Dr Claire Dillon, consultant forensic psychiatrist talks to Alain, former patient, about his experience of being admitted to hospital plus Dr Ali Ajaz interviews Dr Paul Simon Williams on the subject of forensic psychiatry.

This is one in a series of research briefings about preventive care and support for adults.

This briefing focuses on services aimed at reducing the effects of both loneliness and social isolation. Although the terms might have slightly different meanings, the experience of both is generally negative and the resulting impacts are undesirable at the individual, community and societal levels.…

British Sociological Association Happiness Study Group

Day Conference

Wednesday 1st February 2012, 10.30am-4.30pm

BSA Meeting Room,  Imperial Wharf, London



Call for Abstracts

Researching Happiness:Theoretical and Methodological Challenges

The British Sociological Association Happiness Study Group invites social scientists to submit abstracts for their forthcoming day conference that aims to explore the theoretical and methodological challenges facing…

Can Patients be teachers? - Involving patients and service users in health professionals' education

Authors: John Spencer, William Godolphin, Natalia Karpenko, Angela Towle

Download here.



There is strong evidence that involving patients and service users in healthcare professionals' education has short-term benefits…

This document reflects on key issues concerning mental health and wellbeing promotion in the context of the updated Royal College of Psychiatrists report entitled 'the Mental Health of Students in Higher Education'. 

Does a social work degree equip a newly qualified social worker for a first job? Join us on Tuesday 18 October from midday…

The HEA’s new UK travel fund will enable staff and students in

UK higher education to exchange and disseminate good practice in learning, teaching and assessment and engage with their peers. The funding may be used to help the applicant(s) attend conferences, network meetings and special interest groups that are being run in the UK. Please note that funding may not be used for events that are being held outside the UK. The application should demonstrate that:



• the event is…

The HEA is offering funding for workshops and seminars which are
a) focused on assessment and feedback or retention and success
or
b) relate to a single discipline.

See here for futher details:
http://tiny.cc/cvbkg

The main purpose of this report is to provide an update to a previous Royal College of Psychiatrists document, Mental Health of Students in Higher Education, published in 2003. Over the past decade, the demographics of the student population have undergone many changes that are of relevance to the provision of mental healthcare. The numbers of young people in higher education have expanded and they have become more socially and…

Produced by the National Health Universities Project this guidance package provides:

...background information, evidence and links to existing guidance for universities to promote mental wellbeing.

...general information on mental wellbeing as well as separate sections focussing on staff and student issue.

...suggestions on policy/procedures development, areas for consultation, potential internal/external partners to involve.

Download…

The development of User-Led Organisations (ULOs) is central to the Government’s Vision for Adult Social Care .  Research in Practice for Adults (ripfa) held a series of regional workshops to explore and examine the evidence-base for ULOs and how Local Authorities (LAs) can respond and encourage their emerging role.  These pages set out the main messages from the…

The Higher Education Academy has appointed Vida Douglas as Discipline Lead for Social Work and Social Policy.  See here for her September ebulletin.

The HEA is building a community of Academic Associates to deliver and develop support for learning and teaching in higher education. Expressions of interest are sought from academics with current experience, who are leaders in their field, can work as part of a team, and who share the HEA’s ambition to improve learning and teaching and the student learning experience. See here for further details.

An upcoming film festival at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) is set to quash the myths and fight the stigmas associated with mental health.  The One in Four Film Festival, which is now in its fifth year, will take place between 10 to 14 October and show a range of entertaining, yet informative, feature films which explore the effects of mental health on individuals and society at large. For further details, see:  …

I recently came across some very interesting reading lists on the Meriden Family Programme website:

- Family work with BME communities

- Caregiver stress

-…

The Social Work Education Support Grant (SWEG) is a Department of Health fund to support universities and employers in providing practice learning opportunities for social work students on qualifying courses. It also supports the involvement in social work education of people who use services, and carers.



The SWEG consultation is now live.



Click here to read the full consultation…

Royal College of Psychiatrists report setting out ten standards for adult inpatient mental health care. 

The purpose of this occasional paper is: (a) to offer a useful minimum checklist of standards for managers and commissioners of services to apply in strategic planning and in assessing for themselves the quality of their wards; and (b) to provide elaboration of the ten standards drawing on the evidence of current practice as found by recent reviewing bodies.…

The call for bids in the Higher Education Academy’s second phase of teaching development grants has opened today, Monday 5 September 2011.

Recent article in Community Care:

http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2011/08/22/117336/Councils-withdrawing-social-workers-from-mental-health.htm

Have just posted a news item - 'new materials on personalisation and dementia' - on the mhhe website. 

Did you know that you can access all new items posted there from the RSS feed on the left hand side of the mhhe hub homepage?  Have a look now. . .