A Day in the Life

Unusually for the issue of mental health, it found its way into the headlines twice this week. In the first instance, the Royal College of Nursing revealed that staff cuts and bed shortages were leaving mental health services "under unprecedented strain", with 3,300 fewer posts in mental health nursing than in 2010 and a total of 2,179 beds cut since April 2011. At the same time, they said, demand had increased by 30%. Even in wards that remain, there is the problem of over-occupancy, with adult acute admission wards running at an average monthly occupancy level of 101% for the last two years. The Royal College of Psychiatrists say that the occupancy level should be 85%. Dr. Peter Carter, chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, said that such cuts risk making previous good work obsolete, and went on to say: "if staffing levels and services are cut back further, then services will continue to crumble, which would be a tragedy for us all, to s...

What must now be a few years ago, I wrote a blog entitled "Mediocrities of the World, I Absolve You." It was about the often seen stereotype of people with mental illness also being brilliant or talented in some way - in essence, about the cliché concerning where genius ends and madness begins, or vice versa. My conclusion in that blog was that it was a stereotype like any other, having little to do with the reality of what the majority of people with mental ill health experience. I suggested that such representations of mental illness could then be just as damaging as other stereotypes, as they don't leave much room for those who aren't some kind of genius. However, having recently watched the film, "Frank", director Lenny Abrahamson's examination of a rock band headed by a guru-like and enigmatic front man, I think I've changed my mind somewhat. The film is narrated from the perspective of Jon Burroughs, a young wannabe pop star who really isn...

"Ghetto... segregated group or area." The Oxford English Dictionary.   A few days ago on our local BBC radio station, the subject of mental health was raised. If I remember correctly, it was because of an announcement by Nick Clegg concerning the reduction of waiting times for mental health patient appointments. As part of this segment of the show, then, someone from a centre which teaches people with mental health problems about IT was interviewed. It wasn't the content of what this person said, though, which interested me, but the response of one of the presenters. Having done the interview, she stated that such places were wonderful because people with mental ill health could help each other and interact there, and, furthermore, they wouldn't feel any stigma about their problems in such places because they were "all in the same boat." While I would absolutely agree that such places are often invaluable to those with m...

I don't know whether anyone reading this blog will have watched "Marvellous", the BBC2 biopic of the inimitable Neil Baldwin, but I certainly did. Played by Toby Jones in the film, Neil was someone who, despite having learning difficulties, made the very best of life. The film showed how he became a part-time clown, known as "Nello", and later how he made friends with various bishops, politicians and celebrities (at one point we even see him meeting the late Tony Benn after he "gatecrashed" parliament). Perhaps most importantly of all, he became an indispensable part of Stoke City FC's support staff when under the management of Lou Macari. He also became a sort of unpaid student supporter at Keele University, a role for which he recently received an honorary masters degree. So, by all accounts an extraordinary life for one who had such difficulties. Indeed, it appeared that Neil never let his problems hold him back, approaching life wit...

The above title of course comes from Robin Thicke's massively successful and ultra controversial 2013 pop hit. However, I don't want to delve into the many debates on sexual politics that that particular song raised, but rather explore what I believe are the blurred lines which are apparent when it comes to censorship and the movies. So, I'll be leaving behind my main topic of mental health for this post, and instead indulging another one of my passions: the cinema. The idea for this post came to mind as I was watching "Stranger by the Lake", a 2013 French drama/thriller set at a cruising spot for men. The film contained extremely explicit scenes, with the two male leads engaging in what appeared to be real, unsimulated sex. So, what I began to wonder was, would such scenes be passed with an 18 certificate were this not an art house movie, the audience for which would probably be regarded as middle class and culturally sophisticated? Indeed, isn't there a cla...

I recently wrote an article on the year four review of the Work Capability Assessment for a local mental health charity. The Work Capability Assessment (WCA) is the tool being used by the government to assess whether those who are ill or disabled are capable of working, and in the foreword to the government's response to the review, the Minister of State for Disabled People, the Rt. Hon. Mike Penning MP, stated: "... my key aim is to prevent people being written off to a life on benefits because of a health condition or disability. The links between health and work are well known... The Work Capability Assessment is a key part of the Government's goal to ensure that all people who can work, regardless of their health condition or disability, are given the opportunity to do so." Indeed, Mr. Penning is himself disabled, and his apparently fervent belief in giving people the chance to work would seem to come from hard personal experience. So, one could be forgiven for t...

The charity Brighter Futures has recently completed a four-month review of mental illness and how it is treated in Stoke-on-Trent and surrounding areas. They found that between 77,344 and 87,547 people in the area suffer from some form of mental ill health, a figure higher than the national average. This is perhaps not surprising considering that Stoke-on-Trent might be termed a deprived area, with many of the economic and social problems which often impact on people's mental health. Indeed, many of those involved in the survey said that the closure of mental health resource centres had negatively affected their illness. Welfare reforms also featured as a prominent cause for concern, with the so-called "bedroom tax" flagged up as a particularly troublesome financial burden. Having to wait a long time for decisions relating to benefit eligibility assessments was mentioned as well. However, the report stated that...

In this blog, I have sometimes mentioned the group which I attend once a week. It is often referred to as The Pathways Group, although I think its full title was originally "Pathways to Recovery." Going even further back than that, I have been led to believe that groups like it were once known by the somewhat less positive-sounding moniker, "Group for those with severe and enduring mental ill health." The group has been meeting since around 2007, and during that time has achieved a great deal. At one point we even made a short film, funded by Stoke-on-Trent City Council, about what it is like to experience a long-term mental health problem, and which was eventually screened, along with other health-related films, at our local museum in Hanley. The process of the making of that film was documented in these pages (see my blog posts, "Hollywood Here I Come", parts 1, 2 and 3). The group has, of course, done many other things, but to me this was perhaps its m...

According to his sister, Cathie Wood, Mark Wood was a "sweet and gentle person." The only thing was, Mark suffered from a number of complex mental health problems. For most of his life these had remained undiagnosed, but in his late 20s he was said to have both Asperger Syndrome and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. These problems made it impossible for Mark to work. Indeed, he was sacked from his first job because his employer said that he was "unable to follow instructions", and his doctor, Nicholas Ward, said in a letter to the jobcentre, that Mark was "extremely unwell and not fit for any work whatsoever." However, as many of you will know, those who receive sickness benefits are currently being reassessed to see if they are indeed unfit to work. So Mark, as is the case with so many others like him, had to go through the process of being reassessed for his benefits, a process being carried out by the multinational company, Atos. Despite the overwhelming ...

After a longer than usual break from blogging, I thought I might return with a little update on my turbulent, once troubled, mind. It seems that I somewhat lost my motivation to blog over the closing months of the last year, even missing my usual Christmas message. I don't know what this was really down to, but suffice it to say that some of the wind seemed to have left my sails. I seem to have tried to find my way in the 3-D world, with some success in the voluntary sector of work, but none in the paid variety, so perhaps it was that that was causing my little flutter of anxiety. Add to that that the mental health charity I'd worked for closed its doors back in late 2012, and also that I'd had to come to terms with being discharged from secondary mental health services after 16 years under their care, and perhaps you have a recipe for, if not a slough of despond, then certainly a little glimpse into the darkness. Indeed, I don't know what it is, but I do seem ...