Can you speak for me? Thursday March 5th 2015 Bristol

I am looking for a voluntary speaker to attend SEAPs IMHA (Independent Mental Health Advocate) Focus Group on Thursday March 5th 2015 in Bristol.

The focus group is made up of IMHA’s, all at varying degrees in their career, myself and the South West Area Manager, Chris. The group size can be anything from 5+(max. 15).

At this focus group we will be concentrating on the Mental Health Act Code of Practice (MH CoP), in particular the amendments which come into effect in April this year.

I am looking for someone who would like to come along and share working knowledge with us, experiences of advocacy and all other things related to Mental Health and advocacy.

Are there areas in your community group, business market, expertise etc. where you would like to see an advocacy service being developed and introduced? Is there something you would like to share with us to enhance our professional skills? Do you have specific knowledge and experience on the MHA CoP? How are you implementing the changes in your workplace?

Do you like to think out of the box and would like to speak to us about something you are passionate about?

You can be as creative as you like. At SEAP we embrace and encourage innovative ways of working, developing and supporting others. We currently have a Storytelling Project, perhaps you can work on delivering your thoughts, ideas and experiences to us as a story teller.

If you have other ideas and would like to run them by me, please contact me here sarah-jane.summer@seap.org.uk or by messaging me through this blog.

I look forward to speaking with you and arranging a great day at our focus group in Bristol.

 

Deputy Prime Minister launches search for Mental Health Heroes

Follow this link for a very interesting read.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/deputy-prime-minister-launches-search-for-mental-health-heroes

What is Advocacy? film – link is here

SEAP ADVOCACY UK

Following an earlier update on SEAP’s Annual review, here’s a link to a film explaining ‘What is Advocacy?’, from all perspectives. The client’s ‘voice’ tells a powerful story.

 

http://vimeo.com/102218539 from The Lens Box

“The organisation SEAP asked us to make a film to help people better understand their advocacy service, and how it may be able to help people. SEAP provide independent advocacy services to help resolve issues or concerns you may have about your health and well-being, or your health and social care services.

SEAP Advocacy is able to support the most vulnerable people in society, including those that do not have the capacity to instruct SEAP and people from marginalised communities who struggle to have their views and wishes listened to and heard.”

Alison

Aaron is my daughters partner and he is taking on his 2nd fundraising boxing challenge (White Collar Boxing) for Cancer Research, this Christmas.

When our lovely Aaron took up the challenge again this year, to show cancer who is the boss, little did we know how poignant this would become.

This week my sister Alison has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.  It is in her brain, kidneys, liver, spleen, lungs, stomach and Pancreas.

Needless to say she has a very short time (weeks) left with us all.

We are devastated.

Alison is petrified.

What I want to know is, why are melanoma skin cancer patients not given body scans as routine, once the melanoma had been removed and patients are considered to be in remission, as happened to Alison 4 yrs ago?

Surely a contribution of monies raised can be given to fund body scanning, alongside funding vital research.

It is not good enough that now Dr’s say there was perhaps just one cell that got away, causing this secondary cancer.

I intend to campaign for this to become standard practice, and I want to hear from you if this has been yours or a loved ones experience.

I want Cancer Research, Macmillan, NHS Trusts and anyone else to talk to me and explain why funds are not given to the screening of the human internal system.

I want an open dialogue to engage with people on levels where understanding, awareness and vital equipment are all in the realms of possibility. Can you help me?

Please support Aaron and anyone else you know who are taking part in fundraising challenges to show cancer who is boss.

Please share this again and again. Let us get our voices heard about this and begin to make an impact. Skin cancer is killing far too many people.

You can support Aaron here:

https://www.justgiving.com/Aaron-Meek1/

Please email me, Sarah-Jane @ madame-butterfly@live.co.uk or post your comments, thoughts, experiences on here.

International White Ribbon Day 25th Nov

Thousands of people, worldwide, are making a commitment to play their part in standing up to condemn violence against women.

Make your pledge here.

http://www.whiteribboncampaign.co.uk/

He says he finally understands “You’ll never walk alone”

Raising mental health awareness and challenging stigma.

This is the most simple and powerful telling of a mental health story I have seen, heard and shared.

It moved me to tears.

Please watch and help give a voice to mental ill health and everybody living with it.

Anxiety and Depression. My Story, My Finest Hour.: http://youtu.be/Ecy7rQlyAtM

Dementia Friendly Communities in Japan

Caring for others can be so simple

http://www.theguardian.com/social-care-network/2014/nov/18/dementia-care-japan-community-volunteer-schemes

Broadmoor Episode 2

After watching last weeks episode of the Broadmoor documentary, I believe that the programme portrayed the purpose of this hospital. Not only to keep the public and individuals safe, but to treat those individuals so they can have some kind of reasonable standard of living, for them.

I particularly liked that they impressed upon viewers that most of these patients have come from horrific life experiences themselves. This doesn’t justify any violent or offending behaviours they have committed, but is reasoning. I hope this contributes widely to helping people understand mental health issues, in all of their complexity.

I recognise this does not answer the debate about personality disorder and whether it is a mental illness or not. Perhaps the fact that the documentary did not cover that, nor lots of other wards within the hospital, of which there are 15, keeps the focus on mental ill health in a way which helps people to understand, particularly at a time when so many organisations are talking about not keeping quiet any longer on mental health experiences.

There are not many hospitals where riot shields and training is required in order to be able to nurse others to better health.

I am proud of the Broadmoor advocacy team and the work they do, including the circumstances under which they work, their dedication and commitment. I accept my bias here!

Well done guys!!

Find out more at the links below.

http://www.seap.org.uk/services/broadmoor/

http://www.wlmht.nhs.uk/information-and-advice/advocacy/advocacy-for-broadmoor-hospital/

Another Battle? “The wounded unwounded”

Military personnel ‘the wounded unwounded’ – access to NHS services

The recent news has been full of reports about service men and women not getting the appropriate medical care they need when they are discharged. A recent report (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29807947) said, “The government is failing to abide by its pledge to give injured British soldiers priority for medical treatment in the years after their service.”

Simon Brown, veteran Corporal says, “If veterans got the treatment they are entitled to they could remain productive members of society”. Although a Ministry of Defence spokesman said it was “fully committed” to the Armed Forces covenant (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/49469/the_armed_forces_covenant.pdf), which sets out how Government is supporting veterans and their families in key areas such as healthcare, housing and education, leading professors in psychology and orthopaedics say the healthcare system is not providing veterans with the service they have been promised.

SEAP Military Advocacy Service works with veterans and has recognised this to be the case. Dan, a former serviceman, who leads SEAP’s military project in Oxford says, “One of the biggest problems that I am seeing is with the ‘wounded unwounded’. It seems that those with less obvious physical injuries or deformities and those with mental health problems struggle the most with getting the care they need. I am noticing that a lot of veterans feel that unless they have very obvious physical injuries as a result of their service they fall to the bottom of the pile.”

“During my short time working on the project I have heard several disheartened veterans claim that it would be a different story if they had lost limbs.”

“I agree that not all NHS staff are aware of the covenant.”

Dan goes on to say, “An example of this is the experience of one veteran we are supporting who has a long term, severe back injury sustained in Afghanistan. He was told by a NHS physiotherapist that he is not entitled to ongoing care and was even discharged, leaving him with no option but to go back to his GP with a print out of an article explaining the covenant in order to get re-referred.”

Being discharged from the army due to an injury often brings additional problems with military personnel, finding themselves in the unfamiliar territory of ‘civvy street’ where everything is totally different – with the stress of ongoing injury to deal with. Adjustment is challenging enough without the added uncertainty of what’s happening with their healthcare.

We owe it to our veterans, at the very least, to have their healthcare fully taken care of. SEAP’s Military Advocacy Project supports people leaving the military to access the services they need. Please click here for information on our military advocacy pilot

The NHS can no longer act as if minds don’t matter | Juliette Jowit | Comment is free | The Guardian

Should mental health advocates sit on the board of local CCG’s?

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/10/nhs-mental-illness-health-services?CMP=fb_gu