Peer Support Fife blog

blogging now with Mad in America

2012-01-29T13:36:00.004Z

I was very pleased to be invited by Bob Whitaker to be the Scotland correspondent, blogging on his Mad in America web magazine, and have done my first blog entitled 'Navigating the System'. This was a topic I'd wanted to write about for a while so good to get it out of my system, so to speak ...

Hoping to share news about peer led mental health initiatives in Scotland and alternatives to working with people in distress. We are meeting soon in Cupar to discuss a follow-up to our Sharp Edge event last September on peer led crisis alternatives. Colleagues from local and national mental health organisations are joining us to look at possible developments.

I would love to see a 'wellbeing' centre where anyone and everyone could drop by for a variety of activities - talking therapies, information hub, peer support, advocacy, sport and physical activities. And out-of-hours crisis support with a phone helpline run by volunteers with lived experience of mental health problems and recovery.

crisis support and wellbeing

2012-01-17T06:25:00.002Z

This year we are looking to concentrate on peer led crisis alternatives in Fife, following up our Sharp Edge event. Alternatives to hospitalisation for people in crisis - talking therapies and peer support - information and advocacy - a centre where anyone could drop by and self refer - inclusive and available - volunteering opportunities - because mental ill health and distress can happen to anyone. It's no respecter of persons. We're all in it together.

a new year beckons

2011-12-21T09:11:00.019Z

Looking forward to the new year and possibilities of collaborative working in peer support and crisis alternatives. We hope to be successful with fundraising so that we can run more events for people who use services and their carers, family members. In particular we are interested in crisis alternatives led by people with lived experience of mental distress.

Looking back at 2011 we remember many interesting events and fine chat with friends and colleagues. Guests joined us from many 'airts 'n pairts'. We were glad of their company.

Photos from our Tidal Model workshop, Mary O'Hagan's presentation, visit to Leeds Survivor Led Crisis Service, the Sharp Edge peer led crisis alternatives event.

Also going to London to hear Parisian psychoanalyst Francoise Davoine, author of History Beyond Trauma, and to Ireland to hear Robert Whitaker, USA author of Anatomy of an Epidemic, then inviting Bob to Fife in November.

Robert Whitaker Lecture Tomorrow

2011-11-18T08:05:00.011Z

Robert Whitaker lecture tomorrow at Elmwood College, Cupar, Fife - very much looking forward to welcoming Bob to Fife. His prize winning books Anatomy of an Epidemic and Mad in America are changing the psychiatric world for the better, giving voice to people's stories of chronicity on long term psychiatric drugs. And bringing to light research on the inefficacy of these drugs which have added to the suffering of people with mental health problems.

We are delighted that Prof Phil Barker and Poppy Buchanan-Barker are opening the event. Phil and Poppy live in Fife and were born and raised here. Their Tidal Model "helps people reclaim the personal story of mental distress, by recovering their voice. By using their own language, metaphors and personal stories people begin to express something of the meaning of their lives. This is the first step towards helping recover control over their lives".

October update

2011-10-11T20:29:00.009+01:00

Our Sharp Edge event on peer led crisis alternatives had a host of inspiring speakers and enthusiastic participants, including a large group up from the South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. Thanks to SAMH colleagues for supporting us in the planning and on the day. A very enjoyable experience and great to have Shery Mead and Chris Hansen leading our event.

Photo left to right: Karen Taylor, Chris Hansen, Chrys Muirhead, Carolyn Roberts SAMH, Ron Coleman, Shery Mead, Steve Mayes SAMH.

We are very pleased to have Bob Whitaker visiting Cupar on Saturday 19 November, to speak about his prize winning book 'Anatomy of an Epidemic'. Prof Phil Barker and Poppy Buchanan-Barker will open and close the event.

sharp edge count down

2011-09-12T20:51:00.005+01:00

A week tomorrow it's our 'At the Sharp Edge' dialogue event in Dunfermline, looking forward to welcoming delegates from all over Scotland, also a team from London, for what looks to be an interesting get-together. Discussing the topic of peer led crisis alternatives, different ways of working with people in psychosis, who have experienced trauma, hearing voices, led by people who have lived experience of mental health problems.

On Thursday this week I'm speaking at the Zero Tolerance event in Edinburgh hosted by the Mental Welfare Commission - after the nurse and police points of view. Taking time to think of how I will bring my personal experience of being an inpatient of a psychiatric hospital and of the caring role into the mix.

August has arrived

2011-08-04T08:33:00.016+01:00

Don't know about you but for me the summer is flying by, August is now here and we are busier than ever at PS Fife with our acute psychiatric inpatient research, also taking bookings for the Sharp Edge event on 20 September at the Carnegie Conference Centre (photo on the right) on the outskirts of Dunfermline.

We're looking forward to some really interesting discussions around working with psychosis, hearing voices, peer led initiatives and crisis alternatives.

Billy Watson of SAMH is opening our event and the guest speaker line up is now Shery Mead and Chris Hansen, Ron Coleman and Karen Taylor, Fiona Venner Leeds Survivor Led Crisis Service, Jacquie Nicholson of the Edinburgh Crisis Centre and Jan Cameron, Redhall Walled Garden, a therapeutic environment under the banner of SAMH.

looking forward to September

2011-07-27T08:03:00.005+01:00

Today is the spending cuts focus group in Kirkcaldy facilitated by Chris White and organised by VOX. And our AGM has been rescheduled to 16 August, same venue.

September looks set to being an exciting month with various mental health events, including Shery Mead and Chris Hansen visiting from the US, also Will Hall and Oryx Cohen in Glasgow on 6th of the month - Recovery Learning Communities: An Alternative American Experience - our event on the 20th, Perth the day after with Shery. On the 17th in Glasgow the SAMH conference supporting people bereaved by suicide with guest speaker Ken Norton of the US-based Connect Suicide Prevention Project, run by the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

July is racing on

2011-07-13T19:54:00.006+01:00

We're now halfway through July and have got our online survey into acute psychiatric inpatient care online and arranging focus groups. Interesting comments already and hope to gather more, from the user and carer perspective. At the Sharp Edge is out there - our peer led crisis alternatives dialogue event - looking forward to some very useful discussions and hearing 'experts' in the field.

Some sunny weather here in Fife and an opportunity for driving down to the East Neuk and its bonny views of sea and boats and rockpools.

Redhall walled garden visit

2011-06-24T06:43:00.006+01:00

June has rushed by and we are keeping busy at PS Fife. A visit to the SAMH Redhall Walled Garden inspired us, from the beauty of the well kept beds to the helpful trainee guides - a superb enterprise expertly managed. There were resting places in garden sheds and themed areas with plants for sale. I'd recommend a visit.

Angela and I explored the various nooks and crannies of the walled garden, observing wild life and seeing the raised beds of plants belonging to the trainees. Work was going on as usual, mending and weeding, planting and trimming, showing visitors around and offering cups of tea.

leeds visit

2011-05-31T11:22:00.009+01:00

Ross and I travelled down recently to Leeds by train to gather information and network. First port of call was a meeting with Jen and Theresa of the Soteria Network, hearing about their carer role and developing of the network - a group of people in the UK promoting the development of drug-free and minimum medication therapeutic environments for people experiencing 'psychosis' or extreme states. Theresa and Jen have compiled the stories of carers in their book 'Caring for someone with mental health problems' - well worth a read!

The next day we were up bright and early to visit the Leeds Survivor Led Crisis Service, meeting with Fiona Venner, Manager, and visitors Sandra and Brenda -seeing round their 18th century Dial House and hearing about their work, helping people in crisis.

Services include a phone helpline - staffed by volunteers - counselling and support through visits to the house. There are peer led groups and opportunities for involvement. Started in 1999 the service has gone from strength to strength, winning awards, more info on their website, see link on the right.

looking ahead

2011-05-02T09:19:00.008+01:00

Over the next year or so we are going to concentrate on a peer/survivor led crisis alternative - researching and developing an initiative in Fife, to meet the needs of people with a crisis in their mental health.

To prepare for this, 2 of us are visiting the Leeds Survivor Led Crisis Service, a project that has been around since 1999 and offers respite in Dial House, a telephone helpline, group work activities and counselling - all for people in crisis.

At the same time we are meeting with members of the Soteria Network, Bradford, another innovative development that s working towards setting up a Soteria House in the UK - promoting the development of drug-free and minimum medication therapeutic environments for people experiencing 'psychosis' or extreme states.

We are continuing our contact with Shery Mead, US and international consultant on peer led initiatives. Shery is visiting Scotland in September this year and will be leading events in different places - great!

Mary O'Hagan in St Andrews

2011-05-02T09:04:00.007+01:00

Our Mary O'Hagan event at the end of March was another opportunity to hear an experienced international mental health activist in our neck of the woods. Thanks to Fife Council and NHS Fife for giving funds for this event and to staff from the statutory sector who took part in the day.

Unfortunately I had recently come out of hospital, nothing too serious although it's taken a while to recover. It was great to meet again with Mary and to benefit from her survivor perspective and long commitment to the cause - bringing positive change to the psychiatric system.

Ireland visit

2011-03-14T05:54:00.012Z

Daniel and I went to Ireland recently to hear and meet Bob Whitaker, American author of Anatomy of an Epidemic, speak at the Athlone Institute, a 90min drive to the west of Dublin. It was inspiring to hear Bob talk about his investigations into psychiatric medications and the problems of chronicity in the long term use of these drugs.

On our way to Athlone we stopped for refreshments at Kilcock, a village not far from Dublin, which was picturesque and had a nursing home for retired nuns across from the local shop.

Dublin was a busy city with mad driving and it was good to have a quantity of Euros to hand ... Trinity College with its 400yr old tradition of scholarship had many interesting buildings and artworks in the grounds, including the Book of Kells and a 'sphere within a sphere' - others are in different parts of the world including Vatican city.

We caught a live musical session at a music shop with traditional Irish singer Susan McKeown who lives now in New York, she was singing from her new album 'Singing in the Dark', songs and poems written in the dark times of depression and when mental health is precarious.

London trip

2011-03-04T20:04:00.010Z

The UK film premiere of Mere Folle (crazy mother movie) was held in Goldsmith's College, University of London - my son and I stayed over in the capital for 3 days. It was great to meet the authors of History Beyond Trauma - Francoise Davoine and Jean-Max Gaudilliere - a couple in their 60's who have worked for over 30yrs with 'mad' people, in asylums and private practice. We got the Overground train out to the college.

Photos of the Millennium Bridge over to the Tate Modern.

And the pillars of St Pauls with a home-made lunch in the Crypt Cafe.

Down the road to the old Covent Garden market now a shopping arcade.

tidal makes waves

2011-02-03T08:12:00.007Z

Our workshop on the Tidal Model with Phil and Poppy was a great learning experience, also many laughs along the way. The mixture of teaching and groupwork, sharing and listening helped us grasp the Tidal message. Prof Phil Barker and Poppy Buchanan-Barker are very experienced people in the way of listening and caring - Phil was the UK's first Professor of psychiatric nursing, has worked in the mental health field for over 40 years and is a psychotherapist and Honorary Professor at the University of Dundee - Poppy was a social worker and social work manager for almost 30 years and is a therapist and counsellor.

Although we had to change venue on the 2nd day it was thanks to VONEF, Cupar, that this was achieved with the minimum of effort - we were glad of the warmth and refreshments on hand - thanks go to Helen, Sue and the team!

The tea breaks became longer as conversations started and friendships forged - the stories became enthralling and the questions flowed freely - the 'solutions group' taught us that there were no solutions except for the person who had the strengths and experience within to find the answer - we were helpers on the journey and it was a continuum of discovery ...

looking forward to a guid new year ...

2011-01-04T14:54:00.006Z

Events planned in this new year include a Tidal Model workshop, another on Solution Focused Approaches - in between these we will be facilitating a workshop at The Gathering, SCVO's national event for the voluntary sector, held at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre "Having a voice and making a difference" is the theme - then directly following this we are off to Ireland to join our colleagues at the Critical Voices Network meeting in Tullamore, hearing Bob Whitaker, author of 'Mad in America' and 'Anatomy of an Epidemic'.

wintry tales ...

2010-12-15T23:02:00.004Z

Here's a photo of the sun setting on the Lomond hills in Fife, demonstrating the beauty of the snowy weather in the midst of the inconvenience and slippery underfoot experiences.

And another of a footpath nearby that could be a risky undertaking. These views are not far from Stratheden psychiatric hospital which sits in its own grounds with views over the countryside. This can be helpful for recovery but even more helpful would be if the people who use hospital services and their carers had more of a voice and were listened to.

developments ...

2010-11-11T09:13:00.008Z

The new year is looking good for our developing work - Tidal in January, solution focused and narrative approaches, peer led initiatives and hopefully Shery Mead visiting April/May time, advocacy and other possibilities - IIMHL September 2011 is in the USA, San Francisco for the main event and an exchange at the project of your choice ....

what we're planning ...

2010-10-11T08:24:00.003+01:00

The user carer involvement events are being held in Cupar on 29 October and 25 November, more details on the home page of the website. At the same time we hope to start some user carer get-togethers, an opportunity to discuss concerns and ways of influencing and improving mental health services.

In January we plan to hold a 2 day Tidal Model workshop facilitated by Phil Barker and Poppy Buchanan-Barker, see link to their website.

And in April/May time we hope to have Shery Mead visiting Scotland, sharing her knowledge and experience of Intentional Peer Support and peer run crisis alternatives.

follow-up events

2010-08-21T20:43:00.005+01:00

We are planning some follow-up events to the Mary O'Hagan workshop which focussed on user/carer involvement and developing an action plan around September/October. They will again be in Cupar and we hope to have the support of our friends from other areas as well as local folks.

There is such a need for people who have experience of mental health services to be involved in improving these services - who better to make a difference than those who have been through the system and may still be using services. Carers also can have an impact and bring about change. Our aim is to work on developing user involvement training materials that can be used to empower and inform those on service planning groups and strategic committees.

Mary O'Hagan workshop

2010-04-27T10:03:00.003+01:00

We are looking forward to Mary O'Hagan's visit to Cupar to lead a workshop on user and carer involvement, 'having a voice and making a difference'. It is a good time for us in Fife to be considering the impact that mental health service users and carers can have on services, from planning to provision.

AGM photo

2010-03-29T10:11:00.004+01:00

Here is a photo from our AGM in January, some of the folks who joined us - I just remembered that I hadn't put anything in the Blog about it - better late than never ......

Wendy McAuslan from VOX addressed the meeting with an interactive presentation. It was good to have the support of colleagues as we shared news about developments.

more workshops on peer support

2010-03-21T08:03:00.004Z

This week we've another Peer Support workshop at Barony's Contact Point, Kirkcaldy - a mixture of folk coming along from Fife, Dumfries and even Argyll ..... an opportunity to discuss the PS model and look at the paid PS Worker role.

all WRAPped up at Going Forth ...

2010-03-06T11:18:00.005Z

We completed the 6 week WRAP training at Going Forth, SAMH, Dunfermline - well done to all the folks who came along and stayed the course!

It was good to do the course in smaller chunks, time for more discussion and also to do strengths exercises from the Kansas University Pathways book.

More WRAP training for me at Perth at the Gateway, North Methven Street, on Monday, 15 booked on to this course which runs over 2 days, time to develop a WRAP.

peer support event in Glasgow

2010-02-17T23:06:00.004Z

Yesterday I was speaking and facilitating a workshop at a Peer Support, Mentoring & Employability event held at the Scottish Government building on Atlantic Quay, Glasgow - an enjoyable experience with interesting chat, hearing about how the PS/mentoring model helps people on their way to recovery and useful activity or employment.

and more funding ....

2010-02-15T08:05:00.003Z

We've been successful with our Awards for All application and this will allow us to recruit volunteers, hotdesk and develop training materials - good news!

funding news

2010-01-24T02:30:00.005Z

More funding awarded - this time for a follow-up Inclusion event facilitated by Peter Bates of NDTi. Great! A workshop for around 30 over 2 days in March - likely to be 10 & 11, in the Town House, Kirkcaldy. NHS Fife also gave money towards this event. Thanks to our funders! It'll be a great opportunity to build on the November 08 Glenrothes event and to encourage folk to work together to promote inclusion, and to ensure that services in the community are inclusive - really welcome all people regardless of ability or disability.

We have other funding applications in and are waiting to hear - monies that will enable us to recruit volunteers, deliver more training and to 'hotdesk'. It looks like we will need to have an office base, ideally one that we could train in and hold workshops etc.

lang may yer lum reek!

2010-01-03T18:25:00.006Z

It's the new year, twenty ten or 2010, we're snowbound here in Fife despite global warming ...

Looking forward to a busy if challenging year ahead, hoping to receive more funding from various sources, to continue promoting Peer Support and also to develop other areas of work around user/carer involvement and peer advocacy - anything that helps people have a voice and make a difference, personally and in the wider context of services and decision-making.

One of our interests will be the Clubhouse model and we're counting on help from the Scottish Coalition of Clubhouses, to look at ways of promoting this member-led initiative that has been on the go internationally since 1948 on the streets of New York.

procurement conference Glenrothes

2009-12-10T18:20:00.009Z

Today I attended a conference organised by Fife Council on commissioning, procurement and tendering - in other words, I think, the different ways in which care services will be awarded or competed for. The event was majorly attended by the third (voluntary) sector and addressed firstly by Geoff Pope, Scottish Government Third Sector Team, who explained the policies and demystified some of the terms and initials. It seems that the government really want the voluntary sector to challenge and improve public service provision, whether by 'collaborative purchasing' or even by winning public sector contracts. This is assuming that they will come up for tender etc.

The second speaker, Annie Gunner Logan, gave an interesting and entertaining address on the differences between commissioning and procurement - that service user consultation is not the same as service user involvement - she concluded with a quote from Monty Python and the Holy Grail:

"In accordance with our principles of free enterprise and healthy competition, I'm going to ask you to fight to the death for it."

conferences

2009-12-04T05:38:00.017Z

I have been away on flying visits to conferences in England. The first one in November was the People, Lives and Communities 2 day event in Bristol, a great opportunity to hear about inclusion and to network. I got this free place with accommodation from the NDTi (national development team for inclusion), the organisers of the conference.

The photo shows the area near the hotel where the event was held. One of the workshops was 'walk on the wild side' and we had the opportunity of going out and about in pairs to find out if nearby organisations and businesses were 'inclusive'. I very much enjoyed this activity, chatting to folk and finding out about the facilities.

The other day I was in London, a flying visit literally, down and back in the same day easyjetting ... to attend a Service User Involvement in Social Care conference. This was a challenge and an enjoyable one. We flew into Gatwick from Edinburgh, a very large airport from where I was to get the Express train into Victoria. I nearly got on the wrong train, one that could have taken hours but managed to get directions and catch the right train. It was great to see London again, the Christmas lights and a journey by bus to the conference venue - I do prefer public transport if possible, taking time to enjoy the sights.

VOX (voices of experience), a national service user organisation, covered my costs for this trip. It was another useful networking experience and again hearing Prof Peter Beresford, Brunel University West London. I had a chat with Peter and he mentioned having been to Fife in the past, he is the chair of Shaping Our Lives which is an independent user-controlled organisation, think tank and network. He is a service user and understands the challenges of living with mental ill health.

united we stand photos

2009-10-29T07:42:00.006Z

Our United We Stand event was a success - lots of good networking and chat, a superb opening address from HUG's Graham and a variety of innovative and interesting workshop presentations - well done to all! Here are some photos - from left to right in front of Elmwood College is Alison (Elmwood), me, Graham and Wendy (VOX).

blogging begins ....

2009-10-29T07:35:00.002Z

Time to start blogging at Peer Support Fife - to report on how our work is developing - partnerships and networks - funding applications - challenges and achievements!