who smiled.
We avoided people who frowned.
We ate when we were hungry, drank when we were thirsty, and slept when we were tired.
As we grew older our minds became gradually disillusioned by negative external influences?
At some point we began to hesitate and question our instincts?
Our minds are incredibly powerful.
They can bring us down or lift us up at a moment’s notice.
How we think about things literally changes everything we do on a daily basis!
Whenever I’m coaching someone who’s struggling in the trenches, I gracefully shift their focus from what they don’t want to what they DO want.
I remind them that what you focus on grows stronger in your life, and that the best time to focus on the positive and take responsibility for your happiness is when you don’t feel like it.
Because that’s when doing so can make the biggest difference.
Sometimes you simply have to let go and accept the feeling of not knowing exactly where you’re going next, and do your best to appreciate this freedom.
Because it is only when you are suspended in the air, with no destination in sight, that you force your wings to open fully so you can fly.
And as you soar around you still may not know exactly where you’re travelling to.
But that’s not what’s important.
What’s important is the opening of your wings.
You may not know where you’re headed, but you know that so long as your wings are spread, the winds will carry you forward.
4 More Relationship Truths for Tough Times
Resentment hurts you, not them
Sometimes walking away is the only path forward
Some relationships will be blessings, others will serve as lessons
Even the best relationships don’t last forever.
3 Hidden Behaviours that Harm Your Relationships
Using complaints and disagreements as an opportunity to condemn each other?
Using hateful gestures as a substitute for honest communication?
The silent treatment?
Healing in Your Relationships
If you don’t allow yourself to move past what happened, what was said, what was felt, you will look at your present and future through that same dirty lens, and nothing will be able to focus your foggy judgment.
Always be kinder than necessary.
Forgive yourself for the bad decisions you made, for the times you lacked clarity, for the choices that hurt others and yourself.
Some chapters in our lives have to close without closure.
Be careful not to dehumanize people you disagree with.
Being kind to someone you dislike doesn’t mean you’re fake.
People tend to be more thoughtful and kinder when they have found a little happiness and peace of mind.
"How can I respond from a place of clarity and strength, rather than continuing to react in anger and frustration to the painful experiences I've been forced to live through?"
Think about that question for a moment.
Read it again, and sit with it.
Every time you are tempted to react in the same old way, pause for a few seconds, take a few deep breaths, and make space for a healthy change of state—for something new to enter...
It's time to consciously redirect your focus by taking it away from something unchangeable that drags you down, and instead zero it in on something small and actionable that moves you forward in the present moment.
4 Hard Choices that Make You Happier in the Long Run
You can choose to be present when it would be easier to pick up your phone.
You can choose to do a workout when it would be more comfortable to sit around.
You can choose to create something special when it would be quicker to consume something mediocre.
You can choose to invest in yourself when it would take less effort to procrastinate.
‘New normal’ anxiety: A therapist’s guide
A therapist’s guide to self-care
Self-care is the practice of taking action to improve your health.
We can do this regularly or just from time to time, but it’s important to turn this abstract concept into a concrete goal.
I've written a blog on the ‘6 domains of self-care’, including my top tips on how to give yourself a little love.
Physical self-care
This is about taking care of our physical body and getting back to basics.
Eat regularly and in a way that nourishes your body
Exercise regularly
Boost your sleep
Psychological self-care
We all know it is important to take care of our mind.
This might include seeing mental health professionals or simply doing things to help us recharge.
Turn off phone notifications
Keep scheduled therapy appointments
Take time for reflection
Emotional self-care
This involves your relationship with yourself.
Check in with your feelings and see how you’re doing.
Keep a journal
Vent your frustrations
Engage in opportunities to create happiness
Physiotherapist – Working from home: 4 health hacks
Plump it up
Make your chair more ergonomic.
Add cushions and a foot rest to take care of your lower back.
Go for a raise
Try shaking up your desk design.
Raising your laptop will help to protect your posture.
Break it down
Take micro-breaks.
Regular movement helps prevent muscular pains.
Stretch yourself
That's it.
Stretch.
Stretching at your desk will reduce the risk of muscle strain.
3 simple techniques to help improve your breathing
Breathing control
This means just breathing easily, using the least effort.
It helps you to relax.
Place your hand on your tummy, below your ribs.
Feel your tummy rise and fall as you breathe gently through your nose.
Let go of any tension, just breathe as you need to
Deep breathing
This helps to fill the lower areas of your lungs.
Take a long, slow deep breath in.
At the end of the breath in, hold the air for 2 to 3 seconds before letting the air out gently.
Try to keep your shoulders relaxed.
Repeat for 3 or 4 deep breaths.
Huffing
This is a way of clearing mucus from your lungs.
Take a breath in and then breathe it out quickly through your mouth, as if trying to mist up a mirror.
Once any mucus has moved upwards, you should find it easier to cough it out. But there is no need to try and force up mucus.
Always finish with more relaxed breathing control (exercise 1) after the huffing exercise.
A to Zzz... our top tips for a good night's sleep
Be consistent
Try to go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day – and avoid napping throughout the day, if possible.
Create the right environment
When it is time for sleep, make sure your bedroom is quiet, dark and cool
(The NHS recommends 18-24C for adults and 16-20C for children).
Have a change of scene
If you find yourself unable to fall asleep, get out of bed and do something relaxing elsewhere.
Try reading or drinking some non-caffeinated herbal tea, and stay off social media and news sites, which can often be anxiety-inducing.
Let Your Inner Child Out
Sometimes the grown up in you needs a break.
So, every now and then, release your inner child and enjoy some carefree fun.
See the world with childlike wonder.
Ask lots of questions.
Revisit one of your favourite childhood books or movies.
How will you let your inner child come out to play?
All You Need Is Less
If you're wanting more love, more peace, more meaning, more focus, you'll probably find that all you need is, less.
Less expectations, less talk, less buying, less thinking, less stuff, less stress….
Are you ready for less?
As The River Flows
Just as the river flows through all terrains, never stopping, and never expecting anything to help it flow, in the same way, we too can be like a river, flowing through the twists and turns of life and keep creating a way forward
And just as the river makes the land fertile, we too can create abundance and help things flourish wherever we are
A Point of Stillness
Find a point of stillness from which you begin and to which you return, every day
Give yourself the space to just be and experience a sense of wellbeing
What or where is your point of stillness?
How will you make stillness an important event in your day?
Heard and Understood
Everyone just wants to be heard and understood
So, when people are talking to you, are you giving them your full attention?
To help others feel heard and understood, instead of getting distracted or thinking about what you want to say next, give people your full attention and listen fully.
When Challenges Leave
Life's challenges are like house guests, they arrive and at some point they will leave
But you would never let the guests leave with your valuables, would you?
In the same way, when challenges leave, don't let them take away your happiness, it’s your most valuable property!
Get Ready for Bed
Changing our clothes before going to bed is a simple ritual that helps us to disengage from the day
To disengage your mind from the day and sleep better, try this simple exercise as you get ready for bed:
- Put aside all that is ongoing and unresolved for the next day
- Remove any stress from the day and let go of the day
Eating Humble Pie
Every now and then, we all have to eat a slice of humble pie, especially when facing criticism, admitting mistakes, asking for help...
Eating humble pie doesn't undermine who you are
In fact, when you eat a slice of humble pie with self-awareness, confidence and a willingness to learn, humility brings out greatness and excellence in you
Mood Follows Thought
Where your thoughts flow, your mood follows!
Are you aware of how your thoughts affect your mood?
Next time you find yourself in a bad mood, try to
1) steer away from any negative thoughts
and 2) think happy thoughts
Happy thoughts, happy mood!
If that doesn't work, then do something that will help to lift your mood
Pandemic: Changes in Professional's Attitudes & Practice
Including investing in relationships
Research: Consuming fruit and veg and exercising can make you happier
Too much free time may be almost as bad as too little
including community pharmacists can refer patients for scan + checks
including
Tackling inequalities in healthcare access, experience, and outcomes
Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance
Economics of happiness – local futures
Beyond Conspiracy: Framing Meaningful Activism
Gabor Maté supports the localization movement
Why are we running harder and faster just to keep a roof over our heads?
Why does our food get flown around the world and back again?
Why is the gap between rich and poor widening to obscene levels?
Because nation states are allowing global corporations to run the show.
There is nothing evolutionary or inevitable about our current system; it’s man-made.
And if enough of us come together, we can change it.
Values are shifting. Culture is turning
Increasingly, people are seeing through the false promises of the global consumer culture.
They are recognizing the limitations of the rat-race, and the emptiness of conventional ideas about “success” and “progress”.
Not surprisingly, there is a corresponding surge of interest in indigenous knowledge to guide the creation of healthier, more localized futures.
"But what can I do?!" Introducing the Localization Action Guide
The Radical Roots of Community Supported Agriculture
Interrelation -SCOOP the sustainable cooperative
The economics of happiness – film
Planet local – a quiet revolution – film
Intersectionality
♿ The benefits system in this country is a disgrace
get support with your living costs♿
will you sign the open letter?♿
If we were getting proper care and support, there wouldn’t be premature deaths happening
Dame Carolyn Fairbairn + Vanessa on
learning disability mortality review – from personal experience – on women’s hour
"Upset and disgusted" at Travelodge – PETITION
Office for National Statistics – Outcomes for disabled people in the UK
Mencap – Tell councils: Count Disabled Children In
Share community – How to become a better communicator
National Development Team for Inclusion (NDTi)
Small Supports – Thinking Differently About How We Support People
Join the NHS Sounding Board for Ageing & Older People
Review into advocacy for people with a learning disability and or autistic people who are inpatients in mental health settings
contact advocacy@ndti.org.uk
The Training Hub has launched…
National Advocacy Conference 2022 – 7-11th November 2022
Seni’s Law – Mental Health Units (Use of Force) Act 2018
SCIELine: New strengths-based approaches resources and learning
Disability Right UK has helplines
Benefit sanctions harming claimants, lawyers warn
DWP makes few concessions on improving engagement with Disabled people
Secret reviews into DWP deaths have more than doubled in three years
Government plans to move Disabled people from institutions don’t go far enough
Report highlights issue of negativity towards Disabled people
Disabled people make up nearly half of the most deprived working-age adults in the country
PIP delays leave Disabled people hundreds of millions of pounds out of pocket
590 suicides between 2010 and 2013 linked to welfare reform – Deaths by Welfare
9 in 10 of all reports about disability benefit fraud to the DWP hotline turn out to be false
100 people held more than 20 years in ‘institutions’
Police officer fired for taking photos of people being sectioned
Press coverage for autistic man in isolation prompts Council action
Severely ill inpatient died after DWP forced him to leave hospital to make benefit claim
Disabled woman left begging a bus driver to let her travel home safely
The Mayor's Entrepreneur competition & training
Government White Paper fails to re-build the care system
Law Commission recommends adding disability to list of hate crimes
DWP refuses to publish report that found Disabled claimants had “unmet needs”
Councils waste £253 million fighting parents at SEND tribunals since 2014
Mental health impact of leaseholder cladding scandal
All PIP claimants to be offered apply online option
End Fuel Poverty Coalition – PETITION
People deprived of liberty due to misapplication of Mental Health + Capacity Acts
Sickle cell patients ‘face racism in NHS’
Share your experiences of seeing or posting online content about suicide or self-harm
Ground-breaking inquiry questions ‘Whose social care is it anyway?’
DWP failures mean dying people are being rejected for PIP
DWP ignoring concerns about Disabled benefit claimants’ deaths
"Sharp rise" in DWP benefit death reviews "deeply concerning"
DWP to stop ‘cold-calling’ Disabled people to make low benefit ‘offers’
Our work capability assessment factsheet
DWP refuse to publish analysis of £20-week Universal Credit uplift ‘as it is not public interest’
Universal Credit cuts will come as ‘a shock’
Disabled children face digital divide
Health and Disability Green Paper – a cause for concern
New body to tackle health disparities set to launch
Lords: Government failing to implement Equality Act
I would have closed Cawston Hall – Norfolk Council care boss – Jeesal group
A fifth of housing not fit for good health – Good Home Inquiry
Elections Bill bad news for Disabled voters
Austerity cuts killed tens of thousands from 2010 onwards
Over two thirds of Universal Credit claimants currently in arrears while living costs rise
Disabled claimant died underweight, ‘unkempt and dirty’ after ESA and PIP wrongly stopped
Disability Benefits Without the Fight - PETITION
Excluded children put in ‘unsafe’ institutions
Disability Horizons launches new online wellbeing community
Social care plans expose rich vs poor divide in terms of home loss
DWP urged to reveal algorithm that ‘targets’ Disabled people for benefit fraud
Almost £3bn to be awarded to private sector to assess disability benefits
Inquiry sought into deaths of 369 mental distress patients in Sussex Trust’s care
Covid highlights social security system is “simply unfit for purpose”
DWP blocks publication of research on effectiveness of benefit sanctions
Disability strategy ruled unlawful, DWP denied permission to appeal
Disabled people five times more likely to experience food poverty, says Food Foundation
DWP admits wrongly refusing PIP to record number of Disabled people
Two-thirds of NHS Trusts failing to support equal access to care for Disabled patients
400,000 people could be pulled into poverty by April real-term cuts to benefits
Nearly half of people referred to Trussell Trust food banks are in debt to the DWP
Tip of the Iceberg: Deaths and Serious Harm in the Benefit System
Pushed to the Edge: Poverty, food banks and mental health
DWP failing to make reasonable adjustments for UC claimants with mental health problems
Extension of terminal illness ‘Special Rules’ for ESA and Universal Credit from April 2022
DWP work coaches “bullied” into forcing distressed claimants to attend work-related meetings
How bare bones benefits don’t add up
Two in five Universal Credit claimants forced into debt, finds the Trussell Trust
Pushed to the Edge: Poverty, food banks and mental health
Ofcom: telecomms and broadband providers must do more to help vulnerable customers
DWP: deaths, cover-up, and a toxic 30-year legacy
Fast-tracked access to benefits extended to those likely to be in final year of life
Benefits rise does little to ease cost of living crisis
Disabled employees paid £3.5k less than non-Disabled employees – ONS
EHRC presses DWP to improve treatment of Disabled benefit claimants
EHRC failing Disabled people on DWP actions, claim families
Elections Bill will make it harder for Disabled people to vote
Government must halt ‘managed migration’ to universal credit – DR UK
Report shows that smart home technology can assist independent living
People with learning disabilities in ‘mental health crisis’ – Mencap
Disability Poverty Campaign Group update
If you are a representative of a local or national DPO group, or charity, and are interested in getting involved with the DPCG, email dan.white@disabilityrightsuk.org
would like to invite you its webinar on
Access co-ordinator for TV training course
+ lots more!
Holyrood Committee report into a ban on Conversion Practices
You can watch parliament in action here
You can become a member of any NHS foundation trust – just look on their website?
Court upholds Census guidance – trans men and women can self-identify their lived sex
There’s still time to fill in the Census!
The call for evidence on the Gender Recognition Reform Bill
New intersex resources created by our partners Reprofutures
We want your views on what support means to you
Launching the Scottish LGBTI+ Rainbow Mark
A new way to support our campaigning work
Ukraine president backs civil partnerships for same-sex couples
Care and Support Alliance – An appeal for your story
Contact csa@nas.org.uk
Act now for safer homes for people with MND
Land + other views
Working to ensure a fairer, kinder, and better society
Religion vs Women’s Rights – Write to your MP
We must never blame the victims
Exposé: Sexist, homophobic, and violent religious resources
We are not a Christian country
Did you know that bishops are speaking and voting for us in the House of Lords?
The only other sovereign state in the world where clerics vote in Parliament is the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Clearly, we’re in need of change.
Majority against bishops in the Lords
What should we think about death?
What makes something right or wrong?
Including writing to MP about protecting Human rights
and “conversion therapy”
Important: Our worst fears come true? – ASSAULT ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN UK
An amazing list of people + organisations
Compassion wins as Austria legalises assisted dying
Tell the UK Government to support humanist marriages
A big step forward – MPs debate humanist marriage in Westminster
Help us ban 'conversion therapy' right now!
End discriminatory admissions – sign now
Nigerian Humanists President sentenced to 24 years in prison – EMAIL MP
Your rights are under threat, act now to protect them
Learn about humanism with Alice Roberts and Sandi Toksvig!
ending the inhumane ban on assisted dying
UK Govt removes abortion rights from international pact
Help us challenge compulsory worship in schools
Tai Solarin day – 20 August
executive room
805 old Kent road SE15 1NX
6pm to 9pm
What I believe – podcasts with people in the public eye
Land justice UK – Land and Food
New land report out on land reform in Scotland
police, crime, sentencing and courts bill
You can find a Member of the House of Lords and write to them asking them to review this dangerous bill
3 acres + a cow – 4 + 17 + 18 +30 September + 1 October
people food summit – 16 – 18 September
A win in the fight for land rights – PETITION
Human rights
Change The Covid Guidance In Psychiatric Wards
The British Institute of Human Rights
Hear from experts on Human Rights reform!
Explaining laws passed end April 2022
May News – Human Rights Act Campaigning & Communities Update
July News | The Rights Removal Bill
August News | Get Our New Resources!
Boris, it's time to commit – PETITION
Stop The #AntiRefugeeBill petition
What do Priti Patel’s constituents want?
Heartbreaking deaths in the Channel: tell your MP enough is enough – EMAIL MP
What exactly is the hostile environment?
Thank you for seeing the human not the label
EMAIL MP: Ukrainian refugees need all the help we can give
TELL YOUR MP: vote to lift the ban
You know the facts.
People seeking asylum are banned from working, unable to support themselves and expected to live on just £5.84 a day.
It's always been an absurd policy, and soon MPs will have the chance to reassert common sense and lift the ban.
Polling from this week shows that an enormous 81% of members of the public surveyed agree that the ban should be lifted.
Fight the anti-refugee laws: ask your MP to sign the pledge
The Rwanda plan: a punishment for asking for help
The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants
by 22 August
Migrants Organise is taking the Home Office to Court!
New Plan for Immigration is same old Hostile Environment
This Refugee Week we want to share our New Dreams
Share our message of dignity and welcome
2 minute action: The COVID inquiry must not forget migrants
What is happening with the anti-refugee Borders Bill?
Dismantling the hostile environment – podcasts
Solidarity is what connects us – EMAIL MP
Patients not passports – A toddler charged £70k for life saving NHS care? - ACTION
will you call on the Government to welcome climate activists as refugees?
Freedom from Torture – close the barracks
UK government links to torture in Xinjiang – PETITION
Urgent: Stop the UK Decriminalising Torture
New Plan for Immigration – Consultation Guidance
URGENT: Act now to protect refugees from Priti Patel's New Plan.
Urgent: shocking news – EMAIL MP
write to your local newspaper against the anti refugee bill
Clause 11 of the anti-refugee bill, which would punish Ukranians and other refugees for the way that they travel to safety – was removed by the Lords
A Holocaust survivor just sent this message to Boris Johnson – on the cliffs of Dover
22nd March
MPs voted to punish refugees who make their own way to safety in the UK as part of the Nationality and Borders Bill.
The bill has now entered a stage called ‘ping pong’, where it bounces back and forth between the House of Lords & the House of Commons.
TELL AIRLINES: DON'T REMOVE REFUGEES TO RWANDA
Tell PM candidates: do not send refugees to Rwanda
end UK links to torture – PETITION
Safe passage – We need your help – write to a Peer today
Safe Passage v. the Government
Priti's plan abandons child refugees – TAKE ACTION
Safe Routes Save Lives- EMAIL MP
We need safe routes now – PETITION
Support Lord Alf Dubs – EMAIL A PEER
UK and Ukraine – LETTER TO PRITI PATEL
Over 1,000 Faith Leaders Say No to Anti-Refugee Bill
Stop Boris’ plans to exile refugees – EMAIL MP
Stop Priti Patel’s pre-Brexit race to deport trafficking & torture survivors
What do you most want to fight for in 2021?
This is a humanitarian disaster. Close the detention camps now
URGENT: Priti Patel is winding the clock back on women’s rights - PETITION
WE OPPOSE UNJUST DEPORTATIONS - PETITION
URGENT: NO OFFSHORE DETENTION – EMAIL MP
Survivors of Napier Barracks beat the Home Office in court
Six men who Priti Patel detained at Napier Barracks have proved in court that she violated their human rights.
Stop union busting in Morocco! – PETITION
Tell Denmark: Syria is not safe for refugees to return. Reverse your shameful decision.
A message from the White Helmets to Ukrainians under attack
As Ukrainians come under brutal attack by Putin, it is chilling to see Russia using the same strategy and playbook in Ukraine as they use in Syria – attacking fleeing civilians, controlling humanitarian corridors, bombing hospitals and spreading disinformation.
Our volunteer first responders have saved more than 125,000 civilian lives in Syria since 2014, many from direct Russian attacks, and it’s heartbreaking to witness the same tragedies being repeated over and over again.
We know the scale of horror that Russian bombings can inflict: no one and nothing is off limits.
In Syria, a concerted Russian disinformation campaign spreads fabricated claims attacking White Helmets volunteers to cover up war crimes.
Now Russia is using the same methods to legitimize its attack on the Ukrainian people – using social media to sow doubt about atrocities committed against civilians.
When I saw the aftermath of Russian airstrikes on the maternity hospital in Mariupol last week, including Russia’s immediate disinformation efforts online, it was as if history was repeating itself.
We have witnessed these same horrific scenes and lies during attacks on Syrian hospitals.
It angers me to see companies such as Twitter continue to allow accounts to spread falsehoods – and
A few days ago I spoke to the Washington Post and shared what we have learnt from our experience in case it can be of any help to our brothers and sisters in Ukraine.
I told them that the GoPro camera is the best way to fight Russian disinformation and report the reality on the ground.
I also warned against sharing GPS locations of medical facilities with the United Nations.
In Syria the Russians used that information to target hospitals.
Ukrainians should also establish small medical and civil defense outposts in secret locations around the city to take the pressure off larger hospitals and mitigate the risk of targeting first responders.
There is no doubt Putin has been emboldened by the impunity he enjoyed in Syria.
If Putin is not held accountable for his invasion of Ukraine the whole story will repeat itself again.
Today, we need actions not words from the international community.
They must pursue justice relentlessly so no dictator can feel able to shamelessly commit such atrocities.
For the last seven years, the Syrian people have stood up to Russia and have yet to be defeated – so we believe Ukrainians can do so as well.
At the end of the day, it is the will of the citizens that is the strongest weapon, even against the mightiest militaries in the world.
In solidarity,
Raed Al Saleh
Third sector + campaigning
Third Sector – Governance bulletin
Give communities more power over local assets and a £2bn support fund, report urges
Giving by the super-rich could be perpetuating social inequality, academics conclude
Charities lost almost £8.6m to fraud last year, latest figures show
Top earners at Wellcome Trust paid almost £8m each after investments boomed
Adeela Warley: In 2022 let’s make social media a place for hope, not hate
Care charity lost more than 150 staff last year because of vaccination rules
This is a charity! - Wendy
Fifth former Oxfam GB staffer sanctioned after DRC sexual misconduct investigation
Why aren’t more charities supporting community building initiatives?
Does the voluntary sector have a class problem?
Giving pains: the cost of grant-making
including kindness in public services
Lots of interesting events
4 in 10 children in London live in poverty
Developing a 2040 Community Vision for Kingston
1 in 4 are living in poverty after housing costs
Source: London’s poverty profile 2021
including events + training
Updated nomination link for free SIM-cards
We believe that anyone can be a force for change
Together we explore change, share knowledge and learn from change-makers
Transforming power for social change
Can get places for free email info@smk.org.uk
Worried about the Policing Bill? Wondering what you can do? Find out how to get involved
The 2021 Campaigner Survey Results are in!
The Power Project: transform power, build solidarity, make change
Why a voice inside Whitehall matters for campaigners
Support + more ideas!
Demand Egyptian authorities immediately release Ramy Shaath!
Boris Johnson needs to hear this
Mental illness is a lie which causes untold damage
hospital safety for diabetes patients, institutional misogyny, climate change, and more…
Whistleblowing, patient feedback, visiting restrictions + events...
Latest hub highlights: Misogyny, crosswords, Ockenden...
Mind the implementation gap, vaccination programmes, mesh removal
Patients died after catalogue of errors by Priory mental health chain
PHSO seeks patients views on new strategy
Published guidance for Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) teams
Start engagement early
Provide clear and accessible public information
Build relationships with excluded groups
Co-produce and redesign services and tackle system priorities in partnership with people and communities.
The NHS Constitution for England
Call for Welsh Government apology after failings at Ysbyty Gwynedd mental health unit
Vulnerable man Clive Treacey 'failed in life and death'
Share your story with the BBC
Contact julie.ball@bbc.co.uk
Opportunity to shape national audit
contact Kim Rezel on kim.rezel@hqip.org.uk
Why asylum seekers deserve better healthcare, and how we can give it to them
HM Government Public Appointments – Patient Safety Commissioner
Government launches cancer consultation
From Patient association helpline – change in staff results in long-awaited apology
Muriel* called our helpline recently to update our advisers on a complaint they had supported her with in the past, which finally had a good outcome.
Muriel had made a formal complaint about a hospital.
She wasn't t happy with the final response she'd received from the hospital and, so, contacted the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO).
The PHSO failed to uphold Muriel's complaint.
The Ombudsman could find no fault in the hospital's response and said Muriel wouldn’t achieve anything by taking the complaint further.
At this point, the complaint had been going on about three years.
The PHSO refused to accept any evidence from Muriel.
But recently Muriel saw that the hospital had appointed a new complaint manager.
Muriel contacted the manager who offered to meet her to find more about the complaint.
After the meeting, the new manager apologised to Muriel and accepted that the hospital had been in the wrong.
Muriel told our advisers she was happy to see the positive approach from the new complaints manager at the hospital.
However, Muriel is very disappointed with the PHSO and plans to take her concerns further to help other patients.
*Name changed to protect privacy.
To contact our helpline team, call 0800 3457115 between 9.30am and 5pm on weekdays or email helpline@patients-association.org.uk.
See our website for more ways to get in touch.
And remember, we have a range of information on our website from our very popular nutrition checklist right through to understanding your medicines.
Collaboration must be at the heart of the future of health and care
Share your ideas on how patient data is used
Review highlights stark ethnic healthcare inequalities in the UK
Maternity Scandal: Fighting for the Truth
Mental health problems cost UK economy at least £118 billion a year – new research
We want your views on patients’ rights to choose where they have treatment
contact hannah.verghese@patients-association.org.uk
The illusion of evidence-based medicine
'Words will not be enough' say grieving families of Shropshire's maternity scandal
Integration white paper loses sight of active, engaged patients
Ockenden report: the refusal of our healthcare service to take patient experience seriously
Apply for peer leadership academy
Patient safety congress – 15 + 16 September
If you would like to speak
contact shayna.jadeja@wilmingtonhealthcare.com
My Planned Care Website - your views needed
Invitation to join Health Research Authority steering group
Have your say on how the NHS should work in partnership with patients
call for evidence for people living with Down’s syndrome
Patients Association members' magazine – Summer 2022
Shared decision making – NHS England
Just Treatment – Rich countries protecting pharma monopolies
A £2 medicine charged at over £2900…
put lives before pharma profits – PETITION
We found that 51% of beds in inpatient mental health services are provided by private companies like Priory Group, Cygnet, and Huntercombe Group who make the majority of their revenue from NHS funding
Making the country work for all of us
ZERO SUICIDE ALLIANCE – FREE TRAINING
NEW suicide awareness training for university students
Living Wage for care workers – EMAIL MP
How do you make change happen in general practice?
What does it take to ensure partnerships succeed?
Poverty, poor-quality housing and health inequalities
The Health and Care Act 2022 – what does it mean for trusts and foundation trusts?
A community-powered NHS: making prevention a reality
Working in partnership with people + communities: statutory guidance
What should partnering with disabled people look like?
Women in prison + mental health + poverty + strokes +
including how do you measure the success of population health approaches?
How do you measure the success of population health approaches?
What is a population health approach?
NHS wants to stop ‘reinventing the wheel’ and involve public in digitisation
New podcast: Supporting refugee and migrant health care in England
Health Management and Policy Alert: 24 June 2022
Health Management and Policy Alert: 26 July 2022
including human rights concerns regarding people in care
Provider collaboration – 12 -15 September
population health: joining the dots + recognising the opportunities – 28 Nov - 1 December
The cost of living crisis is another reminder that our health is shaped by our environment
Healthy foundations: integrating housing as part of the mental health pathway
Putting patients first: championing good practice in combatting digital health inequalities
The Health and Care Act 2022: the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead
What can be done to tackle LGBTQ+ health inequalities?
Health Management and Policy Alert: 20 July 2021
Including reforming the MHA: government response to consultation
Not listening to us? – Wendy
Understanding integration: how to listen to and learn from people and communities
Including poor health + housing + obesity + bad roads
Health Management and Policy Alert: 10 September 2021
Including Home for all
What is needed to reduce ethnic minority health inequalities?
The pandemic has further opened up deep health inequalities
Kerslake Commission on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping
Good homes for all: a proposal to fix England's housing
The Health and Care Bill: six key questions
Read our updated position on integrated care
Reflections on the Health and Care Bill
Integrated care systems highlights
How much longer and further are health inequalities set to rise?
How will integrated care systems work under the Health and Care Bill?
Including details of a free course “an introduction to leading with kindness and compassion in health + social care
The power of those small acts of kindness
The WHO Prison Health Framework: a framework for assessment of prison health system performance
How does the UK's health care performance compare internationally?
The cost of poor housing in England
Integrated care systems highlights
Left behind: a decade of intergenerational unfairness
Invisible women: understanding women’s experiences of long-term imprisonment
What does successful adult social care reform look like?
Listen: Tackling health inequalities head on through integrated care
Your health and care explained update
New podcast: What is the Health and Care Bill and why does it matter?
Restraint, segregation and seclusion review: progress report
From harm to hope: a 10-year drugs plan to cut crime and save lives
Integrated care systems and social care: the opportunities and challenges
Integrated care systems highlights
Updated: Key facts and figures about the NHS
New explainer: How does the system hear from communities?
Robot performs first laparoscopic surgery without human help
Health and social care integration: joining up care for people, places and populations
Health Management and Policy Alert: 22 February 2022
Improving direct payments oversight
Governing the health and care system in England: creating the conditions for success
Local government public health funding: putting the jigsaw together without the picture on the box
Kings fund survey on digital equity
digital health + care congress – 11 October
Integrated care systems highlights
What could provider collaboratives look like?
Not really outcome-based commissioning? Certainly not people commissioning? – Wendy
Local health systems: relationships not structures
Health + care act 2022: the challenges + opportunities that lie ahead
Gregor Henderson: mental health is just part of what it means to be human
How does the NHS in England work and how is it changing?
Mental Health Act reform: race and ethnic inequalities
NICE recommends offering app-based treatment for people with insomnia instead of sleeping pills
Time for action on poverty 19 September
Annual conference – 1- 2 November
Integrated care in practice – 7 – 10 November
Westminster Health Forum (WHF) policy conference – PROVIDE FREE SPACES – JUST APPLY?
19th September 2022 – mental health in the workplace
Improving women’s health + care in England – 28 September
18 October – priorities for tackling overprescribing in the NHS
A relaxation technique to help you
People’s theatre
This Bright Land is on sale now
Fun in the sun at Somerset House
AGM returns, plus new residents and commissions this autumn
Exploring interactive fiction in gaming, plus new exhibitions
Strategies for Making Music + Artist Opportunities
New residency exploring artificial intelligence
Artist talks and workshops imagining new worlds
Justice
Haldane society of socialist lawyers
conference for the European network for the fair sharing of working time – 20 + 21 October
UBI gives people the chance to make their own choices, to make decisions for themselves, their communities, their households, their lives and their futures
UBI does everything from sharing out problems, to delivering a feminist vision to tackling the climate emergency, to stopping benefit traps
It does all those things, but ultimately UBI is democracy
Baroness Natalie Bennett
Every step we take towards a Basic Income will liberate power in the hands of the citizen
Paddy Ashdown
Andy Burnham joins call for basic income trial
Welsh basic income pilot have been published
In a statement from Jane Hutt, Minister for Social Justice
The pilot will be targeted at care leavers
All young people leaving care that turn 18 over a 12 month period starting this summer will be invited to participate
That is expected to be about 500 people
Participants will receive the payments for 24 months starting from the month after their 18th birthday
A £1,600 a month basic income will be paid each month
Universal basic income motion passed by Richmond Council
69% of people in Wales support basic income pilots
Stockton, California who released incredible results from the experiment there!
Start your own Basic Income Conversation today – TOOLKIT
We've urged ministers to back basic income for mental health – Peace of mind project
Let's make Basic Income a reality – PETITION
The Basic Income Conversation is growing... here's how
Universal Credit cut: now is the time for basic income
Last week the £20 Universal Credit uplift was cut.
5.8 million people claim Universal Credit in England, Scotland and Wales. Overnight, their incomes fell by £1,000 a year.
If they’d had a basic income, they wouldn’t have been plunged into precarity.
Now is the time for a basic income.
There are thousands of people across the UK working to make that clear.
How do we pay for a basic income?
Email mp asking them to join CPPLG
NEW REPORT: Results of our Basic Income Month
Understanding the impacts of a basic income
Can you help get candidates across the UK to support UBI trials?
Tackling Poverty: The power of a universal basic income
Record low poverty at no net cost
The most common question that we get asked in the Basic Income Conversation is “How would we pay for this?”
As of today we can say, “You don’t. It doesn’t have to cost the public purse anything.”
Our new paper lays out a fiscally neutral scheme that involves no additional calls on the public finances and no net increase in taxation: the cost of the extra payments would be exactly offset by the extra revenue from internal changes in tax rates and National Insurance Contributions
The gains of this modest scheme are concentrated among the poorest income groups, and the gains are incredible:
Child poverty falls by more than a half taking
it to below the historic level achieved in 1977
Working-age poverty falls by just over a quarter
Pensioner poverty falls by 54%
This takes the level of pensioner poverty to well below the lowest post-1961 rate of 14% in the early 1980s.
The Gini coefficient – a measure of inequality – falls by 12.5%, taking it back towards the peak equality achieved in the 1970s.
Despite the scale of the current crises, we keep being told that our problems are too big, too complex, there are too many obstacles, and it’s just too expensive to take care of people
The human cost of our problems is unfathomably and heartbreakingly big.
The cost of transforming people’s lives is not.
Thanks to this paper, we’re laying out exactly why and how implementing a basic income is eminently doable.
How can a modest basic income cut poverty by half?
Is basic income a vote winner?
Newsletter of the European Network for the Fair Sharing of Working Time
Invite your MP to the #FlexforAll briefing
Parents against child exploitation
Watch our new film about spotting the signs of child exploitation
Safeguarding training – perhaps ask for a free space?
Believe in yourself and your children: one parents story
Prosecuting mental health – accountability or criminalisation?
A different understanding? How the CJS discriminates against those with autism
When should a family dispute end up in court?
Barely legal? The experience of remote tribunal hearings
The forgotten people? Prisoners on remand in the pandemic
Does L&D stop the revolving door of police custody?
Does diversion from court have an image problem?
Computer says yes – you will pay a fine and get a criminal record
Covid justice – how not to do it?
Altruistic up-tariffing? The pitfalls of more rehabilitative police cautions
Children imprisoned on remand – the stark reality of racial bias
Only by radically shrinking the magistrates’ court can the Crown Court backlog be reduced
Is justice for victims always criminal justice?
Does the defendant in the magistrates’ court get a fair hearing?
Want to build trust in the police? Detain less
Making child remand a last resort
Do people who get in trouble with the law deserve double punishment?
Independent domestic violence advocates in specialist courts – a backfire effect?
Is imprisonment before trial the result of poor risk assessment?
Keeping the wheels of justice turning – magistrates’ views on justice in the pandemic
This single justice procedure affects women more than men?
Will harsher sanctions reduce assaults on police and NHS workers
out of sight, out of mind – defendant’s experience of video court hearings
Can assaults on police and NHS workers be avoided in the first place?
Sign the petition and tell President Biden to fulfill his promise to clear the federal death row.
How This Minneapolis Man Is Healing Collective Trauma Through Creative Counseling and Mentoring
Trauma informed training attempts to bridge gap between Newark residents + cops
A model for police + community relations
An up-close portrait of the people doing violence intervention work
New nonprofit uses yoga to address Black men’s mental health
Community-based violence prevention works, but it needs sustained support
The Future of Public Safety is Now
Truth, justice + accountability
Progress on the legal aid for inquests campaign
Leon – Nadia – Sam – Matthew -Zoe – Marshall – Jane – Sammy – Coco – Trevor – Shane – Abdul – Lamont – Andrew – Steven – Gavin – Jason – Micheal – Jack – Alex
including connection cafes
Less crime, safer communities, fewer people in prison
The hidden crisis that isn't making the headlines
Punished when they should have been helped
Stop building women's prisons – EMAIL MP
focussed on reducing the unnecessary arrests of women reducing child arrests and ending the criminalisation of children in care
Changing outcomes for Black people in the criminal justice system
"Nobody really cares about prisons"
Arrests of children have been reduced by 74% over the last decade, in another major step forward for our successful campaign.
Since 2010, the Howard League for Penal Reform has been working with police forces across England and Wales to reduce child arrests, helping to ensure that hundreds of thousands of boys and girls do not have their lives blighted by a criminal record.
We campaign on a wide range of issues including children in the criminal justice system, change inside prisons, community sentencing + policing
We have an in-house expert legal team who represent children in custody.
We strive to minimise the human suffering and social harms that are both causes of crime and consequences of punishment.
We stand for constructive forms of justice that contribute to building a safer, fairer society.
We stand against abuse and mistreatment and all forms of discrimination in the criminal justice system.
Prisons create conflict, put a strain on the police and hospitals and thwart human potential – they simply do not work.
Sadly, the government are planning on expanding our already over-crowded prison population.
The recently published Prisons strategy white paper has dedicated £4 billion to new prions places, with the Ministry of Justice’s own projections predicting the population to reach almost 99,000 over the next five years.
International Women’s Day
A day in the community where we celebrate and empower women.
Unfortunately, for women in prison, today won’t be a day for celebrations.
There were almost 5,000 receptions of women into prison last year, and more than half of them were for women on remand.
Too many women are being swept up into the justice system when it is not necessary or appropriate.
Most women in prison have a history of childhood abuse or trauma, they need a safe space and support.
Prison life during the pandemic
“Being creative has helped me survive my prison sentence”
it is going to be a good one – including Ai Weiwei
Upcoming Exhibitions & Opportunities at Koestler Arts!
Exciting Announcements and Exhibition Details!
Behind the Scenes with the Koestler Award Judges!
You can email + sign petitions without donating to anything
MoD document approves British troops for illegal bombing, charity claims
US drone strikes – SEND A MESSAGE
I’m still in Guantánamo - TWEET
Ministers are deciding whether to save a life
81 men executed in Saudi Arabia – ACTION
Salina and Joey – EMAIL LIZ TRUSS
Demand justice for bereaved families of lethal drone strikes in Libya
Petition – abolish death penalty in Malawi
Priti Patel and the National Security Bill – PETITION
Abandoned British nationals in North East Syria
Distracting the world with its money and sportswashing – PETITION
What did Zelensky say on same-sex marriage in Ukraine? - PETITION
"Gay cures" here are worse than we thought – PETITION
this is what conversion therapy looks like in Russia – PETITION
listen to voices in Ghana – PETITION
Emergency: Afghan LGBT+ people in danger
Anti-Trans Bill in Guatemala Must Be Stopped
Russia: They’re shutting us down
Russia: LGBT+ activist under house arrest
Behind the scenes of China's queer community
Help ban "conversion therapy" in the Netherlands
A giant flag that says: support trans visibility
Russian LGBT Network under attack
Lesbian activist attacked in Ukraine
A one way ticket back to danger – PLEASE SIGN
Stop “conversion therapies” in Colombia
I didn’t want to leave my country, but I didn’t have a choice – PETITION
why the ECHR matters – video + campaign
Demand real alternatives to policing – ACTION
speak up for human rights – PETITION
protest rights at risk – again – PETITION
You do not have to donate when signing a petition – petitions are free to sign
On Thursday 22 February 1934,
Liberty was founded to defend “the whole spirit of British freedom”
Now, on our 88th anniversary, our fight is more important than ever as the Government attempts to shut down the ways people can hold it to account.
We won’t let the Government become untouchable.
Democratic crisis
In a democratic society, people must be able to hold the powerful to account – but the Government is trying to rewrite the rules.
It wants to ‘overhaul’ the Human Rights Act. The HRA forces public authorities to respect rights and enables people to enforce their rights in court if they fall short.
But the Government wants to remove this obligation on public authorities and make it near-impossible for anyone to get to court and see justice.
Similarly, its Judicial Review Bill will change judges’ powers so challenging the Government’s action in court won’t be worthwhile.
Plans for mandatory voter ID which could prevent millions of people having their say in elections.
And the Government is sidelining MPs when making laws, giving them little time to scrutinise proposals.
Alongside these attacks, the anti-protest Policing Bill is back in Parliament next week.
Last month the House of Lords dealt a major blow to the Government’s plans by ripping out some of the worst proposals.
But ministers are now trying to get some back in – including criminalising noisy protests.
Noise is at the very heart of protest.
It is literally how we make our voices heard.
Liberty was founded following the oppressive treatment of protesters on the National Hunger March, and we will always work to protect this key pillar of democracy.
Together we can stop this democratic crisis in its tracks.
Email MP to protect our rights
URGENT PETITION: save the Human Rights Act
TELL THE GOVERNMENT TO STOP THE ATTACKS ON OUR DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS
In many respects the Government’s plans laid out in the Queen’s Speech are even worse than anticipated
They include:
A so-called ‘Bill of Rights’
which would scrap the Human Rights Act and remove obligations on public bodies like local councils and government departments to treat people fairly
A Public Order Bill
which would force through the anti-protest measures that our mass public resistance defeated just a few months ago, such as criminalising ‘lock-on’ protests
A National Security Bill
handing state security services even more power and potentially threatening the work of journalists who uncover dark truths
Even after it suffered stinging defeats in the last Parliament, the Government is returning to force through unwanted and unpopular policies
Revealed: Alarming rise in deaths of asylum seekers
new met boss must be spark for real change – PETITION
3 things new Met Chief must do right now
Fighting NHS Charging – What can you do now?
NETPOL – the network for police monitoring
Black Lives Matter protest – VIDEO
new report condemns "revenge policing" and calls for scrapping new police powers
They want to silence criticism
Boris Johnson misled Parliament
They want to block public interest
This is not the Britain we should be
Other information sources
Sanders and McDonnell on community wealth
Land banks and community land trusts
Community wealth building comes to Scotland
How to Make a Democracy Economy
South Korea explores community wealth building
How NY can enter ‘a new era of public power’
Technology
“Innovation is not designed to create happiness
It's designed a lot of the time to facilitate one's needs and desires, to stimulate desire and all of those kinds of things
It's certainly about doing all of that, but it's not about making the world better for people
And it's not about improving their lives in any way
It's about trying to actually create a world in which more profit is to be had”
Military
"The one sector of government that doesn’t experience austerity is the military budget.”
“To what degree is competition between states somehow rather related, tightly related, to the competition between capitalists?”
Ask Prof Wolff: Is Nordic Socialism a Progressive Step?
How Capitalism Shapes our Food
The Challenge of China – New Global Capitalism Lecture
Recommended Reading list on Cooperatives.
Economic Update: Germany Shifts Left
Ask Prof Wolff: Taxing Billionaires
Wolff Responds: Capitalism's False Defenses
All Things Co-op: Cuba's New Cooperative Legislation
Global Capitalism: The Problems with China's Economy
we learn about the psychology of control and domination
understand our personal connections to capitalism’s structure
All Things Co-op: Lessons from Venezuela’s Social Economy
Ask Prof Wolff: From Capitalism to Co-op
All Things Co-op: Blockchain and Cryptocurrency
Ukraine, Sanctions and Rising Inflation
Economic Update: Unaffordable Housing
The popular movement for peace needs to be rekindled
All Things Co-op: There Is An Alternative To Capitalism
With rising inflation rates, mass resignations, poor working conditions, and expensive housing, it’s clear that capitalism in the US is falling apart.
To counter this, the right wing is working hard to repress each and every marginalized group in order to keep the working class divided. In this episode of Capitalism Hits Home, Dr. Fraad looks at that fascist push to maintain a hierarchy in family, faith, morality, and nationalism.
One way the Right does this is by attacking women and LGBTQ+ rights with abortion bans and anti-trans bills.
In this legal stage of early fascism in the US, we need to take cues from other countries that successfully countered right-wing attacks on body autonomy by creating coalitions and unified fronts.
Capitalism Hits Home: Connection – The Foundation of Mental Health
Global Capitalism: The Socialism That Focuses Too Much on Government
Ask Prof Wolff: Capitalism Doesn’t Care About You
Crooked Crook Ltd, Company registration scandals
Casino Capitalism and a just transition: the Taxcast podcast
A tide-turning moment in the global struggle for tax justice
Including an item about UK care homes
The Whiteness of Wealth: podcast with Prof Dorothy Brown
Podcast: From an uncaring to a caring economy + global minimum corporate tax plan
Podcast: The capture of Malta and the fight for justice
"You need to be very strong.
To do the job that she did you really have to be your own person.
You couldn’t be the kind of person who worries what people might think of you, and you really have to say, no, I’m not going to adapt, I’m not going to fall into that mould.
I’m going to break it and keep breaking.”
Paul Caruana Galizia
Podcast: Degrowth: liberation from ‘growthism’
Pandora Papers shows transparency failure is an accountability failure
Jersey’s Pandora’s Boxes: The Tax Justice Network podcast
The Swiss banking clean-up is a mirage
10 measures to expose sanctioned Russian oligarchs’ hidden assets
Podcast: Financial Secrecy Index 2022
Podcast: Amazon's tax challenge
Our tax system is broken – EMAIL MP
Support President Biden’s proposal to stop global tax dodging - PETITION
Pandora Papers shows transparency failure is an accountability failure
Rogue solicitors offering fake advice to scam migrants out of life savings
MPs charged public £1.3m to foot their tax bills
Nobody is happy here’: The asylum seekers stuck in Home Office hotels
Religious fundamentalist lawyers ‘preyed on’ Archie Battersbee’s family
Just working for wood: life inside Tajikistan’s silk industry
Florida’s Republican governor is attacking trans rights to gain power
Black Italians’ plea to media and politicians after killing of Nigerian man
Revealed: UK household energy debt hit record high even before price hikes
Sunak’s plan to criminalise ‘hating Britain’ is a throwback to empire
Exclusive: Suspended doctor is trustee of Belfast anti-abortion charity
DEFRA pressured officials to clear ports giant over Whitby crab deaths
It isn’t just the Tories weaponising ‘diversity’ – it’s all of us
Exclusive: Influential UK net-zero sceptics funded by US oil ‘dark money’
Exclusive: US climate deniers pump millions into Tory-linked think tanks
Energy crisis has made 30 House of Lords members wealthier
Ugandan police accused of anti-gay bias in murder investigation
The UK’s Nationality and Borders Act penalises women. Here’s how
The world burns and the richest profit. It doesn’t have to be this way
5 things the next Tory leader can do to help LGBTQ+ people
Top Ghanaian doctors use misinformation to train nurses in ‘conversion therapy’
Insulation could have cooled Britain down
Home Office pressured inspector to soften damning report on Channel crossings
Why the law alone won’t save us – or the planet
Next PM shouldn’t forget Johnson’s attitude to sexual assault was his undoing
Warning over Truss’ links to US lobbyists who tanked Obama climate law
Our ‘democracy’ is taking away our rights. It’s time for change
20 MPS took staff from anti-abortion group seeking to replicate US backlash
Exclusive: Substandard landlords bank £132m to house vulnerable residents
Russian oligarch dodged sanctions over Mayfair mansion
Birmingham pays half a billion pounds to under-fire landlords
Women disproportionately affected by soaring Mental Health Act detentions
How the UK government is undermining the Freedom of Information Act
There are many reasons to hate what Putin has done to Russia.
He has given its riches to his friends, who are now billionaires many times over; he has destroyed its political parties, used its courts as weapons, imprisoned activists, forced honourable patriots to flee their own country; he has used its money to support vile political causes in other countries, and used its media to spread lies and misinformation worldwide.
But few things have ever touched me as much as the fate of Yanayev.
It is the sign of a true tyranny when murder is so commonplace and happens so openly, as it did on 28 December 2004, when police officers just took him away from a crowded airport and killed him.
I have no idea what he had done to upset them.
He wasn’t famous or outspoken, perhaps it was a case of mistaken identity. It felt like this could have happened to anyone.
We know about his murder thanks to a strange anomaly, which is that Russia has – despite Putin having destroyed every other vestige of its shaky 1990s democracy – remained subject to the European Court of Human Rights.
According to the court’s judgements, Russia has violated Article Two of the European Convention – i.e. it has committed murder –349 times since signing up in 1996.
That is more than 13 murders a year.
It is incredibly hard to bring a case to the ECHR, and triply so when the case is against a government that murders witnesses.
90% of Met officers disciplined for racism still work for force
Boris Johnson’s government is threatening an unthinkable attack on our rights
Rail firms paid shareholders £800m before asking workers to take pay cut
Racism in UK maternal care: ‘Why aren’t we being listened to?’
Meet the man risking arrest to set up an LGBTIQ museum in Russia
Revealed: Taxpayers fork out £8m to subsidise Lords’ food and drink
Sunak’s jobs scheme left young people in debt and failed to vet employers
Close Kremlin allies among Russian donors who gave £7m to British unis
The post-Roe v Wade crisis can only end if Democrats restore our rights
NHS privatisation linked to 557 ‘treatable’ deaths in five years
Rishi Sunak could become PM. Here’s what he doesn’t want you to know
Tory leadership candidates are weaponising trans rights – again
Tanzania is using murder charges to get nomadic Maasai off their homelands
Ukrainian prisoners of war reveal torture and humiliation in Russian jails
Women win decades-long clean air battle in Chile’s own Chernobyl
Britain must defend human rights
Top US homeschooling advocates say parents have ‘right’ to inflict pain
Sunak’s ‘levelling up’ bank loans £500m to firms with tax haven links
Truss and Sunak’s reheated Thatcherism is the last thing the UK needs
Why ‘gender criticals’ are desperate to claim victory against Stonewall
The UK’s Nationality + Borders Act penalises women
Facebook whistleblowers in the UK
Hey, YouTube – leave our kids alone
A lot more to do on government algorithms
Support Facebook content moderators in calling for fair treatment!
Taking on the tech giants: the lawyer fighting the power of algorithmic systems
Join us – tell Sadiq Khan to take action against Uber!
Matt Hancock: Drop your plan to put NHS patients' health data into one massive database - PETITION
fresh evidence: disappearing messages and "government by WhatsApp"
"this algorithm decides who eats and who goes hungry"
Government by WhatsApp – email your MP
Facebook on notice of legal action – SIGN LETTER
They exploit Facebook moderators and call it “ethical”. Help us stop them
facebook is violating Kenya’s hate prevention guideline – PETITION
Campaign for freedom of information
ICO should end its near invisibility on FOI
Call for tougher FOI enforcement and other news
Article 19 – defending freedom of expression + information
What does misinformation smell like?
Speaking out on social media takedowns – YOUR HELP NEEDED
Younger people
How to keep children safe online
mental health – SUPPORT INFORMATION
Together we're helping children to report abuse
email the new Minister in charge
A Life More Wild – Dr Alex George & Brook House Woods
Society needs to change. Have your say on how
Supporting your child with anxiety
Tips for coping with peer pressure
Toxic masculinity and mental health
tips on the start of your eating disorder recovery journey
Malala – Assembly – How you can stand up to anti-Asian racism
Assembly is publishing a book!
Malala: I Fear for My Afghan Sisters
Amplifying the voices of Afghan girls and women
completing my education with elephantiasis
My life before + after the Taliban takeover
What is the best form of activism for you?
What this intern learned about how to get scouted on TikTok
The career advice you need to read
Afghan girls + women are making brave decisions every day
A brighter future for Chilean students
Why Egypt’s football clubs are losing female players
How to help Ukrainian refugees
Jamming out to feminist punk rock
free annual membership to Master Class
Barriers students face to ADHD diagnosis and care
A guide for first-time climate activists
Girls like me are taking action – EMAIL MP
Girls forced to marry – PETITION
The Stranger Series with Coram’s Young Citizens
We see you; we hear you and we care about you – SUPPORT LINES INFORMATION
One in five young women have lost work or future work
57% say they have been affected financially
One in four have taken on extra caring responsibilities
83% said that their mental health had suffered
1 in 10 they have been unable to afford food or other essentials
Ask your MP to do more to prevent online hate speech
Act now: support young women this winter
New report reveals one size fits no one
Including peer researchers
can you help make equality a reality for young women?
Peer Research: The Power of Shared Experience
Lucy’s story: coaching helped me believe in myself
Maternal Mental Health Alliance
A step in the right direction for pregnant women's safety at work - EMAIL MP
Are you on maternity leave? Take our survey!
We're calling for maternity pay to be increased – will you help us?
Tips for coping in these anxious times
Read our tips and advice for supporting a friend
If you are in crisis and need immediate support, you can access help from these organisations:
available 24/7 for listening support on 116 123.
text ‘SHOUT’ to 85258 to speak to a crisis counsellor.
open 9am-midnight, call 0800 068 41 41 for support around suicidal thoughts and feelings.
CAMHS Crisis Line
a free confidential NHS helpline offering support for young people aged 17 and under in crisis on 0300 303 1320
a free confidential NHS helpline offering support for adults aged 18+ on 0800 012 6549
real-time, online support
0800 1111. 7:30am – 3.30am
0800 58 58 58
0808 808 4994 3pm – 12am everyday
Fantastic for families – update
Free benefits training
contact uc-london@cpag.org.uk
Government bodies
Mental Health Act Statistics, Annual Figures – 2020-21
Still, we suffer – Wendy
Mental Health Strategy Delivery Plan for 2022/23
Proposed NHS mental health access standards for patients
Upcoming events delivered by the NHS Confederation
Health quality improvement partnership (HQIP)
National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health: Annual report
Our equality objectives 2021-2025
Now available: State of Care – CQC's annual assessment of health care and social care in England
From Paternalism to human rights
Restraint, segregation and seclusion review: progress report
Monitoring the Mental Health Act
Putting people at the centre of system regulation: learning to lead in changing times
our new single assessment framework
HSE Stress eBulletin: Working Minds campaign launches
Office for National Statistics
A report from the Office of National Statistics revealed an estimated 778 people died in England and Wales while homeless in 2019 – an annual increase of 7%
This is the fifth year in a row that the number of people who have died has increased.
It is the highest number since records began.
ONS blog - good data from any source can help us report on the global goals to the UN
ONS blog - Unlocking the power of data to better understand private rents
ONS blog - Far from average: How COVID-19 has impacted the Average Weekly Earnings data
How many people fund their own care?
The lasting impact of violence against women and girls
Beneath our feet: improving estimates of UK land value
DHSC Voluntary Sector Newsletter – INCLUDING HELPLINE FOR SUPPORTING + BEHAVIOUR
Launch of new autism strategy to help autistic people live more independent and fulfilled lives
Revisiting safeguarding practice
Vaccination as a condition of deployment to be revoked
Health and Care Bill: launch of new white paper
Ombudsman news special – annual review launched
local government association (LGA) – august 2022
Inclusive economies and healthy futures: Supporting place-based action to reduce health inequalities
Improvement + innovation bulleting – July 2022
Debate Not Hate: the impact of abuse on local democracy
Including monthly Mayor’s Question time
27% of schools are exposed to dangerous levels of air pollution.
It took decades to protect our children from cigarette smoke.
We can’t make that mistake again; we must tackle toxic air pollution right now.
That’s why we introduced the Ultra-Low Emission Zone, cleaned up our buses and taxis and tackled emissions from construction sites.
But we must go further to protect the health of Londoners across our city.
My number one priority is to protect the health of Londoners, and the life chances of future generations.
I will do all I can to ensure that every Londoner can breathe clean air.
Clearing the air: pollution in London
Reforming private renting in London
My society – including support with FOI requests
PETITION – Vital information hidden
NIHR – Lockdown raised anxiety in people with anorexia and their carers, but online resources helped
Transforming out-of-hospital care for people who are homeless
Together in research – Spring 2021
Caring for older people at home can be just as good, or even better, than hospital care
Vegan diet could control blood sugar for people with type 2 diabetes
Together in research – Summer 2021
seeking views on ways to substantially reduce research bureaucracy
Together in research – Autumn 2021
Together in research – Winter 2021/22
Including paid involvement
Free bus travel keeps young Londoners socially connected
Together in research – Spring 2022
Together in research – Summer 2022
Health and Social Care Committee
Local Government Authority – Update
Would you like to shape the future of Patient Safety within the local NHS?
Complete our NHS and ICS websites survey for a chance to win £100 vouchers
Wandsworth
Wandsworth Community Empowerment Network (WCEN)
In the UK, people with brown skin are being denied equal and compassionate mental health care.
They are more likely to be brought to and kept in hospital without their consent.
They are more likely to access mental health services through the police and criminal justice systems, and to find themselves unwell and back again once released.
People with brown skin, particularly men, are more likely to be forcibly restrained and given more than the recommended amount of medication.
WCEN 2021
If you are unhappy with the care or treatment you have received from the NHS, and would like help to make a complaint, POhWER can help.
They provide guidance, information and advocacy to help people get matters put right.
Telephone: 0203 553 5960
Email: LondonIHCAS@pohwer.net
Letter: London IHCAS Advocacy Hub, POhWER, Hertlands House, Primett Road, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, SG1 3EE
If you live in Wandsworth and need support to tell people what you want, and to understand your rights, you can contact VoiceAbility.
They provide advocacy for people who may be vulnerable and need support to speak up about their care needs.
Telephone: 020 7924 7772
Email: wandsworth@voiceability.org
Letter: VoiceAbility, Unit B102, Trident Business Centre, 89 Bickersteth Road, Tooting, London, SW17 9SH
If you are unhappy with the care or treatment you have received from an NHS or social care service, and would like help to make a complaint, Rethink could help. They provide guidance, information and advocacy to help people get matters put right.
Telephone: 300 7900 559
Email: wandradvocacy@rethink.org
Web address: Rethink Advocacy Independent Service in Wandsworth and Richmond leaflet 2.pdf
For guidance and help to find organisations and services to support your health and wellbeing needs, you can contact the Wandsworth Wellbeing Hub.
Telephone: 020 3880 0366 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm)
Email: waccg.wandsworthhub@nhs.net
Letter: Wandsworth Wellbeing Hub, 120 The Broadway, Wimbledon, London, SW19 1RH
If you, or someone you know, have / has care and support needs, and you need information and help, you can speak to Wandsworth Adult Social Services. Adult social services provide information and help to adults who have difficulty with everyday things.
Telephone: 020 8871 7707 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm)
Email: accessteam@wandsworth.gov.uk
Letter: Adult Social Care and Public Health, The Town Hall, Wandsworth High Street, London, SW18 2PU
Emergency out of hours
Please contact the switchboard on 020 8871 6000 and ask for the emergency social worker.
If you need information on the activities and support services that may be available to you and your family, you can contact THRIVE Online (previously known as the Family Information Service).
THRIVE Online provides information and assistance to parents, children, young people and professionals on support services and activities for the 0-19 years’ age group (25 if the young person has a special need).
Telephone: 020 8871 7899 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm)
Email:thriveonline@richmondandwandsworth.gov.uk
Letter: THRIVE Online, THE 4, Wandsworth Town Hall, Wandsworth High Street, London, SW18 2PU
Richmond
Richmond community drug + alcohol service (RCDAS)
Mon – Weds – Thursday – Friday – 9am to 4.30pm
Tuesday 9am to 1pm women only
Tuesday 1pm to 4.30pm
Ilex House
Unit 2
94 Holly Road
TW14HF
0203 228 3020
Richmond town centre has a new ‘Safe Space’ on Friday and Saturday nights
sometimes we do not realise we are lonely
Our Journey Recovery Hubs are preparing to move to drop-in provision
We’re expanding our Psychotherapy and Counselling service and looking for new members of the team
Writing + creativity group
contact naomi.rae@rbmind.org
Enroll now for our free Resilience in Progress online course for parents
contact youth.service@rbmind.org
Bridge the gap – support booklet
Richmond and Hillcroft Adult Community College
New Easy News story: UK temperatures reach 40.3 degrees in July heatwave
Guide to Richmond’s NHS, Care & Support
useful advice about dealing with sleep problems?
Healthy Living Survey – another chance to reply; and - Help to reduce the risk of dementia?
Including Directory of services
Talking Bubble – Telephone Befriending with Language Options
Free home sensors for unpaid carers in Richmond
NHS South West London Integrated Care System: News & First Meeting
Richmond CVS CYP Digest August 2022
Well being event 10 August not 10 September
Centre for Governance + Scrutiny
Including Anticipating, managing + adapting framework
Special newsletter on council finances
governance & scrutiny newsletter
Richmond council – LBRUT – events + news
Community hub – a dedicated helpline to deal with local enquiries and help signpost people to the right support at this difficult time.
The helpline number is 020 8871 6555
Please visit the council’s website for the most up to date information: www.richmond.gov.uk or phone 0208 891 1411
Find out more here: www.richmond.gov.uk/community_hub
Advertise your event / activity on LBRUT website
Got a good idea – get community funding?
Do you know of someone who might benefit from a video Carephone?
I need help finding food or essential home items
Careplace are promoting – Free Community Counselling Service – Available online or over the phone
Struggling to pay your fuel bills? The Council can help
Additional grants are also available from the Household Support Fund for food, bills and other essential items, via Citizens Advice Richmond and Richmond AID.
Claim £150 towards your energy bills
Free home sensors for unpaid carers in Richmond
Know Your Place Heritage Festival with Richmond Libraries
Centre for Governance + Scrutiny (CfGS)
Bolstering scrutiny / scrutiny frontiers / guest blogs / Health & Care Bill update
Including anticipate – manage – adapt idea
Health & Care – special newsletter
Governance and scrutiny news from CfGS
Afghanistan & Central Asian Association
Stop Levelling Down London’s Transport
Update on proposed SWR service reduction
Pressing Government for Zero Carbon Homes
Munira – stop levelling down London’s transport
Twickenham repair cafe -3rd Saturday of each month 10:30 to 13:30
40.000 deaths per year – Air pollution – EMAIL BORIS
Help with bills + …
Hounslow
You can find details of health services in your area from NHS Choices
Call 999 for emergency services
Emergency and urgent care health services – 111
Hounslow Council: Out of hours social care support – 020 8583 2222 For more information please click here
Hounslow Council: For more information on Adult social care, please click here
Hounslow Council: For more information on Children and families, please click here
CarePlace: Provides a Directory of Services, Information and Guidance enabling direct access to local care and community services. For more information, please click here
West London NHS Trust – Mental health crisis: 24-hour helpline 0800 328 4444. For more information, please click here
Films on the green – FREE – July + August
Mental health + wellbeing resources for Londoners
downloading the free NHS weight loss plan
Hampton Kempton waterworks railway +
Get laughing – it’s free therapy +
including ideas around coping + thriving despite anxiety
Including support regarding cost of living rises
Activities in Hounslow + Cllr Salman Shaheen’s desire to expand allotment provision in the borough
Should other boroughs follow suit?
- Wendy -
Anyone can struggle to maintain good mental health from, no matter who they are.
Whilst there's no permanent fix, these 5 free things can help to lighten the load.
1 – Talk to someone.
If you’re not in the place for extra support like therapy this is one of the best things you can do to take care of yourself and others. Or use the power of talking for even more good and become a Community Champion.
2 – Get out in nature.
There are lots of gorgeous green spaces in Hounslow, and across London.
Check out what's going on outdoors this season at in Hounslow
3 – Set aside time for yourself.
Self-care doesn’t need to mean spending on bath bombs.
Dedicate time to something you love – cooking, reading, gaming, drawing, journaling, watching movies, playing an instrument and more can all help you destress.
4 – Gentle exercise.
You don’t need to do HIIT workouts at the gym to benefit from exercise.
As little as 15-30 minutes of walking can give you a serotonin boost. Looking for something more serious?
Try the free NHS Couch to 5K app or find free classes
5 – Visit
Our Take Care, Take 5 hub offers accessible solutions for mental health concerns.
Find support on physical health, COVID-19 concerns, financial worries, and employment skills here too.
Fly Tipping is a problem, not only in Hounslow, but across London and the country.
In 2021, Hounslow Council received over 24,000 reports of fly tips across the borough which cost us over £1.3m.
We are determined to reduce the incidents of fly tipping which will make our borough cleaner and greener.
Support for loneliness – don’t blame yourself for feeling lonely it happens to us all
The Art of Coproduction - A Guerrilla Guide
Or ask for one for free?
care in the community – really – Steph de la Haye
Invitation to Camp Hope!
Contact kim@wecoproduce.com
Sutton +
Sutton Healthwatch – Mental Well Being
The economic case for investing in the prevention of mental health conditions in the UK
Sutton Mental Health Foundation – Sutton Wellbeing Line
We all get more forgetful as we get older, but there are things you can do about it.
The way you live your life, and in particular the way in which you eat,
can make a huge difference to your memory, slowing down cognitive decline or even reversing it.
Westminster Drug project (WDP)
How less pay has affected people's mental health and wellbeing
New podcast: Do we care enough?
New analysis: Care home residents hard hit by reduced hospital care
New report – Unequal pandemic, fairer recovery
What does our ageing population mean for health and social care demand?
Action as an antidote to despair
Do patients prefer online consultations in general practice?
Taking action to build good health
including importance of social determinants
Let’s talk differently about health: why framing matters
Everyday Racism: How racist is Britain?
CRÈME project – stands for Communicating the Race Equality Message Effectively
By 2025, we aim to:
Engage 1 million people
Support 5,000 Digital Inclusion Hubs across the nation
We want:
Everyone to have the internet access they need
Everyone to have somewhere local to go for help to use the internet
Everyone to feel able and safe in the online world
Let’s solve data poverty with people – not for them
Digital inclusion as a basic human right
9 million people struggle to use the internet independently and 7 million people
(11% of the UK's adult population)
are still offline
(Digital Nation UK, 2020)
Black Identities – Student Discount – Hearing Voices – Wild Therapy
Camden +
Do you take an antipsychotic medication?
Contact GEMS@ucl.ac.uk
Housing issues – what is your view?
contact TheSidebySideNetwork@gmail.com
[PODCAST] Deaths by Welfare – Resisting DWP violence – Dolly Sen
National Voices held a conference exploring the topic of Integrated Care Systems
As the ICS Bill works its way through the final stages of the Parliamentary process, and the last constitutional questions are being resolved, now is the right moment to identify the changes that we actually want to see as a result of this fundamental shift in the way the health and care system is organised.
We want to see better, more equal outcomes for people, especially those not currently well supported by existing models.
We also want to see more coordinated and effective care that enables people to live well, with fewer barriers between communities and formal services.
[RESEARCH] Participants over 50 required
contact harry.costello@ucl.ac.uk
[FUNDING] Green grants for Islington
Camden + Islington recovery college
Oxevision cameras and the Trust now in the Independent
Conversations Around Loneliness & Mental Health booklet
[OPPORTUNITY] PPI in Commissioning
There is a researcher looking to interview service users and carers who have experience on being involved with commissioning or working with commissioners.
The interview takes about 40 minutes and will be recorded but your name will not appear in the final paper against any quotes they use.
Let me know if you are interested and I will pass on your email address.
This is external to the trust.
There is a small payment for the interview depending how long it takes – probably £20 or so. paid by BACS.
contact TheSidebySideNetwork@gmail.com
Are you on a waiting list for your mental health?
Contact Ray.Dunne@rcpsych.ac.uk
Does anyone have experience of calling 111 for help with their mental health?
Any thoughts please contact TheSidebySideNetwork@gmail.com
Wanted – Coproduction anecdotes
contact TheSidebySideNetwork@gmail.com
Hand in Hand peer buddy – feedback requested
Any thoughts please contact TheSidebySideNetwork@gmail.com
Learn something new in 22 for free!
New Peer Buddy Scheme – Hand in Hand Islington
Any thoughts please contact TheSidebySideNetwork@gmail.com
Free Community Research online course launches | Co-Production Collective
Second independent audit of ECT published finds patient safety is being put at risk
A second audit of NHS mental health Trusts, using Freedom of Information Act requests has confirmed that both the administration and monitoring of Electroconvulsive Treatment (ECT) in England are failing to guarantee the safety of patients.
ECT involves the passing of sufficient electricity through the brain, under general anaesthesia, to cause a seizure.
Some claim it is a safe and effective treatment for severe depression.
But a recent review found little evidence that it is any better than placebo and concluded that it causes persistent or permanent memory loss in 12% to 55% of patients.1
The largest study to date has just confirmed that it does not, as claimed, prevent suicide.2
The audit confirmed that about 2,500 people are given ECT annually in England.
The majority continue to be women (67%), and over 60 (58%).
More than one in three (37%) are being forcibly given ECT against their will, and 18% of Trusts are not complying with the law regarding second opinions relating to compulsory treatment.
There were slight declines, compared to a previous audit,3 in the use of appropriate measures to assess efficacy, down to 30%, and standardised measures of memory loss, down to 24%.
There was a 47-fold difference between the two Trusts with the highest (Avon & Wiltshire, and North Staffordshire) and the lowest (Mersey Care) rates per capita.
Thus, the probability of getting ECT seems to be a postcode lottery based on the opinions of local psychiatrists.
The majority of Trusts were unable to provide any data for positive outcomes or for adverse effects during treatment (usually a 3-week period involving about 10 electroshocks).
None provided data on efficacy or adverse effects beyond end of treatment.
ECT in England is supposed to be monitored by the Royal College of Psychiatrists via their ‘ECT Accreditation Service’ (ECTAS).
But ECTAS does not monitor some of the issues addressed by this independent audit, such as how many Trusts are using proper assessment measures, how many are complying with the Mental Health Act regarding second opinions for forced treatment, and how many ECT patients had first been offered psychological treatment – in compliance with N.I.C.E. guidelines.
ECTAS has no powers to sanction ECT clinics that fail to meet even their limited set of standards, and has never disaccredited an ECT clinic.
About 10% of ECT clinics do not bother to sign up to the ECTAS process at all.
The audit concluded:
'Given the apparent failure of current monitoring and accrediting ECT clinics in England, by the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ ECT Accreditation Service (ECTAS), an independent government sponsored review is urgently needed.'
[RESOURCE] Recovery After Rape
We have obtained a copy of the workbook "Recovery After Rape".
As it can be triggering, I won't send it out indiscriminately but if you want a pdf of it for yourself or someone else, just say.
Contact thesidebysidenetwork@gmail.com
[EVENTS] Wednesday workshops for young black men aged 18-25
[RESOURCE] Mental Health and Debt booklet
Click here for the write to your MP template
Mutual Aid, volunteering and helping in the community. - Time to Spare
National Voices' submission to the Health and Social Care Select Committee
DIALOG+ and the Recovery Star
Dear Friends,
I was wondering if you have experience of either DIALOG+ or the Recovery Star?
(or other stars – more about those here: History of the star + Recovery star 4)
There was an element of co-production in the Recovery Star for Mental Health, and there has since been an Un-Recovery Star, also from the user-survivor movement which outlines the things that work against our recovery.
These are the questions that the DIALOG tool asks
and these are the areas of the 4th Edition Recovery star.
Note that it used to contain “work” but this has been dropped now.
The Recovery Star covers ten outcome areas:
Managing mental health
Physical health
Living skills
Friends and community
Use of time
Relationships
Addictive behaviour
Home
Identity and self-esteem
Trust and hope
The Recovery Star (4th Edition) is underpinned by a five-stage, ten step Journey of Change model:
Stuck (1-2)
Accepting help (3-4)
Believing and trying (5-6)
Learning (7-8)
Self-reliance (9-10)
I would be interested to hear your opinions and in particular how you think they compare.
Thanks
Bev
Impact assessment of the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019
Do you have experience of the Camden Early Intervention Service?
WE are looking for people who have has some experience of the early intervention service – the one based at Greenland Road at the moment.
If this might be you, we would love to hear from you.
Kind regards
Bev
thesidebysidenetwork@gmail.com
for all aspects of family live
[INFO] Boloh – the Black and Asian family Covid-19 Helpline
Are you a black, Asian or minority ethnic child, young person, parent or carer affected by COVID-19?
Free help available
0800 1512605
[RESOURCE] Support After Suicide
DANCE for JOY
The Well, St Pancras Hospital, St Pancras Way, NW1 0PE
2pm every Monday thereafter, except for public holidays
Contact davidvital@talktalk.net
[OPPORTUNITY] Research participation – seeking voice hearers
[OPPORTUNITY] Someone with experience of paranoia or psychosis and who has smartphone
Alex Kenny alexkenny@mcpin.org
McPin Involvement Bulletin – Issue 38
McPin MINI Involvement Bulletin – Issue 38.5 – June 2022
The cost-of-living crisis & a new campaign – McPin Newsletter Summer 2022
Improving employment support for Black people with long-term conditions
Haiku is a Japanese form of poetry which uses the format of three lines.
Here are our haikus.
We hope you enjoy reading them.
The Benefits System:
I have no money.
Brown envelope arrives, phew.
Do I deserve it?
Isolation:
On my own, alone.
I am in isolation
Yes and it’s just fine.
Longing:
You slip between my
Fingers; all I can do is
Watch you drift away
Racism:
You pray to their gods
Then, under your burning cross,
You murdered them all
Propaganda:
Feeding me with lies
Why not report some good news?
Keeping me in fear.
A young person on Covid’s inequalities, screen time and a video about lived
DWP Secret Report, Secret Algorithm And Keeping Secrets From WCA Reviewer
Truth About Disability Benefits: Dispatches
Nine Secrets DWP Is Desperate To Keep, PIP Mandatory Recon Success Plummets
It’s OK to not feel OK during challenging times
Codependency- The Unexpected Addicts
Train The Trainer – Applications OPEN
Contact Mike Lawrence – mike@talkforhealth.co.uk
Kingston Hospital’s Health Talks podcast
Developing our objectives for the year ahead
Quality Priorities for 2022/23 – We would like to hear from you
Contact khft.improvement@nhs.net
NEON project looking for your help?
South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust
Sutton Crisis Café – Sutton Mental Health Foundation (smhf.org.uk) – for info regarding the café in Sutton
Constructive & non-clinical alternative to A&E | Sunshine Recovery Cafe | Mental Health Crisis – based in Merton
Mental Health Recovery Cafe | Hestia – based in Wandsworth
Recovery Hub – Richmond Borough Mind (rbmind.org) – based in Twickenham
Survey regarding mental health + physical health
contact sherry.fuller@swlondon.nhs.uk
External Opportunity – Creating information sheets for women on Sodium Valporate & 1 to 1 interview to test a new communication tool ‘Is valproate the right treatment for me to manage my mental health?’
contact LeilaF@maths.cam.ac.uk or as3226@cam.ac.uk
Can you help with some Carer Recovery Research
South West London Mental Health Strategy
Involvement Recruitment & Selection training by 12 September
contact involvement@swlstg.nhs.uk
Stakeholder Panel for Community Transformation posts on 18 -19 August by 15 August
contact involvement@swlstg.nhs.uk
Help us to create resources to support people to lead their mental health appointments
contact involvement@swlstg.nhs.uk
St George's Tooting, St Helier and Epsom University Hospitals 5 Year Strategy
contact esth.sguh.strategy@nhs.net
tours of trinity buildings Springfield hospital – 20 + 22 September by 12 September
Survey from National Institute of Health Research – Understanding the experiences of people who have been living at home with a family member with dementia
contact Tasnim.fakira@swlstg.nhs.uk
or jayne.astbury@manchester.ac.uk
Summer Newsletter
contact involvement@swlstg.nhs.uk
Participants needed for Social Cognition in Anorexia Study
contact Jenni.leppanen@kcl.ac.uk
Spring 2022 – SWLSTG Stakeholder Bulletin
Spring Issue of Carers Newsletter
Contact involvement@swlstg.nhs.uk
Opportunity: New Model for Involvement & Coproduction
Contact involvement@swlstg.nhs.uk
Are you interested in sharing your lived experience within staff training and other events?
Contact involvement@swlstg.nhs.uk
Advert for: IAPT Internship Program Talk Wandsworth
For further details / informal visits contact:
Noel Brown (Wellbeing Lead) on 07779 451 172 or noel.brown@swlstg.nhs.uk
Opportunity with Healthy London Partnership – Delays in S135 Assessments Task & Finish Group – opportunity for service users to become expert advisors for London wide project
e-mail kirsty.jarvie1@nhs.net
Opportunity – sharing your lived experience – Occupational Therapy Course Programme @ St Georges University of London
email J.Cronin-Davis@sgul.kingston.ac.uk
Gathering your views of SWLStGs services
email on zoe.hannam@swlstg.nhs.uk
Would you like to test a new questionnaire looking at carer recovery?
On behalf of Claire Hilton at Carer Recovery in partnership with South West London & St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust (SWLSTG’s) Clinical research team
Contact c.a.hilton@lancaster.ac.uk
Digital Inclusion Information
Involvement have gathered information regarding digital inclusion
Contact involvement@swlstg.nhs.uk
Mental Wellbeing weekly football-based programme – Queen's Park Rangers Community Trust
ContactConnor Bagenal
Inclusive Projects Officer
QPR In the Community Trust
07483 006 992
www.qprcommunitytrust.co.uk
Twitter: @QPRTrust
Have your say on our five-year digital strategy – SWLStG's
Contact involvement@swlstg.nhs.uk
THE CREATIVE WELLBEING PROJECT
EMAIL: INFO@COLLECTIVE-ARTS.ORG
OR TEXT OR CALL 07711 938 921
Social prescribing in Richmond – connecting people with activities in the local community – Ruils in partnership with the Richmond GP Alliance
Please contact Narinder Dosanjh, our project manager, for more information narinderdosanjh@ruils.co.uk
To read more about our link workers click here
To download our new Healthy Lifestyle Resource, click here
Link to you tube video re: what is social prescribing
Link to the Ruil’s website – Social Prescribing | RUILS Charity
Britney Spears: What is lithium, the drug she claims she was put on?
‘Co-production in mental health is about progression towards ‘the transformation of power and control’ (Slay & Stephens, 2013).
It requires thinking about people, power, partnerships, resources and risk in ways that are very different to what has gone before in mental health services.
It implies relocating power to mental health service users, survivors, their organisations and communities and this has implications for services and practitioners.
To ensure full collaboration, the co-production process should achieve equality and parity between all those involved.
Change happens during the process of co-production as well as being a consequence of it.
There is no single, universal model of co-production and the way co-production is done is specific to the task, context and the people involved, so this is not a ‘how to’ guide.
Instead, the aim is to set out some practice-based advice on what needs to be considered for progressing towards ‘transformative co-production’, specifically in mental health.
The advice within this toolkit is presented as ‘steps’, illustrated by practice lessons from what a number of different people and organisations in the field have tried and tested.
The guide also includes three case studies from different mental health settings drawn from the practice examples.’
NDTi - Coproduction in Mental Health Toolkit
The resources within the toolkit are aimed at everyone with a practical interest in making coproduction work in mental health services.
It is particularly designed for those at the frontline such as mental health service users, carers and their organisations as well as practitioners and managers who want to engage with and understand transformative coproduction.
The materials have been written in collaboration with service users and their organisations, NHS mental health practitioners and those working in community-based mental health organisations and initiatives.
This toolkit includes a:
Coproduction in Mental Health Toolkit - NDTi
Coproduction Week – Nice Guidance – Shared Decision Making (Jun 21)
This guideline covers how to make shared decision-making part of everyday care in all healthcare settings.
It promotes ways for healthcare professionals and people using services to work together to make decisions about treatment and care.
It includes recommendations on training, communicating risks, benefits and consequences, using decision aids, and how to embed shared decision making in organisational culture and practices.
Definition - Shared decision making is a collaborative process that involves a person and their healthcare professional working together to reach a joint decision about care.
It could be care the person needs straightaway or care in the future, for example, through advance care planning.
It involves choosing tests and treatments based both on evidence and on the person's individual preferences, beliefs and values.
It means making sure the person understands the risks, benefits and possible consequences of different options through discussion and information sharing. This joint process empowers people to make decisions about the care that is right for them at that time (with the options of choosing to have no treatment or not changing what they are currently doing always included).
Three-talk model
The three-talk model is a practical model of how to do shared decision making that is based on following choice, option and decision talk stages during the consultation.
The model has 3 steps:
introducing choice
describing options, often by integrating the use of patient decision support
helping people explore their preferences and make decisions.
Your views on the use of digital technology to enhance the care and support offered by South West London & St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust
Contact involvement@swlstg.nhs.uk
Free Live Online Exercises Classes with Clinical Exercise Therapy Team – Mon + Weds + Thurs
Contact exercisetherapy@swlstg.nhs.uk
Coral Mental Health Crisis Hub
Thousands to benefit from soups and shakes diet on the NHS from today
Talk Wandsworth – Well-being resources
Talk Wandsworth – Well-being workshops (under wellbeing subtitle)
Your local IAPT websites can be found at:
Merton Uplift: https://www.mertonuplift.nhs.uk
Sutton Uplift: https://www.suttonuplift.co.uk
Talk Wandsworth: https://www.talkwandsworth.nhs.uk
Kingston: https://www.icope.nhs.uk/kingston