Andrea Linell and I attended this day conference on 7th April, wearing our PAPYRUS members’ ‘hats’.  We displayed the colourful and informative posters and leaflets about PAPYRUS activities, and facts about young suicide, to the delegates who ranged from mental health professionals to services users.  There was much interest in our information, and we quickly realised that more booklets and leaflets would have been helpful for delegates to take away.

 

Many asked about the research ‘Making Use of Hindsight’ and there was much interest in the video for schools ‘Don’t Die of Embarrassment’.

 

The workshops emphasised the importance of maintaining mental health and I felt that the same issues were as important for those of us who feel we are ‘mentally happy’ as for those who are service users.  Relationships, family, friendships, the self esteem, involvement in a community, and financial security that employment can bring and a home are so vital to all of us.

Information

The gateway to getting help is still the GP and although in our area, West Sussex, there has been an initiative to help doctors become more aware of mental health issues and how they can help patients access mental health services, there is still much to be done to raise awareness of patients’ and carers’ needs.  One speaker, a carer for his clinically depressed wife, highlighted the need for information to be more easily available to those who have all their time taken up by their work as carers, leaving little time or energy for researching available services.  There is still a need for the families of those in mental distress to be listened to and consulted about their treatment.

 

I was struck by the many personal, tragic family stories which were shared with us during the day, prompted by the raising of these issues.  It brought home to me once again, how commonly young people experience depression, and how important it is to continue the unique contribution members of PAPYRUS have to offer.

Julia Roberts

Member

The conference was organised by West Sussex Health and Social Care Trust in order to provide service users, carers and mental health staff with a forum to discuss socially inclusive practice.  This is to ensure the people can continue to be full members of their communities with the mental health needs they might have.  It stresses a

social as well as medical approach to mental health.  Topics discussed include employment, housing, education, leisure opportunities with an awareness of the needs of minority groups.  The conference was addressed by a carer and there were workshops led by people who use services.  There was also a talk by Professor Nick Gould

Rays of Hope

Rediscovering Social Inclusion

in Mental Health
Text Box: Health and Well Being in Scotland. This involves partnership working with the programme’s other key components such as the “See Me” anti stigma campaign, Breathing Space, Scottish Recovery Network and NHS Health Scotland. Choose Life local co-ordinators in all 32 local authority areas in Scotland have produced, and begun to implement, Choose Life local action plans. A national training strategy is being developed as part of Scotland’s Choose Life strategy. The first element of this is the introduction of ASIST, a community based training and capacity building programme to help develop a long term sustainable infrastructure for suicide prevention. There are now a total of 142 trainers in Scotland, with at least two in every local authority area where ASIST is being cascaded as part of the implementation of Choose Life local action plans. This year’s awareness raising activity, on the theme of “Suicide is Everybody’s Business” coincides with World Suicide Prevention Day on 10 September and runs from 5-11 September – contact your Choose Life local co-ordinator to find out how you can get involved in your area. Text Box: update Text Box: On 2 December 2002 as part of its aims to improve the overall health of the people of Scotland and achieve greater social justice, the Scottish Executive launched ‘Choose Life’: a National Strategy and Action Plan aimed at addressing the rising rate of suicides in Scotland. The strategy forms a key part of the work of the National Programme for Improving Mental Health and Well-Being in Scotland which was itself launched in October 2001. The Choose Life strategy and action plan represents the first phase of a 10 year plan with the goal of reducing the suicide rate in Scotland by 20% by 2013. Choose Life has initial funding of £12 million for the first three years (2003-2006). £9 million of this has been allocated to local authorities to deliver on Choose Life local action plans and £3 million for national leadership and co-ordination through the establishment of a National Implementation Support Team (NIST). Choose Life is interlinked with many Scottish Executive policies and initiatives already underway and forms a key part of the work of the National Programme for Improving Mental

from the University of Bath on the importance of putting social inclusion firmly into the social care agenda emphasising the degree to which mental health deteriorates in the face of isolation and lack of community.

Andrea Linell

Member and former Trustee