Cafe run by young people offers mental health counselling

The volunteers at the Yasp cafe are all young people and they offer mental health support to users. Photograph: Hazel Davis

"Somebody walked past recently, sniffed the air, looked inside and said, 'What ARE you?'" laughs Martin Stanier. In his Bowie T-shirt and broad grin, you could say the same about him. Stanier is volunteer co-ordinator at the Young Adults Services and Projects (Yasp) cafe. Well, it's a cafe, but it's also a drop-in centre and resource for 15 to 25-year-olds. The staff don't like the term drop-in centre, though and that's why the Yasp cafe exists in the first place.

Situated on the busy main street in the Manchester suburb of Levenshulme, Yasp was created by Manchester Mind 12 years ago in response to the high suicide rate among Manchester's young men and the low take-up of mental health provision among black and ethnic minorities. Its location is ingeniously far away from any potential gang problems but on a busy bus route to and from many of Manchester's disadvantaged hotspots.

The cafe's users are a surprisingly wide range of ages and demographics. Kerry, 24, has just graduated from Salford University but is living in a hostel after a breakdown in her relationship with her mother. She explains: "I got quite depressed and started not coping very well. I had been on a waiting list to see a counsellor for eight months." Kerry went to an anxiety group where she was told about Yasp. "I went along and while I was sitting downstairs someone just came over and asked if I wanted to do some volunteering. I had only just walked through the door."

For Kerry it was something to immediately hold on to. "I was feeling a bit lost because I had just finished my course and I don't really know what I am going to do next." Yasp gives her, she says: "a really nice place to hang out, where I can go online if I need to."

Sometimes the surface issues mask some deeper problems and this is something Yasp staff members are alert to. Joe, 19, with a wide smile and a quick laugh, has ADHD. He wandered in one day a few months ago because he needed help with job applications. He's been coming here ever since, where "Debbie" helps him with all manner of things that get him down. "Sometimes when I am having a bit of a shit day she just helps me out," he says.

What unites all of the users is their need for a resource that doesn't pin them down to a rigorous course or schedule. As Yasp manager Sinead O'Connor explains: "We operate a very tolerant attitude to lateness or absenteeism in the cafe."

When young people come to Yasp they might come via a word-of-mouth recommendation or they might wander in off the street or they might find it online. Some young people will only ever come to eat or use the free Internet. Whatever happens, they will be subtly made aware of the resources available.

All of the volunteers are aged between 15 and 25, some have used the service before and some, but not all, have had direct experience of mental health problems. Young people with mental health problems struggle with finding work but an astonishing 25% of Yasp service users go on to find paid employment.

"The shop front really works," says O'Connor, adding: "It tends to be invisible to other people and visible to young people so they just walk off the street." The service is also starting to get a few referrals from social networking sites, as well as other voluntary sector services, social services, asylum support teams and GPs.

Summer is particularly pertinent for Yasp. "It's the time when young people have left school or education and are wondering what comes next," says O'Connor. "There's a great big gap between when you finish in June and September. Lots of young people don't have anything to go on to. Either you can be at home on the XBox or you can be out doing something that everyone thanks you for. There's also a spike in teenage pregnancy at this time of year."

It's now that the service promotes its mentoring scheme most heavily.

Yasp, which receives funding from the Big Lottery Fund, also delivers presentations in schools (and in the last year has presented to more than 1,000 young people), talking about the common symptoms of mental health problems. The Yasp volunteers are trained to deliver this service. O'Connor says: "There is something very powerful about a young person talking with credibility because they are embodying everything that they are suggesting the young people do. It really makes a difference."

Training for mentors takes place over four short days or three full days in Levenshulme or in Manchester city centre. Caed, who's 18, is off to university in September to study psychology and has come here to volunteer simply because he is interested in the field. Caed works in the cafe and is just about to start mentoring two people, recently completed the training. "The training was really, really interesting," he says. "It seemed a bit out there to ask someone of my age and lack of experience to be a mentor but I have realised it is all about listening and working out what they need. And having a consistent figure to talk to."

Why not join our social care community? Becoming a member of the Guardian Social Care Network means you get sent weekly email updates on policy and best practice in the sector, as well as exclusive offers. You can sign up for free here.

View the original article here

Mental health care overlooked by NHS review of emergency services

Emergency mental health care plays a vital role, especially in inner city areas where demand is greater. Photograph: David Levene

NHS England's large scale review of all emergency services, partly driven by the premature mortality rates across hospitals, seems to have made a significant omission by overlooking mental health emergency care.

While the evidence accompanying the consultation suggests that 4,400 lives a year could be saved if weekend services were as good as those during the weekdays, there is a chance that those experiencing mental ill health could fall through the upgraded safety net.

The emergency review does not mention mental health services, the conditions leading to emergency presentations, or the role of the police, housing and mental health problems. Yet emergency mental health care plays a vital role, especially in inner city areas where demand is greater due to high levels of poverty and other social determinants of ill health and inequalities such as ethnicity, gender and age.

For example, we know there is a higher incidence of schizophrenia in inner city areas, especially among black African and Caribbean people and other ethnic minority groups, particularly in London.

The recent report by Lord Victor Adebowale on policing and mental health concluded that the presence of offending behaviour by someone experiencing mental illness, which can lead them to have contact with the police, is an emergency pathway which needs to be made safer.

Lord Adebowale's findings emphasised the failures of NHS services and police knowledge, as well as emergency communications, in meeting the needs of people with mental illness. These findings have been reinforced in the latest Care Quality Commission (CQC) reports on the emergency removal of people suspected of having a mental illness to a place of safety (under section 136 of the Mental Health Act). These reports found unacceptable emergency practices leading to deaths in police custody, mentally ill people being transported in caged ambulances and suicides on the railways and transport hubs.

The statistics show why urgent attention is required. In January of 2013, the CQC announced there were 48,631 detentions in 2011/2012, an increase of 5% on the previous year. Community treatment orders rose by 10% to 4,220. The commission also reported growing concern about cultures of coercion and containment rather than treatment and support. Around 15% of detained patients said they were not allowed to play a part in the shared decision-making while 4% of decisions were called into question on legal grounds.

The use of section 136 by the police rose to 14,902, 5.6% higher than in 2011/12. The CQC data along with data published by the NHS Information Centre and independent researchers, all point to higher rates of detention for some ethnic groups, yet these differences are still not being tackled.

These unsettling findings suggest emergency services must take account of mental health and ethnicity. If more care is to be provided away from accident and emergency departments, then additional homecare and specialist advice services at the time of critical decisions are necessary.

What is required is not a 9am to 5pm specialist service, but 24/7 home treatment and crisis responses and a better use of social networks, and shared care plans for existing patients to protect their dignity and autonomy. Understanding patients' personal stories and remedying the real fears people have about the quality of NHS care is as important as providing a safe emergency response for the most vulnerable.

For people experiencing mental illness who make contact with hospitals, what is needed is an emergency psychiatric response team staffed by medical and psychiatric specialists, a service model that has been abandoned by commissioners in the recent past. The entire public health system needs an agreed emergency care pathway to be commissioned across the police, mental health providers and local government.

To do this effectively any NHS review has to include the responses of the police and acknowledge the presence of ethnic inequalities in mental health services in its recommendations. If not, the new proposals will fall short of aspirations and will not remedy past failures.

Professor Kamaldeep Bhui is professor of cultural psychiatry and epidemiology at the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, and is director of the Cultural Consultation Service, Queen Mary, University of London

This article is published by Guardian Professional. Join the Healthcare Professionals Network to receive regular emails and exclusive offers.

View the original article here

Cafe run by young people offers mental health counselling

The volunteers at the Yasp cafe are all young people and they offer mental health support to users. Photograph: Hazel Davis

"Somebody walked past recently, sniffed the air, looked inside and said, 'What ARE you?'" laughs Martin Stanier. In his Bowie T-shirt and broad grin, you could say the same about him. Stanier is volunteer co-ordinator at the Young Adults Services and Projects (Yasp) cafe. Well, it's a cafe, but it's also a drop-in centre and resource for 15 to 25-year-olds. The staff don't like the term drop-in centre, though and that's why the Yasp cafe exists in the first place.

Situated on the busy main street in the Manchester suburb of Levenshulme, Yasp was created by Manchester Mind 12 years ago in response to the high suicide rate among Manchester's young men and the low take-up of mental health provision among black and ethnic minorities. Its location is ingeniously far away from any potential gang problems but on a busy bus route to and from many of Manchester's disadvantaged hotspots.

The cafe's users are a surprisingly wide range of ages and demographics. Kerry, 24, has just graduated from Salford University but is living in a hostel after a breakdown in her relationship with her mother. She explains: "I got quite depressed and started not coping very well. I had been on a waiting list to see a counsellor for eight months." Kerry went to an anxiety group where she was told about Yasp. "I went along and while I was sitting downstairs someone just came over and asked if I wanted to do some volunteering. I had only just walked through the door."

For Kerry it was something to immediately hold on to. "I was feeling a bit lost because I had just finished my course and I don't really know what I am going to do next." Yasp gives her, she says: "a really nice place to hang out, where I can go online if I need to."

Sometimes the surface issues mask some deeper problems and this is something Yasp staff members are alert to. Joe, 19, with a wide smile and a quick laugh, has ADHD. He wandered in one day a few months ago because he needed help with job applications. He's been coming here ever since, where "Debbie" helps him with all manner of things that get him down. "Sometimes when I am having a bit of a shit day she just helps me out," he says.

What unites all of the users is their need for a resource that doesn't pin them down to a rigorous course or schedule. As Yasp manager Sinead O'Connor explains: "We operate a very tolerant attitude to lateness or absenteeism in the cafe."

When young people come to Yasp they might come via a word-of-mouth recommendation or they might wander in off the street or they might find it online. Some young people will only ever come to eat or use the free Internet. Whatever happens, they will be subtly made aware of the resources available.

All of the volunteers are aged between 15 and 25, some have used the service before and some, but not all, have had direct experience of mental health problems. Young people with mental health problems struggle with finding work but an astonishing 25% of Yasp service users go on to find paid employment.

"The shop front really works," says O'Connor, adding: "It tends to be invisible to other people and visible to young people so they just walk off the street." The service is also starting to get a few referrals from social networking sites, as well as other voluntary sector services, social services, asylum support teams and GPs.

Summer is particularly pertinent for Yasp. "It's the time when young people have left school or education and are wondering what comes next," says O'Connor. "There's a great big gap between when you finish in June and September. Lots of young people don't have anything to go on to. Either you can be at home on the XBox or you can be out doing something that everyone thanks you for. There's also a spike in teenage pregnancy at this time of year."

It's now that the service promotes its mentoring scheme most heavily.

Yasp, which receives funding from the Big Lottery Fund, also delivers presentations in schools (and in the last year has presented to more than 1,000 young people), talking about the common symptoms of mental health problems. The Yasp volunteers are trained to deliver this service. O'Connor says: "There is something very powerful about a young person talking with credibility because they are embodying everything that they are suggesting the young people do. It really makes a difference."

Training for mentors takes place over four short days or three full days in Levenshulme or in Manchester city centre. Caed, who's 18, is off to university in September to study psychology and has come here to volunteer simply because he is interested in the field. Caed works in the cafe and is just about to start mentoring two people, recently completed the training. "The training was really, really interesting," he says. "It seemed a bit out there to ask someone of my age and lack of experience to be a mentor but I have realised it is all about listening and working out what they need. And having a consistent figure to talk to."

Why not join our social care community? Becoming a member of the Guardian Social Care Network means you get sent weekly email updates on policy and best practice in the sector, as well as exclusive offers. You can sign up for free here.

View the original article here

Mental health care overlooked by NHS review

Emergency mental health care plays a vital role, especially in inner city areas where demand is greater. Photograph: David Levene

NHS England's large scale review of all emergency services, partly driven by the premature mortality rates across hospitals, seems to have made a significant omission by overlooking mental health emergency care.

While the evidence accompanying the consultation suggests that 4,400 lives a year could be saved if weekend services were as good as those during the weekdays, there is a chance that those experiencing mental ill health could fall through the upgraded safety net.

The emergency review does not mention mental health services, the conditions leading to emergency presentations, or the role of the police, housing and mental health problems. Yet emergency mental health care plays a vital role, especially in inner city areas where demand is greater due to high levels of poverty and other social determinants of ill health and inequalities such as ethnicity, gender and age.

For example, we know there is a higher incidence of schizophrenia in inner city areas, especially among black African and Caribbean people and other ethnic minority groups, particularly in London.

The recent report by Lord Victor Adebowale on policing and mental health concluded that the presence of offending behaviour by someone experiencing mental illness, which can lead them to have contact with the police, is an emergency pathway which needs to be made safer.

Lord Adebowale's findings emphasised the failures of NHS services and police knowledge, as well as emergency communications, in meeting the needs of people with mental illness. These findings have been reinforced in the latest Care Quality Commission (CQC) reports on the emergency removal of people suspected of having a mental illness to a place of safety (under section 136 of the Mental Health Act). These reports found unacceptable emergency practices leading to deaths in police custody, mentally ill people being transported in caged ambulances and suicides on the railways and transport hubs.

The statistics show why urgent attention is required. In January of 2013, the CQC announced there were 48,631 detentions in 2011/2012, an increase of 5% on the previous year. Community treatment orders rose by 10% to 4,220. The commission also reported growing concern about cultures of coercion and containment rather than treatment and support. Around 15% of detained patients said they were not allowed to play a part in the shared decision-making while 4% of decisions were called into question on legal grounds.

The use of section 136 by the police rose to 14,902, 5.6% higher than in 2011/12. The CQC data along with data published by the NHS Information Centre and independent researchers, all point to higher rates of detention for some ethnic groups, yet these differences are still not being tackled.

These unsettling findings suggest emergency services must take account of mental health and ethnicity. If more care is to be provided away from accident and emergency departments, then additional homecare and specialist advice services at the time of critical decisions are necessary.

What is required is not a 9am to 5pm specialist service, but 24/7 home treatment and crisis responses and a better use of social networks, and shared care plans for existing patients to protect their dignity and autonomy. Understanding patients' personal stories and remedying the real fears people have about the quality of NHS care is as important as providing a safe emergency response for the most vulnerable.

For people experiencing mental illness who make contact with hospitals, what is needed is an emergency psychiatric response team staffed by medical and psychiatric specialists, a service model that has been abandoned by commissioners in the recent past. The entire public health system needs an agreed emergency care pathway to be commissioned across the police, mental health providers and local government.

To do this effectively any NHS review has to include the responses of the police and acknowledge the presence of ethnic inequalities in mental health services in its recommendations. If not, the new proposals will fall short of aspirations and will not remedy past failures.

Professor Kamaldeep Bhui is professor of cultural psychiatry and epidemiology at the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, and is director of the Cultural Consultation Service, Queen Mary, University of London

This article is published by Guardian Professional. Join the Healthcare Professionals Network to receive regular emails and exclusive offers.

View the original article here

Gap in perinatal mental health services needs urgent attention

Three thousand women a year develop postpartum psychosis, with a further 40,000 suffering depression and post traumatic stress disorder related to their pregnancy. Photograph: Catchlight Visual Services / Ala/Alamy

"I had some sleeping tablets, and went to two different chemists to buy paracetamol. Then I ran to an area of the city which was really secluded," recalls Hannah. "I got a bottle of vodka and one of gin too: at that moment I felt this was the most loving thing I could do – I was no good to my baby, so it would be better like this. And I discovered that I could sit, very calmly, peacefully, and take the paracetamol and sleeping tablets, and wash them down with the alcohol."

Hannah, then 29, had given birth to her son Elijah in London three months previously. She was staying with him at her parents' house in the north of England when she made her suicide attempt.

She'd experienced periods of anxiety requiring counselling at her GP practice before her pregnancy, she explains, but had successfully held down several professional jobs after graduating from university, and becoming pregnant was a planned and joyous event for her and her long-term partner.

Hannah was only discovered after she had lain at the bottom of a steep bank, close to death, for two nights and three days. Her partner and parents were frantic. A police search had been underway. As she was taken to hospital, it was clear to everyone that a twelve-week old baby had nearly lost his mother.

The most shocking part of Hannah's story is that her desperate mental state was very well known to a phalanx of health professionals who had been involved in her care at home in London, both antenatally and in the weeks and months after she gave birth.

Yet no-one had the specialist expertise in perinatal mental health that allowed them to diagnose this young mother as having developed a serious, pregnancy-related psychotic illness. Several weeks earlier, while still in London, she had agreed to be admitted to a general mental health ward. But her baby could not accompany her, and her repeated pleas to be referred to a mother and baby unit (MBU) with expertise in perinatal mental healthcare – available in her neighbouring borough, but not her own – had been fobbed off on the grounds that it cost £600 a day and was unlikely to be passed by the funding panel.

"A recurring theme is that professionals such as midwives sometimes refer to very serious illnesses as 'a bit of post-natal depression,' and women sometimes die as a result," says Dr Alain Gregoire, the consultant who heads up the mother and baby unit in Winchester, and chairs the Maternal Mental Health Alliance. "The general services do not understand these risks. Psychotic illnesses become extremely severe extremely quickly. The suffering is so gruesome that women want their lives to end. And that is extremely rare, even in cancer or other life threatening illnesses. There are people killing themselves every day and among them are mothers of young children."

The three-yearly confidential review of maternal deaths backs this up: mental ill-health has been consistently at or near the top of the list of factors leading to maternal death in the last four that have been published.

Perinatal mental illnesses affect at least 10% of women, says a recent report from the NSPCC's Prevention in Mind – Spotlight on Perinatal Mental Health, "and if untreated, can have a devastating impact on them and their families. When mothers suffer from these illnesses it increases the likelihood that children will experience behavioural, social or learning difficulties and fail to fulfil their potential."

The charity estimates that there are 3,000 women a year who develop postpartum psychosis, with a further 40,000 suffering serious depression and post traumatic stress disorder related to their pregnancy. But despite the numbers needing specialist care, half the health trusts in the UK have no perinatal mental health services. And three quarters of maternity services have no specialist mental health midwife. This is something of an irony, given that the UK has led research in this area, Gregoire says: where specialist services do exist here, they are among the best in the world.

The NSPCC is now seriously concerned about the detrimental impact of poor maternal mental health for the young babies who are trying to form attachments to the person who should be closest to them – their mothers. "There's a lot of evidence that even fairly mild perinatal mental illness can affect how women interact with their babies," says the charity's development manager Sally Hogg, who authored the NSPCC's report. "Women can withdraw or be hostile to their babies: how they interact in those early months is really lasting effect on the babies' emotional and social development."

This means that a mother might recover her mental health, but her inability to respond to her baby in the critical early weeks and months of life, before the correct treatment reaches her, can have far reaching effects, because the baby's poor attachment to its mother won't always automatically get fixed. This, says Hogg, "is solvable, but it needs someone to come in and work with the mum and baby to help [nurture] that bond."

NICE, meanwhile, states that all women with a child under one year who need psychiatric admission should be offered a place in a specialist mother and baby unit.

The UK's current capacity of 12 mother and baby units, where this kind of expertise is available alongside psychiatry services, simply isn't enough however, believes the NSPCC. And indeed, it's estimated by the joint commissioning panel for mental health that the country is 50 beds short.

It's not just more beds that are needed, says Hogg, but "a strategic mapping of where those beds need to be."

This is because there is enormous strain for a family where a new mother is being treated far from home. Hannah was finally sent as a crisis admission to a mother and baby unit 200 miles from London. It meant that for the five months she was an inpatient, her partner was only able to visit her and their child at weekends. This type of scenario creates exhaustion, stress and expense for families who have already been through a lot. And it happens all too often, because even if a woman's health authority is willing to pay for the bed, there may be no provision near home.

There was, however, huge relief for Hannah and her family when she finally was admitted to the MBU.

"When I met the perinatal psychiatrist that first day, she said 'you have a severe post natal depression: you will go home: you won't be on any of these drugs – and you won't believe a word I'm saying,'" laughs Hannah. "And I didn't. But it was true."

For Hannah, the road to recovery was a long one because she was, by the time she was finally admitted, gravely ill. Given the transformative effects of specialist care, her situation could, she knows now, have been very different. "There is very good evidence that we can prevent women becoming ill at all, reverse the anxiety of women who are fearful of it, nip in the bud when it starts to manifest, and relieve the suffering of women who do become ill," says Gregoire. "And there is also evidence that the non-specialist services do not do it."

The costs of poor treatment are significant: Hannah suffered from post traumatic shock and she and her partner have since decided that they will never be able to take the risk of having another child. This makes her both sad, and angry. She's angry, too, that nothing has changed for women in her part of north London.

"I came back from the MBU thinking they'd redo all their policies – after all they almost had someone die on them," she says. "But no. When I last saw the commissioners, a year ago, they hadn't changed anything. And I know that our borough still has no contract with the neighbouring mother and baby unit."

Many opportunities were missed, she says, despite her repeatedly asking for specialist support. "And I know that many women don't speak out – I was one who told everybody," she remembers. "So even if you're shouting from the rooftops, you don't get listened to. I only got help when I nearly died, so clearly something is not working. And if I'd died, Elijah wouldn't have had a mum. His dad loves him to bits, but he's not his mum. He'd have had a completely different life."

If you have been affected by the issues raised in this article, for information and support visit the Maternal Mental Health Alliance

This article is published by Guardian Professional. Join the Healthcare Professionals Network to receive regular emails and exclusive offers.

View the original article here

Cafe run by young people offers mental health counselling

The volunteers at the Yasp cafe are all young people and they offer mental health support to users. Photograph: Hazel Davis

"Somebody walked past recently, sniffed the air, looked inside and said, 'What ARE you?'" laughs Martin Stanier. In his Bowie T-shirt and broad grin, you could say the same about him. Stanier is volunteer co-ordinator at the Young Adults Services and Projects (Yasp) cafe. Well, it's a cafe, but it's also a drop-in centre and resource for 15 to 25-year-olds. The staff don't like the term drop-in centre, though and that's why the Yasp cafe exists in the first place.

Situated on the busy main street in the Manchester suburb of Levenshulme, Yasp was created by Manchester Mind 12 years ago in response to the high suicide rate among Manchester's young men and the low take-up of mental health provision among black and ethnic minorities. Its location is ingeniously far away from any potential gang problems but on a busy bus route to and from many of Manchester's disadvantaged hotspots.

The cafe's users are a surprisingly wide range of ages and demographics. Kerry, 24, has just graduated from Salford University but is living in a hostel after a breakdown in her relationship with her mother. She explains: "I got quite depressed and started not coping very well. I had been on a waiting list to see a counsellor for eight months." Kerry went to an anxiety group where she was told about Yasp. "I went along and while I was sitting downstairs someone just came over and asked if I wanted to do some volunteering. I had only just walked through the door."

For Kerry it was something to immediately hold on to. "I was feeling a bit lost because I had just finished my course and I don't really know what I am going to do next." Yasp gives her, she says: "a really nice place to hang out, where I can go online if I need to."

Sometimes the surface issues mask some deeper problems and this is something Yasp staff members are alert to. Joe, 19, with a wide smile and a quick laugh, has ADHD. He wandered in one day a few months ago because he needed help with job applications. He's been coming here ever since, where "Debbie" helps him with all manner of things that get him down. "Sometimes when I am having a bit of a shit day she just helps me out," he says.

What unites all of the users is their need for a resource that doesn't pin them down to a rigorous course or schedule. As Yasp manager Sinead O'Connor explains: "We operate a very tolerant attitude to lateness or absenteeism in the cafe."

When young people come to Yasp they might come via a word-of-mouth recommendation or they might wander in off the street or they might find it online. Some young people will only ever come to eat or use the free Internet. Whatever happens, they will be subtly made aware of the resources available.

All of the volunteers are aged between 15 and 25, some have used the service before and some, but not all, have had direct experience of mental health problems. Young people with mental health problems struggle with finding work but an astonishing 25% of Yasp service users go on to find paid employment.

"The shop front really works," says O'Connor, adding: "It tends to be invisible to other people and visible to young people so they just walk off the street." The service is also starting to get a few referrals from social networking sites, as well as other voluntary sector services, social services, asylum support teams and GPs.

Summer is particularly pertinent for Yasp. "It's the time when young people have left school or education and are wondering what comes next," says O'Connor. "There's a great big gap between when you finish in June and September. Lots of young people don't have anything to go on to. Either you can be at home on the XBox or you can be out doing something that everyone thanks you for. There's also a spike in teenage pregnancy at this time of year."

It's now that the service promotes its mentoring scheme most heavily.

Yasp, which receives funding from the Big Lottery Fund, also delivers presentations in schools (and in the last year has presented to more than 1,000 young people), talking about the common symptoms of mental health problems. The Yasp volunteers are trained to deliver this service. O'Connor says: "There is something very powerful about a young person talking with credibility because they are embodying everything that they are suggesting the young people do. It really makes a difference."

Training for mentors takes place over four short days or three full days in Levenshulme or in Manchester city centre. Caed, who's 18, is off to university in September to study psychology and has come here to volunteer simply because he is interested in the field. Caed works in the cafe and is just about to start mentoring two people, recently completed the training. "The training was really, really interesting," he says. "It seemed a bit out there to ask someone of my age and lack of experience to be a mentor but I have realised it is all about listening and working out what they need. And having a consistent figure to talk to."

Why not join our social care community? Becoming a member of the Guardian Social Care Network means you get sent weekly email updates on policy and best practice in the sector, as well as exclusive offers. You can sign up for free here.

View the original article here

Chris Abele budget to boost mental health funds shift park patrols

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County Executive Chris Abele said Monday he plans to increase funding for community-based mental health programs and will resubmit a plan to have the Milwaukee Police Department take over patrol of the lakefront and other county parks, as parts of his 2014 budget. In an interview, Abele said he was working to try to include $4 million in spending on broadening community mental health options, but said a final decision had not yet been made. Adding out-patient mental health programming would help fulfill his goal of emptying two long-term care units at the Mental Health Complex by 2016, a pro...

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Chris Abele budget to boost mental health funds shift park patrols

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County Executive Chris Abele said Monday he plans to increase funding for community-based mental health programs and will resubmit a plan to have the Milwaukee Police Department take over patrol of the lakefront and other county parks, as parts of his 2014 budget. In an interview, Abele said he was working to try to include $4 million in spending on broadening community mental health options, but said a final decision had not yet been made. Adding out-patient mental health programming would help fulfill his goal of emptying two long-term care units at the Mental Health Complex by 2016, a pro...

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Top Healthcare News Stories EMS technician suffers heart attack while giving CPRStewart to miss rest of NASCAR seasonActual U.S. Lyme disease about 300000 cases a yearCoffee tea may help prevent fatty liver diseaseCovidien recalls some lots of Monoject prefill flush syringesVice presidents son Beau Biden hospitalized in Texas for testsSex -- orgasm -- gives the brain a workout expert says4-year-old dies after accidentally shooting himself in the headMom accused of wiping feces on infant sons face popularyesterdaythis weekChina sets Bo Xilai trial dateWilliam Hague urges end to Egypt violenceEgypt army chief vows to stand firm as cabinet meetsMan found dead in Olivia Newton-John's Fla. homeHundreds held in Egypt as state sets about wiping out BrotherhoodSpokesman: DiMaggio left money to Anderson's grandmaThousands of Syrian refugees flood the Iraqi Kurdistan borderUK police to re-open Princess Diana murder investigationUS spy chief in trouble with publicEgypt bloodshed requires investigation says AmnestyBritain asks EU to check Spanish motive over GibraltarResidents flee bushfires in IdahoMexican police have drug cartel chief in custodySmall plane crash kills 3 in SiberiaMore StoriesUS snooping spoils Kerry plan to better ties with Latin AmericaFerry goes down in Philippines watersKiller snakes found in abundance in Canadian hotelUS government reveals existence of Area 51France and Germany lead way in Eurozone recoveryIndia and Iran attempt to resolve shipping disputeMore deaths as Cairo violence resumesMore Stories top stories from around our network Showing 1 thru 5 out of 10See top stories from more of our sites

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Queens University of CharlotteFamily receives sickening email about son fighting brain cancerNonprofit releases PSA of the final moments of Trayvon Martins life

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JPMorgan under SEC lens for malpractice in hiring in ChinaZillow to acquire rival real estate website StreetEasy for $50mnEthio Telecom signs deal with Chinese firm ZTE on phone infrastructure home business International Business Regional Sectors Latest Financial News editorials asia editorials general editorials uk editorials us editorials entertainment Arts News books News country music News movies News music News television News weird News health Aging News cancer News fitness News healthcare News medical News natural health News psychology News public health News international Cities countries Regions US States World News internet Domains News internet marketing News Search engines News viruses News Web site development markets Sectors world markets Latest Financial News media Broadcast News cable/pay TV News journalism News newspapers News TV News Religion Anglican News Baptist News Buddhist News Catholic News Christian News Hindu News Jewish News Muslim News special interest Animals News Careers News Consumer News Environment News Food and Drinks News House and Garden News Human Resources News Jobs News Kids News Lifestyle News Obituraries Parenting News Personal Finance News Science News Seniors News Space Science News Travel News US Military News US Police News Weather News Womens Interest News sports AFL News Athletics News Baseball News Basketball News Boxing News Cricket News Cycling News Golf News Horse Racing News Ice Hockey News Motor Sports News NFL News Regional News Rugby League News Rugby News Soccer News Swimming News Tennis News Winter Sports News Wrestling News Yachting News technology Communications News Compter Games News Computer Services News Computers News Database News Digital TV News Software News Telecoms News Viruses News Wireless News About us feedback news releases sitemap terms and conditions contact 30 Day Archive rss feeds Forum Get daily news delivered to your inbox

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Improving the diagnostic process in mental health conditions via imaging

Main Category: Mental Health
Also Included In: Psychology / Psychiatry
Article Date: 19 Aug 2013 - 0:00 PDT Current ratings for:
Improving the diagnostic process in mental health conditions via imaging

What are some of the most troubling numbers in mental health? Six to 10 - the number of years it can take to properly diagnose a mental health condition. Dr. Elizabeth Osuch, a Researcher at Lawson Health Research Institute and a Psychiatrist at London Health Sciences Centre and the Department of Psychiatry at Western University, is helping to end misdiagnosis by looking for a 'biomarker' in the brain that will help diagnose and treat two commonly misdiagnosed disorders.

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), otherwise known as Unipolar Disorder, and Bipolar Disorder (BD) are two common disorders. Currently, diagnosis is made by patient observation and verbal history. Mistakes are not uncommon, and patients can find themselves going from doctor to doctor receiving improper diagnoses and prescribed medications to little effect.

Dr. Osuch looked to identify a 'biomarker' in the brain which could help optimize the diagnostic process. She examined youth who were diagnosed with either MDD or BD (15 patients in each group) and imaged their brains with an MRI to see if there was a region of the brain which corresponded with the bipolarity index (BI). The BI is a diagnostic tool which encompasses varying degrees of bipolar disorder, identifying symptoms and behavior in order to place a patient on the spectrum.

What she found was the activation of the putamen correlated positively with BD. This is the region of the brain that controls motor skills, and has a strong link to reinforcement and reward. This speaks directly to the symptoms of bipolar disorder. "The identification of the putamen in our positive correlation may indicate a potential trait marker for the symptoms of mania in bipolar disorder," states Dr. Osuch.

In order to reach this conclusion, the study approached mental health research from a different angle. "The unique aspect of this research is that, instead of dividing the patients by psychiatric diagnoses of bipolar disorder and unipolar depression, we correlated their functional brain images with a measure of bipolarity which spans across a spectrum of diagnoses." Dr. Osuch explains, "This approach can help to uncover a 'biomarker' for bipolarity, independent of the current mood symptoms or mood state of the patient."

Moving forward Dr. Osuch will repeat the study with more patients, seeking to prove that the activation of the putamen is the start of a trend in large numbers of patients. The hope is that one day there could be a definitive biological marker which could help differentiate the two disorders, leading to a faster diagnosis and optimal care.

In using a co-relative approach, a novel method in the field, Dr. Osuch uncovered results in patients that extend beyond verbal history and observation. These results may go on to change the way mental health is diagnosed, and subsequently treated, worldwide.

Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release. Click 'references' tab above for source.
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Few survivors of head and neck cancer utilizing mental health services despite depression

Main Category: Cancer / Oncology
Also Included In: Depression;  Mental Health
Article Date: 15 Aug 2013 - 13:00 PDT Current ratings for:
Few survivors of head and neck cancer utilizing mental health services despite depression

Mental health services appear to be underutilized despite depression among survivors of head and neck cancer, according to a study published Online First by JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery.

The long-term physical effects of radiation therapy (RT) for head and neck cancer have been well described but few studies have examined psychosocial functioning, including depression, among patients, according to the study background.

Allen M. Chen, M.D., of the University of California, Davis, and now of the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, and colleagues examined the prevalence of self-reported depression among survivors of head and neck cancer returning for follow-up after RT treatment.

The study included 211 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, who had been treated and were disease-free with at least one year of follow-up. A questionnaire was used to analyze rates of depression.

The proportion of patients who reported their mood as "somewhat depressed" or "extremely depressed" was 17 percent, 15 percent and 13 percent at one, three and five years, respectively. Among the patients who reported their mood as either "somewhat depressed" or "extremely depressed," at one, three and five years, respectively, the proportion of patients using antidepressants was 6 percent, 11 percent and 0 percent, respectively. The proportion of patients actively undergoing or seeking psychotherapy and/or counseling was 3 percent, 6 percent and 0 percent, respectively, according to study results.

"Despite a relatively high rate of depression among patients with head and neck cancer in the post-RT setting, mental health services are severely underutilized," the study concludes.

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JAMA Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. Published online August 15, 2013. doi:10.1001/jamaoto.2013.4072.

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The recession hits those with mental health problems harder

Main Category: Mental Health
Also Included In: Public Health
Article Date: 30 Jul 2013 - 0:00 PDT Current ratings for:
The recession hits those with mental health problems harder

Since the start of the recession, the rate of unemployment for people with mental health problems has risen more than twice as much than for people without mental health problems, according to new research from King's College London.

The authors warn that, across Europe, people with mental health problems have been disproportionately affected by the economic crisis, further increasing social exclusion amongst this vulnerable group.

Published in PLOS ONE, the study also found that this gap in employment rates was even greater for men and for those with low levels of education.

The scientists collected data in 27 EU countries from over 20,000 people in 2006 and again in 2010. By using the Eurobarometer survey, they assessed mental health, stigmatising attitudes, socio-demographic information (such as age, gender, education level and urbanicity) and current employment rate.

In 2006, unemployment was at 7.1% for people without mental health problems, compared to 12.7% for people with mental health problems. In 2010, this rose to 9.8% and 18.2% respectively, corresponding to an increase of 5.5% for people with mental health problems vs 2.7% increase for people without mental health problems.

Dr Sara Evans-Lacko, lead author of the study from King's College London's Institute of Psychiatry, says: "The economic recession has had enormous impact across much of Europe, but there is little information about the specific impact of the recession on groups who are already vulnerable to social exclusion, specifically, people with mental health problems. This is the first study to show that the European economic crisis has had a profound impact on people with mental health problems, compared to those without."

In addition, the study identified important sub-groups - for example, the study found that men and individuals with lower levels of education had a significantly greater increase in the likelihood of being unemployed after the recession. In 2010, 21.7% of men with mental health problems were unemployed, compared to 13.7% in 2006.

The study also showed that stigmatising attitudes, especially beliefs regarding dangerousness of people with mental health problems were an important factor contributing to the rise in unemployment. Living in a country where a higher proportion of individuals believed that people with mental health problems were dangerous was associated with higher levels of unemployment for people with mental health problems.

In addition to having lower levels of employment, these subgroups also have lower rates of help-seeking and more negative attitudes to mental health and may require specific forms of outreach.

Professor Graham Thornicroft, co-author of the study from King's College London's Institute of Psychiatry, adds: "Our study emphasises that one important implication of stigma and discrimination is exclusion from employment. During periods of economic recession, attitudes to people with mental health problems may harden, further deepening social exclusion. Governments need to be aware of these risks, and employers need to be aware of their legal duty to comply with the Equality Act to support people with mental health problems coming into, and staying in, employment."

Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release. Click 'references' tab above for source.
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Paper reference: Evans-Lacko, S. et al "The mental health consequences of the recession: economic hardship and employment of people with mental health problems in 27 European countries" PLOS ONE

Link to the live article: http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0069792

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New SANE Australia report calls for action to reduce stigma against mental illness

Main Category: Mental Health
Article Date: 25 Jul 2013 - 2:00 PDT Current ratings for:
New SANE Australia report calls for action to reduce stigma against mental illness

A new study from mental health charity, SANE Australia, reports that stigma and discrimination against people with mental illness is widespread, harmful to recovery, and is a major barrier to participation in society for those affected.

The new report - A Life without Stigma - concludes that a national strategy to tackle stigma and discrimination associated with mental illness is vital, and should be a non-negotiable component of mental health policies and plans.

'Stigma is a major issue for people affected by mental illness, influencing how they are viewed and how they view themselves' says Jack Heath, CEO of SANE Australia. 'It is destructive, hurtful, and excluding. If we are to help people with mental illness lead a contributing life, it is essential that we take action against stigma.'

A Life without Stigma points out that while significant progress has been made to reduce the stigma associated with depression, Australia urgently needs a national, long-term strategy to reduce the stigma associated with schizophrenia and other psychotic illnesses.

The report's recommendations stress that the strategy must be:

comprehensive, targeted, long-term, and robustly fundedinclusive of people living with mental illness and family carersbased on evidence of good practice, and evaluatedcomplementary to existing stigma reduction strategies for depression and anxiety, as well as the Mindframe strategy to reduce stigma in the mediaconsistent with the mental health plans of national and state governments, as well as the National Mental Health Commission.

SANE Australia is calling on the major political parties to commit to a national, long-term strategy and campaign to reduce the stigma and discrimination associated with mental illness, with a particular focus on psychotic illness. SANE has written to the Minister for Mental Health, Jacinta Collins as well as the mental health spokespeople for the Coalition and the Greens party, asking them to make stigma reduction a priority for the next government.

'Mental illness is common. With one in five of us affected every year, reducing stigma across all diagnoses is an important issue for everyone' says Jack Heath. 'SANE Australia calls on each party to review the report and make stigma reduction for mental illness a commitment in the upcoming Federal election.'

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Report: A life without Stigma, funded by the Department of Health and Ageing

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