East London in crisis
resisting austerity, building community
Community event
26 September 2015 from 2.30pm till late
Venue St Matthias Community Centre
113 Poplar High St, London E14 0AE
Nearest station Poplar DLR
Meet local campaigners
Find out what’s happening to our communities
Share how we’re fighting back
Everyone welcome
Afternoon
Workshops with east London campaigners:
NHS • benefits • mental health services • education • housing • trade union rights • the environment
Bring food to share
Evening
Cabaret benefit Raising funds for coaches to the Anti-Austerity demo in Manchester on 4 Oct 2015.
This event has been launched by Tower Hamlets Keep Our NHS Public, with backing from Tower Hamlets People’s Assembly and Tower Hamlets Unison.
The old East End had a tradition of fighting for its rights.
That hasn’t changed.
Across east London, campaigners are fighting to save our services, our rights and our communities.
We say austerity’s a con. Being forced to pay for the global banking crisis through massive cuts to jobs and services is not just criminally unjust, it’s economically unworkable.
We think the real political agenda of austerity is even worse – it’s the creeping privatisation of services like the NHS, the theft of our land, the 50,000 families forced out of London in the past three years, the failure to tackle climate change, and the mounting attacks on trade union rights, claimants, people with disabilities and people with mental health problems.
In east London, we won’t sit back and let this happen.
The aim of our event is to bring people together to share their local knowledge and campaigning experience with each other. Everyone is welcome.
This event was called by Tower Hamlets Keep Our NHS Public, with backing from Tower Hamlets People’s Assembly and Tower Hamlets Unison. The event is supported by a large number of groups across east London. They include: health campaigners; trades unionists; pro-housing and anti-developer campaigners; claimants groups; mental health groups; environmental campaigners; local community groups.
Come with us to Manchester: Tower Hamlets Unison and Tower Hamlets Keep Our NHS Public are taking coaches to the People’s Assembly Anti-Austerity demonstration in Manchester on Sunday 4 October 2015. To reserve a seat (£25 or £10 unwaged), email THkeepourNHSpublic@gmail.com
Campaigning for fairer & compassionate mental health care since 2007. Humane therapy, not DRUGS tyranny! Working together GREATER results can be achieved! (Pls, note that we are not longer meeting, but present in spirit)
Thursday, 17 September 2015
September Newsletter Extra
The Philadelphia Association
50th Anniversary Celebrations
25 September - 4 October 2015
www.philadelphia-association.org.uk/documents/PA_50th_Anniversary1.8.15.pdf
The PA came into being 50 years ago to challenge and to widen the discourse around the teaching and practice of psychotherapy. So it seems wholly appropriate that we celebrate this landmark in our history with a week-long programme featuring a diverse range of performances, talks and events.
Tickets are free of charge, donations accepted for the PA Therapy Aid Fund.
To book a place at any of the above events please contact our administrator on 0300 123 1708 or via email office@philadelphia-association.org.uk
4 Marty’s Yard, 17 Hampstead High Street, London NW3 1QW
For directions to Marty’s Yard please go to our website:
www.philadelphia-association.org.uk and click on ‘Contact Us’
50th Anniversary Celebrations
25 September - 4 October 2015
www.philadelphia-association.org.uk/documents/PA_50th_Anniversary1.8.15.pdf
The PA came into being 50 years ago to challenge and to widen the discourse around the teaching and practice of psychotherapy. So it seems wholly appropriate that we celebrate this landmark in our history with a week-long programme featuring a diverse range of performances, talks and events.
Tickets are free of charge, donations accepted for the PA Therapy Aid Fund.
To book a place at any of the above events please contact our administrator on 0300 123 1708 or via email office@philadelphia-association.org.uk
4 Marty’s Yard, 17 Hampstead High Street, London NW3 1QW
For directions to Marty’s Yard please go to our website:
www.philadelphia-association.org.uk and click on ‘Contact Us’
Monday, 14 September 2015
September Newsletter
Dear Friends,
It's FEEL monthly meeting time again next week. Come along to celebrate the end of a Summer and the beginning of a new season on Monday the 21st of September, on Peace Day. We'll also raise a toast to the amazing Myra Garrett in occasion of her birthday, taking the chance to thank her for all the work and inspiration she has offered for many years.
F.E.E.L. is supporting and holding a stall for Open House London at Kingsley Hall, Bow this Saturday the 19th.
Guided tours of the building will run by the hour from 12pm, closing at 6pm (a BSL/SSE tour will be available at 3:15pm). Come along to see where Gandhi lived during his London stay, R.D. Laing Asylum with the Philadelphia Association which is where it was initially started 50 years ago; find out the whole history of the Lester sisters, founders of the Hall kingsley-hall.co.uk/
More events listed below. Have a good week!
FEEL meets the third Monday of each month 6.30-8.30pm
@ LARC Centre 62, Fieldgate Street, Whitechapel E1 1ES
--------------------------------
Mental Wealth Festival at City Lit
Beyond Words, City Lit and Cathedral Innovation Centre have teamed up to create the inaugural Mental Wealth Festival in London, 16-17 September 2015. The Mental Wealth Festival will highlight the way mental health issues impact on so many aspects of daily life, and how the arts, politics, culture, faith and the media can support our ‘mental wealth’. Speakers include the Minister of State for Community and Social Care, Rt Hon Alistair Burt MP, and award winning author Nathan Filer.
It’s well known that 1 in 4 people in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year. With just under 1million people in contact with mental health services within the UK, (at least a fifth of whom have learning disabilities), it is clear people are not accessing all support on offer. With this in mind the two day festival will explore the many facets of mental health, and look at the support and innovations in the field.
The festival comprises a series of free seminars, workshops and pop-up events looking at ways to support and celebrate people's mental wellbeing.
In particular, the festival will draw upon the themes of creativity, wellbeing and emotional resilience with input from individuals, professionals and the wider community. The theme of the festival is a positive one with an emphasis on championing ability, recovery and strength in solidarity.
There will be a range of informative and interactive ways to engage including film screenings, exhibitions, talks, Mindfulness, keynotes, book signings, live art, debates, learning, creativity and art workshops.
www.citylit.ac.uk/mental-wealth-festival
--------------------------------
Luke Fowler: All Divided Selves
Film London Jarman Award-winner Luke Fowler’s 16mm feature portrait of radical anti-psychiatrist R.D. Laing is introduced by John Foot, author of The Man Who Closed the Asylums, book about Laing’s Italian counterpart, Franco Basaglia. In association with Verso Books.
Thurs 1 October, 7pm Zilkha Auditorium Whitechapel Gallery 77-82 Whitechapel High Street London E1 7QX
www.whitechapelgallery.org/events/luke-fowler-all-divided-selves/
--------------------------------
Kindred Minds’ Black History Month - Mental health and wellbeing Special
Inspire, The Crypt, St Peters Church, Liverpool Grove, London SE17 2HH
Saturday 3 October 2015 from 1.30pm
An event exploring Black history, wellbeing and mental health through discussions, workshops, film and music.
Hot evening meal provided.
The event will inform the writing of a mental health manifesto which aims to change policies and practice of relevance to the needs of Black and Minority Ethnic mental health service users. This event is open to everyone and is organised by Kindred Minds, a Southwark based Black and Minority Ethnic mental health service user group.
There is no charge for this event but please pre-register by emailing Raza Griffiths on kindredmindslondon@gmail.com to receive a registration form or ring 07737 647 445 for further information
--------------------------------
CoolTan: Join a fun guided walk for World Mental Health Day.
Exploring South London’s vibrant musical history.
There’s nothing like music to uplift the soul!
Learn about musical landmarks, local musicians, sound art and the connection between music and mental wellbeing. Enjoy live musical performances and learn the words to our favourite London songs! Dress up as your favourite musician or song, bring instruments or simply come along to enjoy the noise.
The walk length is 4.8 miles, the route is accessible and will led us through the streets of Southwark. By taking part you will be really helping CoolTan to continue our vital work; supporting people with mental distress to build a quality of life. The registration fee is £5 unwaged, £10 waged.
Date: Saturday October 10th 2015, 11.30am-4pm
Starts: Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, SE5 8AZ (outside the main entrance)
Once registered you will receive an official sponsorship form. Register online now.
--------------------------------
Penny Lectures | Autumn series 2015
To celebrate its 125 year anniversary Morley College is reviving the Penny Lectures. The Penny Lectures began in 1882 at the Old Vic Theatre in Waterloo. Topics were chosen to encourage new thinking and ideas and provided illustrated lectures at affordable prices…a penny! The lectures were a huge success and quickly led to the establishment of ‘Morley Memorial College’ for Working Men and Women. Now celebrating the 125th anniversary, the Penny Lecture series have being revived for a new generation of adults to learn from and be inspired by.
Creativity and Mental Liberation
Sarah Wheeler, founder of Mental Fight Club. Dolly Sen, writer, film-maker and mental health consultant. Bobby Baker, artist and author. Sarah Wheeler, Dolly Sen and Bobby Baker, all with lived experience of mental illness, describe how creative practice has saved and transformed their lives. Friday 23 October. Doors at 18:00, lecture from 18:30-20:00 www.morleycollege.ac.uk/pennylectures
--------------------------------
Connect and Discover ( part of The Dragon Cafe)
Join us at Morley College - part of Connect and Discover We are going to be re-creating a mini-Dragon Cafe pop up at Morley College at the end of the month, and then regular Fridays until March 2016. You can check out the Connect and Discover programme here to get the full details. Join us on Friday 25th September at 2 - 5 pm for a creative and social end to the month PLUS we will be having a special Launch Event at 5 - 6 pm with special guests and entertainment to celebrate our new adventure. This is free and open to everyone. See you there! Morley College, 61 Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1 7HT T: 020 7450 1889
Discover programme here to get the full details.
--------------------------------
Campaigning for the Future: How can we work better to secure our rights?
Download Campaigning for the Future Final report
This report offers the views of a wide range of disabled people about present UK disability policy and how they may best work to improve it. In 2011 Jenny Morris wrote a Viewpoint report, published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation called Rethinking Disability Policy. Shaping Our Lives have facilitated two meetings to enable disabled people to discuss what they think about the findings of the report and look at ways in which disabled people can lead improvements to policy and practice as experts by experience – disabled people living and working in austerity Britain from 2012 through to mid-2015. Continues HERE
It's FEEL monthly meeting time again next week. Come along to celebrate the end of a Summer and the beginning of a new season on Monday the 21st of September, on Peace Day. We'll also raise a toast to the amazing Myra Garrett in occasion of her birthday, taking the chance to thank her for all the work and inspiration she has offered for many years.
F.E.E.L. is supporting and holding a stall for Open House London at Kingsley Hall, Bow this Saturday the 19th.
Guided tours of the building will run by the hour from 12pm, closing at 6pm (a BSL/SSE tour will be available at 3:15pm). Come along to see where Gandhi lived during his London stay, R.D. Laing Asylum with the Philadelphia Association which is where it was initially started 50 years ago; find out the whole history of the Lester sisters, founders of the Hall kingsley-hall.co.uk/
More events listed below. Have a good week!
FEEL meets the third Monday of each month 6.30-8.30pm
@ LARC Centre 62, Fieldgate Street, Whitechapel E1 1ES
--------------------------------
Mental Wealth Festival at City Lit
Beyond Words, City Lit and Cathedral Innovation Centre have teamed up to create the inaugural Mental Wealth Festival in London, 16-17 September 2015. The Mental Wealth Festival will highlight the way mental health issues impact on so many aspects of daily life, and how the arts, politics, culture, faith and the media can support our ‘mental wealth’. Speakers include the Minister of State for Community and Social Care, Rt Hon Alistair Burt MP, and award winning author Nathan Filer.
It’s well known that 1 in 4 people in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year. With just under 1million people in contact with mental health services within the UK, (at least a fifth of whom have learning disabilities), it is clear people are not accessing all support on offer. With this in mind the two day festival will explore the many facets of mental health, and look at the support and innovations in the field.
The festival comprises a series of free seminars, workshops and pop-up events looking at ways to support and celebrate people's mental wellbeing.
In particular, the festival will draw upon the themes of creativity, wellbeing and emotional resilience with input from individuals, professionals and the wider community. The theme of the festival is a positive one with an emphasis on championing ability, recovery and strength in solidarity.
There will be a range of informative and interactive ways to engage including film screenings, exhibitions, talks, Mindfulness, keynotes, book signings, live art, debates, learning, creativity and art workshops.
www.citylit.ac.uk/mental-wealth-festival
--------------------------------
Luke Fowler: All Divided Selves
Film London Jarman Award-winner Luke Fowler’s 16mm feature portrait of radical anti-psychiatrist R.D. Laing is introduced by John Foot, author of The Man Who Closed the Asylums, book about Laing’s Italian counterpart, Franco Basaglia. In association with Verso Books.
Thurs 1 October, 7pm Zilkha Auditorium Whitechapel Gallery 77-82 Whitechapel High Street London E1 7QX
www.whitechapelgallery.org/events/luke-fowler-all-divided-selves/
--------------------------------
Kindred Minds’ Black History Month - Mental health and wellbeing Special
Inspire, The Crypt, St Peters Church, Liverpool Grove, London SE17 2HH
Saturday 3 October 2015 from 1.30pm
An event exploring Black history, wellbeing and mental health through discussions, workshops, film and music.
Hot evening meal provided.
The event will inform the writing of a mental health manifesto which aims to change policies and practice of relevance to the needs of Black and Minority Ethnic mental health service users. This event is open to everyone and is organised by Kindred Minds, a Southwark based Black and Minority Ethnic mental health service user group.
There is no charge for this event but please pre-register by emailing Raza Griffiths on kindredmindslondon@gmail.com to receive a registration form or ring 07737 647 445 for further information
--------------------------------
CoolTan: Join a fun guided walk for World Mental Health Day.
Exploring South London’s vibrant musical history.
There’s nothing like music to uplift the soul!
Learn about musical landmarks, local musicians, sound art and the connection between music and mental wellbeing. Enjoy live musical performances and learn the words to our favourite London songs! Dress up as your favourite musician or song, bring instruments or simply come along to enjoy the noise.
The walk length is 4.8 miles, the route is accessible and will led us through the streets of Southwark. By taking part you will be really helping CoolTan to continue our vital work; supporting people with mental distress to build a quality of life. The registration fee is £5 unwaged, £10 waged.
Date: Saturday October 10th 2015, 11.30am-4pm
Starts: Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, SE5 8AZ (outside the main entrance)
Once registered you will receive an official sponsorship form. Register online now.
--------------------------------
Penny Lectures | Autumn series 2015
To celebrate its 125 year anniversary Morley College is reviving the Penny Lectures. The Penny Lectures began in 1882 at the Old Vic Theatre in Waterloo. Topics were chosen to encourage new thinking and ideas and provided illustrated lectures at affordable prices…a penny! The lectures were a huge success and quickly led to the establishment of ‘Morley Memorial College’ for Working Men and Women. Now celebrating the 125th anniversary, the Penny Lecture series have being revived for a new generation of adults to learn from and be inspired by.
Creativity and Mental Liberation
Sarah Wheeler, founder of Mental Fight Club. Dolly Sen, writer, film-maker and mental health consultant. Bobby Baker, artist and author. Sarah Wheeler, Dolly Sen and Bobby Baker, all with lived experience of mental illness, describe how creative practice has saved and transformed their lives. Friday 23 October. Doors at 18:00, lecture from 18:30-20:00 www.morleycollege.ac.uk/pennylectures
--------------------------------
Connect and Discover ( part of The Dragon Cafe)
Join us at Morley College - part of Connect and Discover We are going to be re-creating a mini-Dragon Cafe pop up at Morley College at the end of the month, and then regular Fridays until March 2016. You can check out the Connect and Discover programme here to get the full details. Join us on Friday 25th September at 2 - 5 pm for a creative and social end to the month PLUS we will be having a special Launch Event at 5 - 6 pm with special guests and entertainment to celebrate our new adventure. This is free and open to everyone. See you there! Morley College, 61 Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1 7HT T: 020 7450 1889
Discover programme here to get the full details.
--------------------------------
Campaigning for the Future: How can we work better to secure our rights?
Download Campaigning for the Future Final report
This report offers the views of a wide range of disabled people about present UK disability policy and how they may best work to improve it. In 2011 Jenny Morris wrote a Viewpoint report, published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation called Rethinking Disability Policy. Shaping Our Lives have facilitated two meetings to enable disabled people to discuss what they think about the findings of the report and look at ways in which disabled people can lead improvements to policy and practice as experts by experience – disabled people living and working in austerity Britain from 2012 through to mid-2015. Continues HERE
Saturday, 15 August 2015
August Newsletter.
Dear Friends,
It was an enormous feat that the Shuffle Festival was back again this year. Glad for the space offered to the Survivors participation and the popular Outsiders Poetry.
Lunacy brilliance celebration was obviously open and dedicated to everyone. We also kept in mind the memory of St Clements Hospital and all the people that have played a role during its existence, ex-patients and their friends and families, as well as all people and members of staff that made the history of the asylum. We were pleased to welcome more Deaf and deaf-accessible acts in the programme as well and stretch the inclusiveness spectrum of the festival.
An album with photos and credits to most if not all the contributors can be found here: www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.809021635880665.1073741839.491628407619991&type=3
Free next Monday the 17th? Join us for the monthly meeting at LARC 6:30 - 8:30 pm, plus find attached the last PEN and a nice list of links and events to follow.
Best wishes for the Ferragosto :)
--------------------------------
Lately there have been a series of online webinars such as Shades of Awakening or the currently running Mental Wellness Summit which are jam packed with information of healthy professional advice that offer solutions for mental wellness that, as openly state, "may not involve a pill".
The beauty of these teachings are that they are multiplying by the day and information, spreading faster than ever, can be easily accessed thanks to the blessing of having internet access in our homes. Education, most of the time self-education, is what saves us and heal us. Doctors are too busy in selling us their pills and keep us depending on them to admit of the slim chances of long term benefits in such addictions. Meditate folks!
''Emotions have healing power because they are the active regulators of vitality in movement and the primary mediators of social life. Therapists seek to find ways to engage with the motives that light up body and mind with emotions. Thus, they must move with the patient in the performance of real desired project and tasks not only tasks that exists as stories in talking. The rhythmic expressive foundation of emotional dynamics is the same for all spoken and unspoken 'dances' of the mind. Emotions are how we dance together and doing so is at the heart of the human enterprise.'
Colwyn Trevarthen (2009)
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More Harm Than Good: Confronting the Psychiatric Medication Epidemic a one-day international conference at the University of Roehampton
The Council for Evidence-based Psychiatry invites you to join global leaders in the critical psychiatry movement for a one-day conference which will address an urgent public health issue: the iatrogenic harm caused by the over-prescription of psychiatric medications.
There is clear evidence that these drugs cause more harm than good over the long term, and can damage patients and even shorten their lives. Yet why are these medications so popular? What harms are they causing? What can be done to address the problem?
This event brings together key experts from both sides of the Atlantic to debate these issues, and we invite you to join the discussion (see the programme below).
TO BOOK YOUR PLACE PLEASE FOLLOW THIS LINK: estore.roehampton.ac.uk/browse/extra_info.asp?compid=1&modid=2&catid=172&prodid=217
Places are limited – early booking is advised! We are afraid there are now no more £28 reduced fee spaces.
When:18 September 2015
Where: Whitelands College, University of Roehampton, London SW15 5PU (how to find us)
Cost: £85 for delegates
--------------------------------
The Man Who Closed the Asylums: Franco Basaglia & the Revolution in Mental Health Care
Author's Talk: John Foot - Chair Graham Music
Freud Museum 20 Maresfield Gardens London NW3 5SX
18 August 2015 7pm - doors open at 6.30pm
£10/£7 concessions/Member of the Freud Museum
Writer and Professor of Modern Italian History, John Foot discusses his latest publication, The Man Who Closed the Asylums (Verso August 2015) - The fascinating story of Franco Basaglia, one of the key intellectual and cultural figures of 1960s counterculture - a contemporary of R.D. Laing who worked to overturn institutions from within and ended up transforming mental health care in Italy.
Inspired by the writings of authors such as Primo Levi, R. D. Laing, Erving Goffman, Michel Foucault and Frantz Fanon, and the practices of experimental therapeutic communities in the UK, Basaglia’s seminal work as a psychiatrist and campaigner in Gorizia, Parma and Trieste fed into and substantially contributed to the national and international movement of 1968. In 1978 a law was passed (the ‘Basaglia law’) which sanctioned the closure of the entire Italian asylum system.
The first comprehensive study of this revolutionary approach to mental health care, The Man Who Closed the Asylums is a gripping account of one of the most influential movements in twentieth- century psychiatry, which helped to transform the way we see mental illness. Basaglia’s work saved countless people from a miserable existence, and his legacy persists, as an object lesson in the struggle against the brutality and ignorance that the establishment peddles to the public as common sense. Book online here
Advance booking highly recommended
For further information contacteventsandmedia@freud.org.uk or +44 (0)20 7435 2002
www.freud.org.uk/events/76028/the-man-who-closed-the-asylums-franco-basaglia-the-revolution-in-mental-health-care/
--------------------------------
Community Options event: Your Say Your Day
Spirituality & You
Friday 21st of August from 2-5pm
The Brady Arts Centre, Hanbury St, Whitechapel, London E1 5JD
Guest speakers from the Spiritual Crisis Network.
Talks and workshops, plenty of hot delicious food.
More info suip@community-options.org.uk
--------------------------------
Rocks in My Pockets + Shorts + Panel discussion
Film screening will be followed by a panel discussion that asks, 'Can creativity tame mental illness?'.
23 Aug 2015 From 2:00 pm | Cinema 1 | £7.00 to £11.00 Book Tickets“With Rocks in My Pockets, Signe Baumane presents a sharp, surprising and funny animated feature, plumbing the depths of depression via her family history. Guided by Ms Baumane’s almost musically accented voice-over, this hand-drawn debut feature is based upon the mental struggles of her Latvian grandmother and other relatives. It’s told with remorseless psychological intelligence, wicked irony and an acerbic sense of humour.” Nicolas Rapold in The New York Times
Despite positive reviews and film festival success, Baumane’s 2014 feature is not set for theatrical release. Her energetic taboo-busting candour and a style of animation that captures the shape-shifting whimsy of the imaginary world deserve to meet and engage a wider audience.
We will be screening Rocks in my Pockets, preceded by three shorts from Baumane's 2008 web series, The Teat Beat of Sex. The series is an non-squeamish look at how sex works from a female perspective. Each 'explicitly educational' episode clocks in at under two minutes and provides graphic insights into one of a range of coming-of-age issues.
www.ica.org.uk/whats-on/rocks-my-pockets-shorts-qa-director
--------------------------------
Join the Cohesion Workshop Seminar to discuss on how to make Tower Hamlets a more cohesive borough.
This will run on the 8th September 1-4.30 pm venue mile end hospital arts pavilion e3 4qy.
Contact paul.burgess@towerhamlets.gov.uk for more details.
--------------------------------
Caring for People with Psychosis and Schizophrenia
King's College London (KCL) have recently developed a new online course focused on some of the relevant issues for carers of people with psychosis and schizophrenia. The initiative was funded from the Ostaka Lundbeck Alliance but the course was developed independently by KCL and will run through FutureLearn (part of the Open University).
It is a global course and open and free to anyone in the world be part of. It is a two week course designed to offer an in-depth understanding of some of the key issues and questions relevant to carers supporting people with psychotic disorders, including:
· Why is schizophrenia commonly described as psychosis?
· How can we best understand psychosis and its key symptoms such as hearing voices?
· What are the links between cannabis use and developing psychosis?
· Can psychosis affect physical health?
· How do medications work and what effects can they have?
· In what ways are siblings of people with psychosis affected?
· How can psychosis affect a carer’s health and their relationships?
The course includes a mixture of activities such as talking head videos, quizzes, written texts and opportunities for moderated discussions between learners. It will be the first time a course like this has been developed for carers.
The course includes people with lived experience of caring and a number of leading national and international academics and clinicians from psychology, psychiatry, pharmacy and nursing including:
Professor Elizabeth Kuipers (Chair of the NICE Guidelines for Psychosis & Schizophrenia)
Professor Sir Robin Murray (Chair of the Schizophrenia Commission)
Professor Mike Slade (100 ways to support recovery)
Professor David Taylor (Author of the Maudsley Prescribing Guidelines)
Dr Fiona Gaughran (Lead Consultant, National Psychosis Unit)
Jacqueline Sin (E Siblings project)
The course is open to anyone with an interest in psychosis and caregiving issues. We designed the course with carers in mind. However, it would also be relevant for any student or professional working in a health setting with psychosis and carers. No previous knowledge of psychosis or experience of caring is required to take the course.
The course is based on approximately 3 to 4 hours per week study. The point of the course is that you can study how you like, in your own time. It is about flexible learning, in a style that best suits you e.g. if you want to do five minutes, you can do that, if you want to study for more, you can do that too.
I would be grateful if you would highlight the course to any families you are working with and any colleagues in your Trust working with families- so they too can pass on.
The course starts 12th October 2015 and enrollment is open from now. All one needs to do to sign up is simply follow the link www.futurelearn.com/courses/caring-psychosis-schizophrenia
Email enquires can be sent to: caringpsychosis.MOOC@kcl.ac.uk
--------------------------------
To conclude:
a Whistleblowing PRESS RELEASE - by Dr Bob Johnson
twitter: #ASimplerPsychiatry
An OPEN LETTER to Royal Colleges of Psychiatrists, of GPs, the CMO & NICE.
Dear President,
Re our ‘Age Of Unreason’
As holder of high public office, what is your response to the excoriating Special Report on mental health by The Economist (11 July 2015) – two sins of commission, (1) & (2), and one of omission, (3)? Who is going to take the present psychiatric profession to task, if you do not?
(1) Mental illhealth is set to cost us up to $16trn by 2030 (all other diseases cost less)
(2) Our current medical approach is pungently described as our ‘Age Of Unreason’
(3) Meanwhile, it’s a medical scandal to omit an approach that is perfectly sensible, obvious, courteous, civilised and inexpensive – for 500 years.*
Bearing in mind that the bulk of psychiatry occurs in general practice settings, heavily chaperoned by consultant psychiatric opinion, where do your medical responsibilities lie? Whistleblowing gets lonely.
The DSM (the current psychiatric ‘bible’) strenuously omits any reference to CHILDHOODS. Also omitted from the DSM is the irrefutable medical fact that child sexual abuse can remain undisclosed for decades – where does it go? Merging these two incontrovertible clinical facts happily accounts for point (3). Yet the BMJ recently adjudged this hypothesis, ‘unhelpful’**. When I then raised all three points above, the BMJ remained complacent. Do you?
Dr Bob Johnson Wednesday, 5 August 2015
Consultant Psychiatrist, twitter: #ASimplerPsychiatry
Empowering intent detoxifies psychoses
P O Box 49, Ventnor, Isle Of Wight, PO38 9AA, UK
e-mail DrBob@TruthTrustConsent.com www.DrBobJohnson.org
GMC speciality register for psychiatry reg. num. 0400150
-formerly Head of Therapy, Ashworth Maximum Security Hospital, Liverpool
-formerly Consultant Psychiatrist, Special Unit, C-Wing, Parkhurst Prison, Isle of Wight.
-MRCPsych (Member of Royal College of Psychiatrists),
-MRCGP (Member of Royal College of General Practitioners).
-Diploma in Psychotherapy Neurology & Psychiatry (Psychiatric Inst New York),
-MA (Psychol), PhD(med computing), MBCS, DPM, MRCS.
-Author of
Emotional Health ISBN 0-9551985-0-X
Unsafe at any dose ISBN 0-9551985-1-8
* [Geel is a small Belgian town, pop 53,000.] “Because of the link between economic development, ageing and mental illness, the coming decades are likely to resemble an age of unreason. That is why Geel, which has been caring for people with such conditions for half a millennium, is worth paying attention to. What is striking about the town is how thoroughly normal it seems: the town square with its fake Irish pub; American pop music playing at a polite volume on the main shopping street. Mental illness, so often frightening, seems ordinary here. Geel’s system embodies principles for dealing with it—dignity, openness, kindness, patience—that should be embraced by societies everywhere. [The
Economist Special Report, 11 July 2015, page 5 §7, my emphasis].
**see www.DrBobJohnson.org/A_Simpler_Psychiatry
It was an enormous feat that the Shuffle Festival was back again this year. Glad for the space offered to the Survivors participation and the popular Outsiders Poetry.
Lunacy brilliance celebration was obviously open and dedicated to everyone. We also kept in mind the memory of St Clements Hospital and all the people that have played a role during its existence, ex-patients and their friends and families, as well as all people and members of staff that made the history of the asylum. We were pleased to welcome more Deaf and deaf-accessible acts in the programme as well and stretch the inclusiveness spectrum of the festival.
An album with photos and credits to most if not all the contributors can be found here: www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.809021635880665.1073741839.491628407619991&type=3
Free next Monday the 17th? Join us for the monthly meeting at LARC 6:30 - 8:30 pm, plus find attached the last PEN and a nice list of links and events to follow.
Best wishes for the Ferragosto :)
--------------------------------
Lately there have been a series of online webinars such as Shades of Awakening or the currently running Mental Wellness Summit which are jam packed with information of healthy professional advice that offer solutions for mental wellness that, as openly state, "may not involve a pill".
The beauty of these teachings are that they are multiplying by the day and information, spreading faster than ever, can be easily accessed thanks to the blessing of having internet access in our homes. Education, most of the time self-education, is what saves us and heal us. Doctors are too busy in selling us their pills and keep us depending on them to admit of the slim chances of long term benefits in such addictions. Meditate folks!
''Emotions have healing power because they are the active regulators of vitality in movement and the primary mediators of social life. Therapists seek to find ways to engage with the motives that light up body and mind with emotions. Thus, they must move with the patient in the performance of real desired project and tasks not only tasks that exists as stories in talking. The rhythmic expressive foundation of emotional dynamics is the same for all spoken and unspoken 'dances' of the mind. Emotions are how we dance together and doing so is at the heart of the human enterprise.'
Colwyn Trevarthen (2009)
--------------------------------
More Harm Than Good: Confronting the Psychiatric Medication Epidemic a one-day international conference at the University of Roehampton
The Council for Evidence-based Psychiatry invites you to join global leaders in the critical psychiatry movement for a one-day conference which will address an urgent public health issue: the iatrogenic harm caused by the over-prescription of psychiatric medications.
There is clear evidence that these drugs cause more harm than good over the long term, and can damage patients and even shorten their lives. Yet why are these medications so popular? What harms are they causing? What can be done to address the problem?
This event brings together key experts from both sides of the Atlantic to debate these issues, and we invite you to join the discussion (see the programme below).
TO BOOK YOUR PLACE PLEASE FOLLOW THIS LINK: estore.roehampton.ac.uk/browse/extra_info.asp?compid=1&modid=2&catid=172&prodid=217
Places are limited – early booking is advised! We are afraid there are now no more £28 reduced fee spaces.
When:18 September 2015
Where: Whitelands College, University of Roehampton, London SW15 5PU (how to find us)
Cost: £85 for delegates
--------------------------------
The Man Who Closed the Asylums: Franco Basaglia & the Revolution in Mental Health Care
Author's Talk: John Foot - Chair Graham Music
Freud Museum 20 Maresfield Gardens London NW3 5SX
18 August 2015 7pm - doors open at 6.30pm
£10/£7 concessions/Member of the Freud Museum
Writer and Professor of Modern Italian History, John Foot discusses his latest publication, The Man Who Closed the Asylums (Verso August 2015) - The fascinating story of Franco Basaglia, one of the key intellectual and cultural figures of 1960s counterculture - a contemporary of R.D. Laing who worked to overturn institutions from within and ended up transforming mental health care in Italy.
Inspired by the writings of authors such as Primo Levi, R. D. Laing, Erving Goffman, Michel Foucault and Frantz Fanon, and the practices of experimental therapeutic communities in the UK, Basaglia’s seminal work as a psychiatrist and campaigner in Gorizia, Parma and Trieste fed into and substantially contributed to the national and international movement of 1968. In 1978 a law was passed (the ‘Basaglia law’) which sanctioned the closure of the entire Italian asylum system.
The first comprehensive study of this revolutionary approach to mental health care, The Man Who Closed the Asylums is a gripping account of one of the most influential movements in twentieth- century psychiatry, which helped to transform the way we see mental illness. Basaglia’s work saved countless people from a miserable existence, and his legacy persists, as an object lesson in the struggle against the brutality and ignorance that the establishment peddles to the public as common sense. Book online here
Advance booking highly recommended
For further information contacteventsandmedia@freud.org.uk or +44 (0)20 7435 2002
www.freud.org.uk/events/76028/the-man-who-closed-the-asylums-franco-basaglia-the-revolution-in-mental-health-care/
--------------------------------
Community Options event: Your Say Your Day
Spirituality & You
Friday 21st of August from 2-5pm
The Brady Arts Centre, Hanbury St, Whitechapel, London E1 5JD
Guest speakers from the Spiritual Crisis Network.
Talks and workshops, plenty of hot delicious food.
More info suip@community-options.org.uk
--------------------------------
Rocks in My Pockets + Shorts + Panel discussion
Film screening will be followed by a panel discussion that asks, 'Can creativity tame mental illness?'.
23 Aug 2015 From 2:00 pm | Cinema 1 | £7.00 to £11.00 Book Tickets“With Rocks in My Pockets, Signe Baumane presents a sharp, surprising and funny animated feature, plumbing the depths of depression via her family history. Guided by Ms Baumane’s almost musically accented voice-over, this hand-drawn debut feature is based upon the mental struggles of her Latvian grandmother and other relatives. It’s told with remorseless psychological intelligence, wicked irony and an acerbic sense of humour.” Nicolas Rapold in The New York Times
Despite positive reviews and film festival success, Baumane’s 2014 feature is not set for theatrical release. Her energetic taboo-busting candour and a style of animation that captures the shape-shifting whimsy of the imaginary world deserve to meet and engage a wider audience.
We will be screening Rocks in my Pockets, preceded by three shorts from Baumane's 2008 web series, The Teat Beat of Sex. The series is an non-squeamish look at how sex works from a female perspective. Each 'explicitly educational' episode clocks in at under two minutes and provides graphic insights into one of a range of coming-of-age issues.
www.ica.org.uk/whats-on/rocks-my-pockets-shorts-qa-director
--------------------------------
Join the Cohesion Workshop Seminar to discuss on how to make Tower Hamlets a more cohesive borough.
This will run on the 8th September 1-4.30 pm venue mile end hospital arts pavilion e3 4qy.
Contact paul.burgess@towerhamlets.gov.uk for more details.
--------------------------------
Caring for People with Psychosis and Schizophrenia
King's College London (KCL) have recently developed a new online course focused on some of the relevant issues for carers of people with psychosis and schizophrenia. The initiative was funded from the Ostaka Lundbeck Alliance but the course was developed independently by KCL and will run through FutureLearn (part of the Open University).
It is a global course and open and free to anyone in the world be part of. It is a two week course designed to offer an in-depth understanding of some of the key issues and questions relevant to carers supporting people with psychotic disorders, including:
· Why is schizophrenia commonly described as psychosis?
· How can we best understand psychosis and its key symptoms such as hearing voices?
· What are the links between cannabis use and developing psychosis?
· Can psychosis affect physical health?
· How do medications work and what effects can they have?
· In what ways are siblings of people with psychosis affected?
· How can psychosis affect a carer’s health and their relationships?
The course includes a mixture of activities such as talking head videos, quizzes, written texts and opportunities for moderated discussions between learners. It will be the first time a course like this has been developed for carers.
The course includes people with lived experience of caring and a number of leading national and international academics and clinicians from psychology, psychiatry, pharmacy and nursing including:
Professor Elizabeth Kuipers (Chair of the NICE Guidelines for Psychosis & Schizophrenia)
Professor Sir Robin Murray (Chair of the Schizophrenia Commission)
Professor Mike Slade (100 ways to support recovery)
Professor David Taylor (Author of the Maudsley Prescribing Guidelines)
Dr Fiona Gaughran (Lead Consultant, National Psychosis Unit)
Jacqueline Sin (E Siblings project)
The course is open to anyone with an interest in psychosis and caregiving issues. We designed the course with carers in mind. However, it would also be relevant for any student or professional working in a health setting with psychosis and carers. No previous knowledge of psychosis or experience of caring is required to take the course.
The course is based on approximately 3 to 4 hours per week study. The point of the course is that you can study how you like, in your own time. It is about flexible learning, in a style that best suits you e.g. if you want to do five minutes, you can do that, if you want to study for more, you can do that too.
I would be grateful if you would highlight the course to any families you are working with and any colleagues in your Trust working with families- so they too can pass on.
The course starts 12th October 2015 and enrollment is open from now. All one needs to do to sign up is simply follow the link www.futurelearn.com/courses/caring-psychosis-schizophrenia
Email enquires can be sent to: caringpsychosis.MOOC@kcl.ac.uk
--------------------------------
To conclude:
a Whistleblowing PRESS RELEASE - by Dr Bob Johnson
twitter: #ASimplerPsychiatry
An OPEN LETTER to Royal Colleges of Psychiatrists, of GPs, the CMO & NICE.
Dear President,
Re our ‘Age Of Unreason’
As holder of high public office, what is your response to the excoriating Special Report on mental health by The Economist (11 July 2015) – two sins of commission, (1) & (2), and one of omission, (3)? Who is going to take the present psychiatric profession to task, if you do not?
(1) Mental illhealth is set to cost us up to $16trn by 2030 (all other diseases cost less)
(2) Our current medical approach is pungently described as our ‘Age Of Unreason’
(3) Meanwhile, it’s a medical scandal to omit an approach that is perfectly sensible, obvious, courteous, civilised and inexpensive – for 500 years.*
Bearing in mind that the bulk of psychiatry occurs in general practice settings, heavily chaperoned by consultant psychiatric opinion, where do your medical responsibilities lie? Whistleblowing gets lonely.
The DSM (the current psychiatric ‘bible’) strenuously omits any reference to CHILDHOODS. Also omitted from the DSM is the irrefutable medical fact that child sexual abuse can remain undisclosed for decades – where does it go? Merging these two incontrovertible clinical facts happily accounts for point (3). Yet the BMJ recently adjudged this hypothesis, ‘unhelpful’**. When I then raised all three points above, the BMJ remained complacent. Do you?
Dr Bob Johnson Wednesday, 5 August 2015
Consultant Psychiatrist, twitter: #ASimplerPsychiatry
Empowering intent detoxifies psychoses
P O Box 49, Ventnor, Isle Of Wight, PO38 9AA, UK
e-mail DrBob@TruthTrustConsent.com www.DrBobJohnson.org
GMC speciality register for psychiatry reg. num. 0400150
-formerly Head of Therapy, Ashworth Maximum Security Hospital, Liverpool
-formerly Consultant Psychiatrist, Special Unit, C-Wing, Parkhurst Prison, Isle of Wight.
-MRCPsych (Member of Royal College of Psychiatrists),
-MRCGP (Member of Royal College of General Practitioners).
-Diploma in Psychotherapy Neurology & Psychiatry (Psychiatric Inst New York),
-MA (Psychol), PhD(med computing), MBCS, DPM, MRCS.
-Author of
Emotional Health ISBN 0-9551985-0-X
Unsafe at any dose ISBN 0-9551985-1-8
* [Geel is a small Belgian town, pop 53,000.] “Because of the link between economic development, ageing and mental illness, the coming decades are likely to resemble an age of unreason. That is why Geel, which has been caring for people with such conditions for half a millennium, is worth paying attention to. What is striking about the town is how thoroughly normal it seems: the town square with its fake Irish pub; American pop music playing at a polite volume on the main shopping street. Mental illness, so often frightening, seems ordinary here. Geel’s system embodies principles for dealing with it—dignity, openness, kindness, patience—that should be embraced by societies everywhere. [The
Economist Special Report, 11 July 2015, page 5 §7, my emphasis].
**see www.DrBobJohnson.org/A_Simpler_Psychiatry
Friday, 17 July 2015
JULY Newsletter
Dear Friends,
We wish to send a reminder about F.E.E.L. monthly meeting as this is now due next week, on Monday the 20th of July.
Please join us as we will discuss last month events and the next one in programme, among other things.
June has resulted a very interesting and busy month following three major events dedicated to the 50th Anniversary of the start of RD Laing community experiment at the Kingsley Hall in Bow. The more arty one at Cafe Oto, the projection of the documentary Asylum and the reading of the play "The Divided Laing".
Wonderful to get to meet beautiful minds such as Dr Berke, Dr Ridler, Dr Shatzman, Adrian Laing and Francis Gillett and hear about the creation and early days of the Philadelphia Association and anecdotal stories of those days.
Reviews by Dr Woodhams of the first two events can be read in the following links:
-friends-of-east-end-loonies.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/asylum-reconsidered-by-dr-stephen.html
-friends-of-east-end-loonies.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/kingsley-hall-revisited-by-dr-stephen.html
We are now pleased to announce that F.E.E.L. Outsiders Poetry event will be taking part to the Shuffle Festival on Saturday the 1st of August. Opening their doors at the Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park in Mile End on Friday the 24th July until the 1st of August, the Shuffle will go on for nine days offering diverse opportunities for entertainment and be amused, included a tree house restaurant - that's right, people will have to climb up a tree for this! www.shufflefestival.com/2015-programme
On Sat 1st of Aug David Kessel will be running a poetry workshop with the Outsider Poets from 12pm. From 2pm the main stage will host the Outsider performance to which we have invited among other members of the Dragon Cafe', Core Arts, Deaf Poets, Eastbeat and Survivor Poets. There will be a ALL-DEAF show between 6 pm and 7:45pm
These events will be deaf accessible with the support of BSL (British Sign Language) interpreters and live captioning by STTR ( speech to text reporters). We take the chance to thank Arts Council England for offering us the opportunity to fund and make this event happen.
Have a look at the rich programme for the day and we hope you can join us for a fun day of free activities and entertainment that we wish to dedicate to all survivors, their families and friends. For one day let's celebrate lunacy, individuality and diversity looking at the bright side of Life www.shufflefestival.com/deaf-events
Please find to follow a series of events and news that might be of your interest.
--------------------------------
Trauma, Dissociation & Recovery: Working with Dissociative Identity Disorder and Complex PTSD
Central London, EC2A on Saturday 18 July 2015. Time 9.30 am — 5.00 pm
This is a new course and suitable both for people who have previously attended 'Living and Working with Dissociation' as well as people with no previous training or experience.
It will look at how to work in clinical practice with people who have suffered complex and chronic childhood trauma, resulting perhaps in a range of diagnoses such as Dissociative Identity Disorder, psychosis, complex PTSD or borderline personality disorder
Cost: £75.00 per person / £70.00 for 'Friends of PODS'
For more information and to book please go to: www.pods-online.org.uk/events
-------------------------------
East London NHS Foundation Trust (ELFT) working in partnership with MIND, Tower Hamlets Clinical Commissioning Group,Community Options and Bow Haven, have set up the Tower Hamlets Recovery College for service users, carers and staff who use mental health services in the borough. The project aims to support the recovery and wellbeing of mental health service users and will deliver free courses led by individuals with a lived experience of mental health and recovery. The courses will also feature support from someone who is trained and works within mental health services.
The project is being piloted this month and classes will run from 13th to the 30th July 2015. Another pilot for the college will also commence in September 2015 and will end in November 2015.
For more information on the project, please contact Robert Pickard on 020 7426 2450 or 07908 459 239 or emailRobert.pickard@elft.nhs.uk
--------------------------------
Survivor History Group
The next meeting of the Survivor History Group will be on Wednesday 29.7.2015 at 1pm-4pm (ish)
Where? Together, 12 Old Street, London, EC1V 9BE
Food and drink to reward those who come.
Everyone is very welcome at meetings of the Survivor History Group.
--------------------------------
What is Talk for Health? The Talk for Health programme is run by Psychotherapist Nicky Forsythe. It trains people to be part of a peer counsellling group – a space to talk honestly and be accepted for who you really are. This is good for wellbeing and confidence.
Who is it for? Free for Islington residents Talk for Health is designed for everyone; we can all benefit from developing our communications and listening skills.
Programme 1: YMCA at the Drum TASTER: Monday 27th July 4pm to 6pm ADDRESS: 167 Whitecross Street, London, EC1 8JT TRAINING: Six Tuesday afternoons from 3pm to 6pm August 3, 10, 17, 24 September 7 & 14 ADDRESS: The Drum, 167 Whitecross Street , EC1 8JT
Programme 2: The Mind Spa at Islington Mind TASTER: Monday 7th September 4pm to 6pm ADDRESS: 35 Ashley Road, N19 3AG TRAINING: Two Mondays 11am to 5pm September 14th & October 12th Four Tuesday evenings 6pm to 8.30pm September 22nd, 29th, October 6th & 20th ADDRESS: 35 Ashley Road, N19 3AG
Your first step is to book a place on the taster. Email info@talkforhealth.co.uk, call us on 07826 148 461, or text ‘call me’ and we will get in touch with you.
--------------------------------
New Book: The Hidden Freud: His Hassidic Roots, by Dr Joseph H. Berke
What’s the connection between Jewish mysticism and Western psychoanalysis?
Freud’s ancestors were Hassidim going back many generations, and included the only Jewish King of Poland.
Freud was forced to deny these roots in order to be accepted as a secular, German professional.
However, his Jewish background also informed the development of his ideas about dreaming, sexuality, depression and mental structures, as well as healing practices.
/The Hidden Freud: His Hassidic Roots/ considers how the ideas of Kabbalah and Hassidism profoundly shaped and enriched Freud’s understanding of mental processes and clinical practices. The book is now on Amazon
--------------------------------
PSYCHOSES – the case for optimism
Saturday 10th October 2015, 1:30pm – 5:00pm
Venue: Bloomsbury Suite, Friends House, 173 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ
Dr Bob Johnson & Peter Bullimore with National Paranoia Network Present a Half Day Panel Discussion
It’s time we
(1) reversed PSYCHIATRIC NIHILISM,
(2) stopped relying on MIND NUMBING DRUGS, &
(3) re-kindled the HEALING HAND OF KINDNESS
__
(1) DSM-psychiatry isn’t working – 1 in 50 deaths is SUICIDE [>800,000 of 56m in 2012. WHO]
(2) All psychiatric drugs work by ‘INTOXICATION’, like alcohol [Myth of Chemical Cure p 244]
(3) More psychoses were CURED 1796-1850 than ever since. [Mad in America p24]
Panel: Dr Bob Johnson, Dr Eleanor Longden, Oliver James(stc), Peter Bullimore.
Chair – David Brindle, the Guardian Saturday 10th October 2015, 1:30pm – 5:00pm Venue: Bloomsbury Suite, Friends House, 173 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ
Rates: £15, concessions £5.00. Contributions/donations welcomed Email: lindawhiting54@yahoo.co.uk Tel 07763652490/ 07590837694 – www.DrBobJohnson.org/audio
--------------------------------
Revised Mental Health Code of Practice
A revised Mental Health Code of Practice came into effect on1st April, replacing the 2008 version. The Code shows professionals how to carry out their duties under the Mental Health Act 1983 and provide high quality safe care. The revised Code of Practice seeks to provide stronger protection for patients subject to the Mental Health Act and to clarify roles, rights and responsibilities.
Find out more about the Mental Health Code of Practice
We wish to send a reminder about F.E.E.L. monthly meeting as this is now due next week, on Monday the 20th of July.
Please join us as we will discuss last month events and the next one in programme, among other things.
June has resulted a very interesting and busy month following three major events dedicated to the 50th Anniversary of the start of RD Laing community experiment at the Kingsley Hall in Bow. The more arty one at Cafe Oto, the projection of the documentary Asylum and the reading of the play "The Divided Laing".
Wonderful to get to meet beautiful minds such as Dr Berke, Dr Ridler, Dr Shatzman, Adrian Laing and Francis Gillett and hear about the creation and early days of the Philadelphia Association and anecdotal stories of those days.
Reviews by Dr Woodhams of the first two events can be read in the following links:
-friends-of-east-end-loonies.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/asylum-reconsidered-by-dr-stephen.html
-friends-of-east-end-loonies.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/kingsley-hall-revisited-by-dr-stephen.html
We are now pleased to announce that F.E.E.L. Outsiders Poetry event will be taking part to the Shuffle Festival on Saturday the 1st of August. Opening their doors at the Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park in Mile End on Friday the 24th July until the 1st of August, the Shuffle will go on for nine days offering diverse opportunities for entertainment and be amused, included a tree house restaurant - that's right, people will have to climb up a tree for this! www.shufflefestival.com/2015-programme
On Sat 1st of Aug David Kessel will be running a poetry workshop with the Outsider Poets from 12pm. From 2pm the main stage will host the Outsider performance to which we have invited among other members of the Dragon Cafe', Core Arts, Deaf Poets, Eastbeat and Survivor Poets. There will be a ALL-DEAF show between 6 pm and 7:45pm
These events will be deaf accessible with the support of BSL (British Sign Language) interpreters and live captioning by STTR ( speech to text reporters). We take the chance to thank Arts Council England for offering us the opportunity to fund and make this event happen.
Have a look at the rich programme for the day and we hope you can join us for a fun day of free activities and entertainment that we wish to dedicate to all survivors, their families and friends. For one day let's celebrate lunacy, individuality and diversity looking at the bright side of Life www.shufflefestival.com/deaf-events
Please find to follow a series of events and news that might be of your interest.
--------------------------------
Trauma, Dissociation & Recovery: Working with Dissociative Identity Disorder and Complex PTSD
Central London, EC2A on Saturday 18 July 2015. Time 9.30 am — 5.00 pm
This is a new course and suitable both for people who have previously attended 'Living and Working with Dissociation' as well as people with no previous training or experience.
It will look at how to work in clinical practice with people who have suffered complex and chronic childhood trauma, resulting perhaps in a range of diagnoses such as Dissociative Identity Disorder, psychosis, complex PTSD or borderline personality disorder
Cost: £75.00 per person / £70.00 for 'Friends of PODS'
For more information and to book please go to: www.pods-online.org.uk/events
-------------------------------
East London NHS Foundation Trust (ELFT) working in partnership with MIND, Tower Hamlets Clinical Commissioning Group,Community Options and Bow Haven, have set up the Tower Hamlets Recovery College for service users, carers and staff who use mental health services in the borough. The project aims to support the recovery and wellbeing of mental health service users and will deliver free courses led by individuals with a lived experience of mental health and recovery. The courses will also feature support from someone who is trained and works within mental health services.
The project is being piloted this month and classes will run from 13th to the 30th July 2015. Another pilot for the college will also commence in September 2015 and will end in November 2015.
For more information on the project, please contact Robert Pickard on 020 7426 2450 or 07908 459 239 or emailRobert.pickard@elft.nhs.uk
--------------------------------
Survivor History Group
The next meeting of the Survivor History Group will be on Wednesday 29.7.2015 at 1pm-4pm (ish)
Where? Together, 12 Old Street, London, EC1V 9BE
Food and drink to reward those who come.
Everyone is very welcome at meetings of the Survivor History Group.
--------------------------------
What is Talk for Health? The Talk for Health programme is run by Psychotherapist Nicky Forsythe. It trains people to be part of a peer counsellling group – a space to talk honestly and be accepted for who you really are. This is good for wellbeing and confidence.
Who is it for? Free for Islington residents Talk for Health is designed for everyone; we can all benefit from developing our communications and listening skills.
Programme 1: YMCA at the Drum TASTER: Monday 27th July 4pm to 6pm ADDRESS: 167 Whitecross Street, London, EC1 8JT TRAINING: Six Tuesday afternoons from 3pm to 6pm August 3, 10, 17, 24 September 7 & 14 ADDRESS: The Drum, 167 Whitecross Street , EC1 8JT
Programme 2: The Mind Spa at Islington Mind TASTER: Monday 7th September 4pm to 6pm ADDRESS: 35 Ashley Road, N19 3AG TRAINING: Two Mondays 11am to 5pm September 14th & October 12th Four Tuesday evenings 6pm to 8.30pm September 22nd, 29th, October 6th & 20th ADDRESS: 35 Ashley Road, N19 3AG
Your first step is to book a place on the taster. Email info@talkforhealth.co.uk, call us on 07826 148 461, or text ‘call me’ and we will get in touch with you.
--------------------------------
New Book: The Hidden Freud: His Hassidic Roots, by Dr Joseph H. Berke
What’s the connection between Jewish mysticism and Western psychoanalysis?
Freud’s ancestors were Hassidim going back many generations, and included the only Jewish King of Poland.
Freud was forced to deny these roots in order to be accepted as a secular, German professional.
However, his Jewish background also informed the development of his ideas about dreaming, sexuality, depression and mental structures, as well as healing practices.
/The Hidden Freud: His Hassidic Roots/ considers how the ideas of Kabbalah and Hassidism profoundly shaped and enriched Freud’s understanding of mental processes and clinical practices. The book is now on Amazon
--------------------------------
PSYCHOSES – the case for optimism
Saturday 10th October 2015, 1:30pm – 5:00pm
Venue: Bloomsbury Suite, Friends House, 173 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ
Dr Bob Johnson & Peter Bullimore with National Paranoia Network Present a Half Day Panel Discussion
It’s time we
(1) reversed PSYCHIATRIC NIHILISM,
(2) stopped relying on MIND NUMBING DRUGS, &
(3) re-kindled the HEALING HAND OF KINDNESS
__
(1) DSM-psychiatry isn’t working – 1 in 50 deaths is SUICIDE [>800,000 of 56m in 2012. WHO]
(2) All psychiatric drugs work by ‘INTOXICATION’, like alcohol [Myth of Chemical Cure p 244]
(3) More psychoses were CURED 1796-1850 than ever since. [Mad in America p24]
Panel: Dr Bob Johnson, Dr Eleanor Longden, Oliver James(stc), Peter Bullimore.
Chair – David Brindle, the Guardian Saturday 10th October 2015, 1:30pm – 5:00pm Venue: Bloomsbury Suite, Friends House, 173 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ
Rates: £15, concessions £5.00. Contributions/donations welcomed Email: lindawhiting54@yahoo.co.uk Tel 07763652490/ 07590837694 – www.DrBobJohnson.org/audio
--------------------------------
Revised Mental Health Code of Practice
A revised Mental Health Code of Practice came into effect on1st April, replacing the 2008 version. The Code shows professionals how to carry out their duties under the Mental Health Act 1983 and provide high quality safe care. The revised Code of Practice seeks to provide stronger protection for patients subject to the Mental Health Act and to clarify roles, rights and responsibilities.
Find out more about the Mental Health Code of Practice
Sunday, 12 July 2015
Asylum Reconsidered, by Dr Stephen Woodhams
Review of:
RD Laing 50 @ Kingsley Hall, 12th June 2015
Asylum by Peter Robinson is not set in Kingsley Hall, yet it was in keeping with the anniversary that this screening should take place there. The anniversary is that of the 'social experiment' begin at the Hall in 1965, which gave rise to the Philadelphia and Arbour Associations' community houses. Continuity from Bow up to Archway and elsewhere, was made possible when Joseph Berke Leon Redler and others carried forward their belief in asylum where deeply distressing experiences could be lived through without pressure to 'recover' or be inoculated by chemicals. The word asylum carries long held meanings referring to a safe place, a sanctuary, haven. Each term may convey the sense of protection from immediate external pressure, where by agreed respect for shared space, a person may do as they need to go through their experience.
The film emanated from one of the community houses in Archway. Shot in 1971, Asylum attempts an anthropological recording, where the makers seek to be part of the household. The aim was to capture a lived experience of a therapeutic community where divisions of practitioner and patient were minimised, and governance arrived at by the will of those in the house. The use of a naturalist form for the film may of course be contended. The house as depicted, contained features recognisable as part of many households, together with scenes clearly belonging to this specific group of people.
Discussion after the film was chaired by Rebecca Greenslade of the RD Laing reading group that had been meeting with the support of the Claremont Project in North London. Over the previous year four of Laing's works had been read, and the screening of Asylum was the culmination of the venture. On stage three figures represented different relations to the film, which is should be stressed only featured Laing in passing. One reason for this, was Morton Shatzman who had been a regular psychiatrist at the house, and who on
the evening, conveyed intimately the atmosphere, daily life and success of the community. Offering a different experience was Francis Gillett who having previously been at Kingsley Hall, had been one of the longest resident participants. His account of another occupant, who had been significant in the film, conveyed the difficult balance between a person living out their experience of distress, and respecting the shared presence of others. Finally was Adrian Laing, who has recently completed a biography of his father. Perhaps not surprisingly for a Kingsley Hall audience, power in the house, and as portrayed on film, was the topic of several contributions as explanation for the ascription, nature and exercise of authority was offered and contested.
It was an evening where through the medium of film, experience and thoughts could be exchanged. Asylum offers insight in to how a therapeutic community can and does provide space where distress, disturbing to sufferer and others, can be lived through.
Kingsley Hall offered its own contribution as the ghost of the original 'social experiment' once more awoke. If that ghost were given voice, it might tell many things, and even a rhetorical question. It has always been easy to demand that 'alternative' approaches to psychological distress answer questions, yet were the pharmaceutical industry placed in the dock, what evidence can it provide for the claims made for the drugs it persuades psychiatrist they should use? At least Laing and others can truthfully say they would not have cost the NHS billions. Our ghost might add, if a fraction of that finance had been made available for asylums where love was the primary treatment, perhaps, as we saw and heard this evening, care may have been a richer experience.
Acknowledgements:
Rebecca Greenslade, Chair RD Laing Reading Group, Nat Fonnesu, Friends of East London Loonies (F.E.E.L.) and the Kingsley Hall commitee.
RD Laing 50 @ Kingsley Hall, 12th June 2015
Asylum by Peter Robinson is not set in Kingsley Hall, yet it was in keeping with the anniversary that this screening should take place there. The anniversary is that of the 'social experiment' begin at the Hall in 1965, which gave rise to the Philadelphia and Arbour Associations' community houses. Continuity from Bow up to Archway and elsewhere, was made possible when Joseph Berke Leon Redler and others carried forward their belief in asylum where deeply distressing experiences could be lived through without pressure to 'recover' or be inoculated by chemicals. The word asylum carries long held meanings referring to a safe place, a sanctuary, haven. Each term may convey the sense of protection from immediate external pressure, where by agreed respect for shared space, a person may do as they need to go through their experience.
The film emanated from one of the community houses in Archway. Shot in 1971, Asylum attempts an anthropological recording, where the makers seek to be part of the household. The aim was to capture a lived experience of a therapeutic community where divisions of practitioner and patient were minimised, and governance arrived at by the will of those in the house. The use of a naturalist form for the film may of course be contended. The house as depicted, contained features recognisable as part of many households, together with scenes clearly belonging to this specific group of people.
Discussion after the film was chaired by Rebecca Greenslade of the RD Laing reading group that had been meeting with the support of the Claremont Project in North London. Over the previous year four of Laing's works had been read, and the screening of Asylum was the culmination of the venture. On stage three figures represented different relations to the film, which is should be stressed only featured Laing in passing. One reason for this, was Morton Shatzman who had been a regular psychiatrist at the house, and who on
the evening, conveyed intimately the atmosphere, daily life and success of the community. Offering a different experience was Francis Gillett who having previously been at Kingsley Hall, had been one of the longest resident participants. His account of another occupant, who had been significant in the film, conveyed the difficult balance between a person living out their experience of distress, and respecting the shared presence of others. Finally was Adrian Laing, who has recently completed a biography of his father. Perhaps not surprisingly for a Kingsley Hall audience, power in the house, and as portrayed on film, was the topic of several contributions as explanation for the ascription, nature and exercise of authority was offered and contested.
It was an evening where through the medium of film, experience and thoughts could be exchanged. Asylum offers insight in to how a therapeutic community can and does provide space where distress, disturbing to sufferer and others, can be lived through.
Kingsley Hall offered its own contribution as the ghost of the original 'social experiment' once more awoke. If that ghost were given voice, it might tell many things, and even a rhetorical question. It has always been easy to demand that 'alternative' approaches to psychological distress answer questions, yet were the pharmaceutical industry placed in the dock, what evidence can it provide for the claims made for the drugs it persuades psychiatrist they should use? At least Laing and others can truthfully say they would not have cost the NHS billions. Our ghost might add, if a fraction of that finance had been made available for asylums where love was the primary treatment, perhaps, as we saw and heard this evening, care may have been a richer experience.
Acknowledgements:
Rebecca Greenslade, Chair RD Laing Reading Group, Nat Fonnesu, Friends of East London Loonies (F.E.E.L.) and the Kingsley Hall commitee.
Kingsley Hall Revisited, by Dr Stephen Woodhams
Review of:
R.D. LAING 50 WITH LUKE FOWLER + DR LEON REDLER + DR JOSEPH BERKE + THE BOHMAN BROTHERS + I LOVE THEM, FOR THEY ARE MY FRIENDS
Sunday, 7th June 2015
If you went “mad” how would you want to be treated?
BBC Radio 4 broadcasts a series called 'The Reunion' and it was perhaps something of the kind that occurred at Café Oto* when two distinguished figures were brought together to recall memories and tell the story of a 'social experiment'. The story starts, and yet of course does not, in 1965, when Kingsley Hall was made available for a group of people at very different socialpsychological points to live together in a nonhierarchical, nondivided manner. Two of the occupants of Kingsley Hall were Dr Joseph Berke and Dr Leon
Redler, and it was they who had been brought together to make this small yet significant piece of history at Café Oto on a Sunday evening in June fifty years later. Café Oto is not Kingsley Hall. Yet that Sunday evening those that packed into the bare surroundings of a once purposebuilt C19 factory,** where seating could leave an impression on a backside and heat aided shedding weight in sweat, may have sensed something of a social experiment. In the gloom of the interior, organiser and anchor for the evening, Dee Sada took the stage to thank everyone for coming. Though Dee gave no indication and took no credit, the event had taken some three years to bring together. However none of this background was revealed, instead after her brief introduction, the stage was given over to filmmaker Luke Fowler. What You See Is Where You're At was made, Luke told the audience, some fifteen years previous. Compose of exerts of interviews with past residents of Kingsley Hall and clips of footage shot during the occupancy, What You See Is Where You're At offered an insight to both context and lived experience of RD Laing's idea. The film is worth seeing, though it was perhaps after that understanding of some of what had been seen, became clearer when Leon Redler in conversation with Luke Fowler, explained his path to RD Laing and so Kingsley Hall.
Kingsley Hall is in Bow, an area of East London which if marginalised from the outside by trunk roads, is yet home to vibrant populations. Among some local people, Gandhi Hall is the immediate and obvious description – the building's most famous resident having stayed there in 1931. Luke Fowler and Leon Redler offered a little of this history as setting for what took place there, though of course that was only one part, another being the circumstance of 'mental health' patients. Despite attempts to move practice forward,
and growing interest in psychoanalytic and other socialinterpretivecommunication based approaches, regimes involving forced drugs and electroconvulsive treatments were probably dominant in the NHS. The social experiment was to see what might happen when people lived together not as professionals and patients, but as a population seeking to understand diverse experiences and expressions of a circumstance commonly named 'madness'. Leon Redler's analogy with the previous night's Champion's League Final, was in answer to Luke Fowler's question as to difference between Kingsley Hall on film and as lived experience. In essence, just as the match produced 'highlights', so film captured perhaps moments to engage an audience. The lived experience however was very much more ordinary, the everyday routine and even dullness of life for residents. Yet that was perhaps the point – 'RD Laing's Kingsley Hall' has been mythologised to become something exotic. Perhaps a balanced record would read that it was a endeavour to seek more humane means of living with 'madness' and that what ever the realised short comings, the impulse behind the attempt remains valid.
Joseph Berke's presentation differed in style. Anecdotal in places, it revealed some of his experiences and memories. Perhaps best known was his long and at times suffering relationship with the later artist Mary Barnes. The material for her early work is well known and in the film, we see Mary and Joe Berke at perhaps an early stage, where physical interaction is to the fore. Eventually they were to write, Two Accounts of Madness, a title that captures perhaps the spirit of the Hall. Not the separate 'reports' of
patient and therapist, but two stories told of a process lived through together but experienced differently. Fire was a magazine produced at the Hall, and Joe Berke presented a copy to the audience, who may have regretted that images contained could not have been put on view. What was offered however were poems, Joe reading a small number accompanied by Dee. It was in the reading of these perhaps that the sense of
what Kingsley Hall had been about, gained immediacy. Recollections gave insight to the life and times of Kingsley Hall, the poetry portrayed its spirit. An aside admittedly, Joe Berke revealed how Mary Barnes Catholicism had led him to reengage with his own Jewish heritage, yet perhaps the profession speaks something too of the spirit of the Hall, a sense of sharing and journeying on roads that may enable any participant to reflect on where roots to their own self may grow.
Laing at 50 was an evening made by people, a lot of people, crammed into a hot darkened room. On stage the Bohman Brothers ended the evening making music and poetry where the name RD Laing took on various connections and where ideas associated with him found expression. The social experiment at Kingsley Hall was of course of its time – when else could it have been? The New Left was as others like Stuart Hall have recalled, pervasive RD Laing and David Cooper were contributors to the Dialectics of Liberation Conference at the Roundhouse in 1967. Organisations that have grown from Kingsley Hall, the Philadelphia Association and the Arbours Association are necessarily different from the original experiment, yet what came through from Leon Redler and Joseph Berke was a passion that the Flame, the impulse that gave birth to the Hall should live on. To borrow a term from Raymond Williams, a near cousin in more than age to RD Laing, the long revolution toward a humane psychiatry and beyond that a humane society has to be pursued. Both history marker and celebration, that Sunday evening in June reminds us that any road to social justice has to address despair, suffering, pain and loss as it can be experienced by any person and that love needs be at the centre of any response.
* https://www.cafeoto.co.uk/events/rdlaing50/
** http://www.hackney.gov.uk/Assets/Documents/HT297.pdf
My thanks to Sally England of Hackney Archive for this information.
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