Some people have learned that aggression is effective – it works for them

It’s probably not possible for you to change this – you won’t make them nice people who believe in equality overnight. But you can teach them not to treat you that way – that’s probably the best you can hope to achieve. Remember that they learned to bully and intimidate because it works. You need to teach them that it doesn’t work on you.

Philip Laing – still a free man

Are we really saying in UK that leaving disabled people to suffocate in a people carrier is no worse then a drunken student urinating on a war memorial? However insensitive Laing’s behaviour was it hardly measures up the what Williams & Price did.

Restriction and deprivation of liberty: A European perspective

The basic principle is that deprivation of liberty is only lawful if it adheres to a process prescribed by law. This means that it’s not enough for care workers to decide to deprive a person of liberty – they need authorisation under the relevant legislation. If you don’t get the approval you’re breaking the law.

Making sense of the symptoms of mental disorder

The following then is my attempt to answer that familiar old chestnut for care workers who are not trained in mental health and disorder. It’s one of the AMJ training handouts. Please feel free to download and print it and use it when liaising with others but I’d ask that you keep the copyright details intact if you print it off or forward it electronically.

There’s an irony here

It will be no great surprise to say that my beloved home county of Cumbria has been devastated by floods over the last few days.

A sad day for West Cumbria

But what I’d really like to say in this blog today is how much I respect the ordinary coppers who, in spite of their loss, have dealt with the many problems the weather caused in Workington like the professionals they are. That’s what duty of care is all about.

Experts by experience: finding the balance

It is undoubtedly true that service-users and their families have a huge amount of information and insights that all professional care workers must consider. Taking a carer seriously and acknowledging their understanding and experience as part of the multi-disciplinary team can make the difference between shoddy care provision and excellent intervention. It’s also a legal requirement and forms part of our duty of care when making ‘best interests’ decisions. But what do we do when the ‘expert by experience’ clearly has no idea what they are talking about?

An interesting blog to visit

A social worker friend of mine has just pointed me to this blog: http://bipolarblast.wordpress.com/ It’s well worth a look. In particular look here: http://bipolarblast.wordpress.com/2009/11/08/the-other-side-of-mental-health-science-steve-morgan/ Enjoy. Cheers, Stuart

Any chance of a bit of perspective on this?

“It’s not as if he weed on a Chelsea pensioner!”

An anniversary to remember

When I was a child I heard stories of the war from older relatives and acquaintances who’d lived through it. I have even held in my hand a child-size silver teapot that once belonged to a Jewish family who died in the camps. The dreadful knowledge of the dangers of Nazi ideology is clear to my generation but, unfortunatley not to the generation that followed us.