Noticeboard Archive

Note: The notices that appear on this Noticeboard are for information only - inclusion does not imply endorsement of the contents by BSMHD.

Contents

• Update on Draft Mental Health Bill
• Race and Mental Health: Tackling Inequalities
• Deaf Nursing Action Project
• Deaf People and Drugs Research - request for information
• Vacancy for Service Manager for the Deaf Mental Health Service, New Zealand
• Inquiry into Mental Health and Well-Being in Later Life - Call for Evidence
• Interpreting In Mental Health
• Communication Audit: Denmark House
• Third Mental Health & Deafness World Congress 2005

Update on Draft Mental Health Bill

A second draft of the mental health bill was published on September 8, 2004

The bill sets out the government's proposed reforms of the 1983 mental health act, which campaigners have long argued is out of date. The first draft bill, published in 2002, proposed removing a legal loophole that allows up to 600 dangerous people with severe mental disorders to avoid treatment by arguing that they gain no benefit from it. It also set out plans to extend compulsory treatment, so it could be imposed on people being cared for in the community as well as hospital patients. These proposals were overwhelmingly opposed by mental health campaigners, charities, service users, carers and professionals, who believed they were draconian and would reinforce the misconception that people with mental health problems are dangerous. Ministers claim that the revised version, addresses these concerns. Ministers believe the current legislation neither provides enough protection to the public, nor sufficient safeguards for individual patients. The existing act was drawn up when most people with mental health problems were treated in hospital, whereas now the vast majority are treated in the community.

The bill revises the definition of "mental disorder" to cover "a disturbance in the functioning of the mind or brain resulting from any disability or disorder of the mind or brain. Examples of a mental disorder include schizophrenia, depression or a learning disability". The 1983 act's condition of "treatability" would also be removed so that there would be no exclusion of people who have a sole diagnosis of mental impairment or psychopathic disorder. Ministers estimate there are up to 2,400 people in the UK, described as having dangerous and severe personality disorder (DSPD). Although the vast majority are held in prison or a secure mental hospital, 300-600 live in the community. However, official estimates of how many people have DSPD have gone up and down since the first draft bill was published. Some experts - including the vice-president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCP), Dr Tony Zigmond, believe that there could be as few as a dozen people who meet the criteria in the community. He criticised the government for drawing up a new mental health law designed to deal with a dozen people that would affect 50,000.

The government says that allowing the compulsory treatment of patients in the community will help those caught in a "revolving door" of relapse and readmission because they fail to take their medication. Ministers claim that the revised bill will limit these extended powers, so that only patients assessed in hospital can be forcibly treated in the community. But Dr Zigmond says that the wording of the bill means that the assessment could have been carried out years ago.

Patients will be allowed to choose their own representative, who until now has always been their closest relative. The use of compulsory treatment beyond 28 days will have to be authorised by a new independent mental health tribunal. At present this happens only if the patient lodges an appeal. The bill will also introduce a right to independent advocacy to ensure that detained patients' interests are properly represented. It also proposes new safeguards to balance the rights of the child and the rights of their parents, by giving young people aged 16 or 17 the right to refuse treatment. Their decision could not be overruled by their parents.

The draft bill has proved so controversial because both professionals and services users wanted a new bill to enshrine the right to assessment and treatment for people who wanted it and to reduce the amount of compulsion that already exists in the system. But the draft bill is regarded as widely extending powers to enforce treatment and/or detain people with mental illness or personality disorder.

In 1998 the government commissioned an expert review of the mental health act under Genevra Richardson, professor of law at Queen Mary and Westfield College, London, which recommended that any extension of compulsion should be balanced by improvement of rights and safeguards for the individual. Although there are such improvements in the draft bill, professionals and service users say they go nowhere near far enough. Critics argue that the services provided to an individual would be determined by the level of risk they pose to others rather than as Prof Richardson proposed, the level of their mental capacity.

The bill has succeeded in uniting mental health professionals, charities and service users in condemnation of its proposals. Campaigners have set up the Mental Health Alliance (MHA), a coalition of more than 60 organisations including the mental health charities Mind, Sane and Rethink, the Law Society and the RCP. The MHA is opposed to the bill's "draconian new powers of compulsion". It was unimpressed with the revised proposals which it said risked bringing mental health services to their knees as hundreds more people were brought under compulsory powers.

Campaigners fear that the bill's emphasis on managing risk will reinforce the public misconception that mentally ill people are dangerous. Richard Brook, chief executive of the charity Mind, said the proposed legislation would not deliver an effective and compassionate 21st century mental health service. He said: "It risks introducing fear and coercion into what should be a purely therapeutic relationship. It risks driving those who most need care and treatment away from seeking help as and when they need it most."

The bill will be subject to pre-legislative scrutiny by an expert parliamentary committee, which is due to report its findings by March 2005. This means the bill itself is unlikely to be introduced in parliament before the next general election.

Source: www.SocietyGuardian.co.uk

date posted 19/01/05

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Race and Mental Health: Tackling Inequalities

Tuesday 8th March 2005, Central London

In association with: The Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health

Visit the conference website at http://www.neilstewartassociates.com/sh173

The widely publicised inequality of treatment within mental health services of people from black and ethnic minority communities has moved this issue to the forefront of the Government's agenda. Recent initiatives include the appointment in October 2004 of the first ever Equality and Human Rights Director for the NHS to spearhead the service's equality agenda.

The Government has specifically acknowledged that retraining mental health service workers in 'cultural competence' in the health, social care and criminal justice sectors is a priority. This is particularly important for health bodies in view of their statutory duty to co-operate with Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements and the next wave of transfers of funding and commissioning responsibility for health care within prisons to Primary Care Trusts due to take place in April 2005.

This conference will look specifically at the Government's latest proposals to promote race equality in mental health services, ways of promoting workforce recruitment and training, and evolving good practice in multi-agency initiatives involving health, social care and criminal justice services, to ensure that the mental health needs of BME communities are effectively addressed.

Conference Chair: Jon Silverman, Broadcaster and Journalist, BBC

Speakers: Peter Scott Blackman, Director, The Afiya Trust. Cathy Stancer, Director, Women in Prison. Melba Wilson, BME Mental Health Service Improvement, Greater London Authority. Frances Crook, Chief Executive, Howard League for Penal Reform.

Fees: Full Rate (Central Government departments and agencies, non-departmental public bodies, commercial sector) £395.00 + VAT (£464.13)

Reduced Rate (NHS, Local Authorities) £285.00 + VAT (£334.88)

Supported Rate (Voluntary Organisations and Trade Unions) £175.00 + VAT (£205.63)

To request a copy of the conference brochure, please contact Jim Hendry on 020 7324 4361 or email [email protected]

date posted 19/01/05

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Deaf Nursing Action Project

• This is a joint project between National Deaf Services (A service for people who are Deaf with mental health problems) and Kingston University, Surrey.
• The nurse education course is Deaf aware and fully accessible; funded by the local Health Authority.
• To improve the quality of healthcare to Deaf people with mental health problems by providing Deaf nurses.
• To reduce disability discrimination by full integration of Deaf people into nursing education and practice.

1. Are you D/deaf aged 18+?
2. Have minimum of 5 GCSE's (A-C) with Maths and English, or NVQ Level 3, or other degree level qualifications?
3. Want to train in Mental Health nursing at Kingston University?

If YES to all three questions, please contact Michelle Robinson for more information:

Email: [email protected]
Minicom: 020 8682 5810
SMS: 07970 445 939
Fax: 020 8682 6850

date posted 18/10/04

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Deaf People and Drugs Research - request for information
Having conducted an initial scope of the literature available I have unearthed some research but not as much as I would have liked.

So far, I seen some work that was done by Greater Glasgow as well as a survey carried out for the British Deaf Association. In addition I have seen some research written up by Jim Kyle and Matt Dye for the Centre for Deaf Studies at Bristol University.

I'm basically looking for information surrounding the following :

Is there a problem surrounding the use of drugs by Deaf people and if so which drugs are they? (We are including alcohol and tobacco within the scope of this research).

Is there enough information available to Deaf users on drugs? What is their awareness when it comes to drugs?

What kind of access and awareness do they have of drugs related services? Is it good/is it bad?

What are the attitudes of Deaf peoples' families towards drugs? Are there any links to be made between families and Deaf drug users?

What are the attitudes to Deaf people towards drugs? Is it stigmatised more heavily in the community than it would be outside the Deaf community?

Finally, what are the links between mental health and Deafness and are there any connections to be made between this and the use of drugs.

Any information you can provide would be very gratefully received. I have already called a number of organisations but thought it might be worth trying you as you are an umbrella organisation.

If you've got any questions regarding this please don't hesitate to contact me. In the mean time I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Zarah Moores
Strategic Analyst
COI Communications
Hercules Rd
London SE1 7DU
DD: 0207 261 8419
E: [email protected]

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Vacancy for Service Manager for the Deaf Mental Health Service, New Zealand

Applications are invited for the position of Service Manager for the Deaf Mental Health Service. The position is based in Henderson, responsible for leading and managing the Auckland service which covers Northland to Midlands region and also responsible for the Wellington service which covers the lower half of the North Island.

This service provides individualised community support to Deaf people and people with a significant hearing impairment who have a psychiatric disorder or other mental health concerns. The successful candidate will possess strong leadership and management skills with a good understanding of Deaf culture and/or people with disabilities. Knowledge and ability to use New Zealand Sign Language will be an advantage, however not essential.

Remuneration will be negotiable and reflect the experience and qualification of the person selected.

An application form and job description is available from Jackie Divers, Richmond Fellowship, Phone 09-579 8415 or Fax 09- 579 5952 or e-mail [email protected] . Closing date for applications is Wednesday 27 October 2004

Note from Sally Austen:

I visited the NZ Deaf Mental Health Services earlier this year and believe that Pete Hindley visited the year before. Its small staff are extremely enthusiastic though mostly unqualified in the mental health field. Having done some teaching for them last year I can vouch for the fact that they learn quickly. Deaf staff out-number hearing staff and the interpreters employed permanently and on a free lance basis are of a high standard (the permanent staff interpreter is the Director of the Auckland interpreter training so mental health is high on the training course agenda). The acting manager of the Deaf Mental Health services is a very friendly Brit called Anthony who used to work at Corner House (the inpatient deaf child services, London) and I am sure he will be of huge help in providing a hand over for this job.

The HQ is based in Henderson, a suburb of Auckland. The job involves travel by car and plane around the beautiful North Island of NZ and I guess might involve future development of services to the equally amazing South Island. This is no hardship!! I found that New Zealand sign language was very similar to BSL. An interest in the delivery of services to the Maori population would be important.

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Inquiry into Mental Health and Well-Being in Later Life - Call for Evidence

The Inquiry is a three-year, UK-wide project, conducted by Age Concern and the Mental Health Foundation, that aims to: raise awareness of this much neglected issue; empower older people and mental health service users; create better understanding; influence policy and improve services

The Inquiry will investigate the mental health needs of older people and challenge the misconception that mental ill health is a natural part of the ageing process. In an ageing population, it is vital to gain a better understanding of these issues. We want to know what helps people stay positive and maintain a sense of well-being throughout later life. What are your thoughts and feelings on this? We need your views, knowledge and experience!

We are calling for evidence of all kinds from individuals, professionals and organisations - from all walks of life, across all sectors and all fields of interest. We are interested in personal stories, unpublished or informal research, policy analysis, practice guidelines and any other information you think may be helpful. The information you provide will help us make recommendations for ways to improve older people's mental health and well-being.

Make your views heard on this important issue! To submit evidence, please visit www.mhilli.org. There are questions for individuals and questions for organisations and professionals. You can send your response online, by email or by post. Organisations and professionals are asked to respond by 19 November. Individuals are welcome to respond anytime. Questions? Contact Michele Lee, Inquiry Project Manager, on 020 8765 7434 or [email protected].

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Interpreting In Mental Health

What can Spoken Language Interpreters and British Sign Language Interpreters learn from each other?

This half day workshop, a multidisciplinary collaboration between Clinical Psychology, Deaf Mental Health Services (Denmark House) and the Diversity Directorate of Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Trust, was haled a great success. It took place on Thursday 10th June 2004 in Birmingham and identified some of the problems faced by interpreters, service users and clinicians when working across more than one language in a mental health setting.

Sally Austen (Consultant Clinical Psychologist in Deaf Services) chaired the event and proceedings began with Jo Everill (Clinical Psychologist) presenting the results of an audit carried out in 2003 looking at psychologists' experiences of working with interpreters. Christine McPherson (Approved Social Worker, Denmark House) went on to provide an historical account of the development of BSL interpreting in Deaf services and this was followed with an insight into the British Sign Language interpreters' training and Code of Conduct by Mary O'Connell (BSL interpreter).

The role-play by a number of Deaf staff, hearing staff and interpreters from Denmark House brought gasps, groans of recognition and laughter from the audience who were made up of interpreters, representatives of interpreting agencies, and managers and clinicians from BSMHT. The visual mode of BSL to English interpretation proved a powerful and entertaining way of demonstrating some of the pitfalls, risks and dilemmas experienced by anyone working with interpreters in mental health. Examples of good and bad practice highlighted the negative effects on the patient when the appropriate communication mechanism is not in place.

Emal Haidari from Express Interpreting and Translation service shared his experiences of spoken language interpreting and reflected on the similarities and differences faced by those in the spoken language translation services as compared to sign language interpreting. He emphasised that both forms have potential risks with regard to misinterpretation and therefore misrepresentation.

An interesting and well-informed discussion then followed between the panel of presenters and the audience. Out of this and the audience feedback sheets a number of needs were identified Further training is needed: for clinicians to acquire more training in working with interpreters and interpreters to acquire more training in mental health.
To explore in discussion groups some of the dilemmas e.g. confidentiality issues, competency, use of bilingual staff, impartiality, Code of Conduct.
The role plays to be professionally videoed and used as a training tool in the future.
The BSL interpreters Code of Conduct to be made available for reference by spoken language interpreters Lakvir Rellon, Director of Diversity, closed the afternoon. She encouraged us to take what we already know and what we have learnt today to make positive changes in our work right now.

There has already been a very positive feedback from this workshop and work will continuing between the Diversity, Deaf and Clinical Psychology services with regard to training needs and future development of interpreting services.

Di Baines (Research Assistant) and Sally Austen (Consultant Clinical Psychologist)

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Communication Audit: Denmark House

Denmark House, Deaf mental health services is a bi-lingual and bi-cultural facility for deaf people with mental health problems. To ensure that each person's human rights are respected reflection on our interaction is required. On the12th October 2004 a discussion event took place to discuss the results of an audit of our communication on Denmark House.

Claire Connolly (trainee clinical psychologist) and Siew Lee Wong (Honorary Assistant Psychologist) had conducted the audit measuring types of communication taking place on the ward at a particular point in time and by whom. A quantitative analysis measured whether BSL, spoken English or simultaneous speech and sign was used and whether the person communicating was themselves deaf, hearing or a sign language interpreter. The preferred communication mode of the patients present was also noted.

Additionally a qualitative analysis of the views of staff were collected through semi structured interview. Opinions covered areas such as preferred type of sign language training, feelings of isolation when with a group of staff whose first language differs to one's own, feelings of frustration when pressures of work prevent one achieving the sign language proficiency to which one aspires,

The results of communication audit were presented by Sally Austen, after which external facilitators, Alys Young and Rachel Hayes, chaired our discussion superbly. The morning gave the opportunity to look at people's feeling and experiences around the part that communication plays in respecting each other's human rights. Two discussion groups looked at the issues around working in a multi-lingual and multi-cultural environment and then key points were fed back by Sam Moorhouse, Adrian Harper, Neil Patterson and Steve Casey. This feedback was typed up by Noreen Howard and emailed to everyone. It was agreed that action points could be discussed further in a staff meeting such that we can measure our progress and have a similar discussion in a year's time.

Feedback on the discussion seems to be positive although many people said that they wished it had been longer.

date posted 19/01/05

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Third Mental Health & Deafness World Congress

26 - 30 October 2005 in Worcester, South Africa

It is expected that 600 delegates from European countries, USA and Africa will participate in this Congress. The organising committee is committed to an open and transparent process which will involve all role players. The Congress will create the opportunity to bring people, organisations and local government structures in South Africa together in partnerships for a common cause. Public private partnerships will be extended to role players in the Western Cape, South Africa, SADC and within the NEPAD context. Already organisations of neighboring countries have approached the Institute for the Deaf to assist them in developing services for Deaf people. This Congress will raise the opportunity for them to become partners in the field of Deafness and related service areas.

The Institute for the Deaf in Worcester SA will be the venue for the Congress. It is situated in the heart of the Cape Winelands, surrounded by magnificent vineyards and majestic mountains. A dedicated professional team who will be on duty throughout the conference. Accommodation for delegates will be provided on the campus, at a nearby resort and at guest houses in the surrounding area.

The 2005 Congress is not merely an event but part of a process, which will contribute towards equity and accessibility for people with disabilities in South Africa.

For more information on the Institute of the Deaf, please visit the Institute's website at www.deafcare.co.za

Congress Secretariat:

PO Box 1169 Worcester 6849
Tel: +27 (0) 23 342 0757 Fax: +27 (0) 23 342 0087
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.deafnetsa.co.za

date posted: 19/01/05

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