Sarah Dale -Tales from the Cheltenham Science Festival 2012
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
The IMH Blog is pleased to reblog the following post from Sarah Dale from her blog, Creating Focus.  You can view the original post on the link below: Tales from the Cheltenham Science Festival 2012 by Sarah DaleRegular readers of my blog and newsletters will know that I am a fan of the Cheltenham Science Festival. True it’s something of a relief t
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Dr John Milton - Always walk on the grass
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
A short way down from the Department of Health building on Whitehall stands the statue of Field Marshall William ‘Bill’ Slim. Much beloved by his troops from the Burmese conflict in World War Two, there are stories that Slim was unusual in getting things done. One tale about setting up a new camp was that he would insist that sappers delayed laying
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Shortlist for IMH Sculpture - Vote for your favourite!
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
You may recall back in April of this year, Victoria Tischler posted to the blog, discussing the plans for a scuplture to go outside the new Institute of Mental Health building on the Jubilee Campus (see here and here).  Well, we are pleased to announce that the sculpture maquettes are now on display in the lobby of the new building. The decision to
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Dr Nicola Wright - The Politics of Recovery in Mental Health: A Left Libertarian Policy Analysis
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
Turner (2002) identifies that recovery has been described as an idea, a movement, a philosophy, a set of values, a policy mantra and also a doctrine for change.  It splits opinion between those who view it as simplistic and obvious and others who see its revolutionary and transformatory potential.  Although increasingly fashionable within current m
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Melanie Jordan ~ Care and custody for those with mental health needs in prison
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
Care and CustodyRecently, the Prison Reform Trust published an article entitled: Ministers outline steps to keeping ‘care not custody’ promise (http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/PressPolicy/News/vw/1/ItemID/153). This article commences:‘The Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, and the Justice Minister, Crispin Blunt, have outlined the progress made
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A new IMH building and a new IMH blog opportunity!
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
The IMH's editorial blog team had the opportunity to attend today’s unveiling of the new IMH building on the University of Nottingham’s Jubilee Campus/University of Nottingham Innovation Park. Today's ceremony represents the official opening of the recently completed 4-storey building.The IMH is a partnership between The University of Nottingham an
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Amanda Keeling - Capacity Law and the Debate in Ireland
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
I’ve been following with some interest the progress of the Mental Capacity Bill currently making its way through the Oireachtas in the Republic of Ireland.  Ireland is currently in the position, as the UK was several years ago, of bringing its mental capacity law up to date, in a modern, workable form.  The result was the Mental Capacity And Guardi
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Sarah Dale - You don’t have to be mad to work here...
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
The twenty-first century workplace can be a bewildering setting in which to spend most of your waking existence. Those of us in western professional jobs could be considered blessed compared with our ancestors. Few can complain about risks of physical injury or life-threatening injustice.Scratch the surface, however, and there are frequent examples
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From the Vice-Chancellor's desk » Opening of The Institute for Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
This week we have a guest-blog, from the Vice-Chancellor of the University, talking about the opening of the institute.  You can see the original blog, and other posts from the Vice-Chancellor the link below.From the Vice-Chancellor's desk » Opening of The Institute for Mental Health.Last week we opened the new Institute for Mental Health on the Ju
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Debbie Butler - An Introduction
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
When I asked if I could produce this piece I was quite excited as I enjoy writing, although my University tutors may not think so. I am always saying one day I will write a book so let’s hope this will put me further on in the journey towards my goal. I could bore you with the minor details about the fact that I have just become a grandma, which is
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Nic Marks - Measuring what matters: the Happy Planet Index 2012
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
Today we have another reblog - this time from Nic Marks, Founder of the New Economics Foundation Centre for Well-being, discussing the recently released figures for the 'Happy Planet Index'. Costa Rica comes out top, while the UK languishes at 41 - how did your country do?We live in challenging times. Our financial markets are under huge stres
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Introducing the The Consortium for Therapeutic Communities and Upcoming Events
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
As reported on the Association for Therapeutic Communities (ATC) website, the organisation and structure of the ATC is changing: ‘Following several years of development work ATC is joining forces with a sister charity The Charterhouse Group (which specialises in supporting therapeutic communities working with children and young people) and we have
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Dr Peter Ladd ~ Where is mental health diagnosis heading, and where does the DSM IV fall short?
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
In this re-post from the JKP blog, Dr Peter Ladd asks some important questions relating to traditional mental health diagnosis, and shares his own thoughts about where he believes it is heading in the future. Does the Semantics found in the DSM IV Create a Problem for Clients?The DSM IV is sophisticated in basing diagnosis in mental health on stati
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Jenelle Clarke - The Value of Prison Therapeutic Communities
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
‘The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.’- Fyodor Dostoyevsky Last month, Claudia Hammond from BBC Radio 4’s All in the Mind visited HMP Grendon, the only prison in Europe which is run completely as a therapeutic community (TC).  The focus of the programme was to speak with prisoners, most of whom are serious
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Peter Bates ~ Dirt, Disgust, and Denial
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
Bates, P. (2012)"Wash and brush up?", Mental Health and Social Inclusion, Vol. 16, Iss. 2, pp. 97-102. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/20428301211232522 Peter Bates ~ Dirt, Disgust, and Denial In opening a conversation about how to work with people who are dirty and unwashed, it is unsettling to raise the subject of the human disgust response. All our li
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Dr Pritpal S. Tamber ~ Doctors only trust doctors
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
Dr Pritpal S. Tamber ~ Doctors only trust doctors Re-posted from: http://www.optimisingclinicalknowledge.com/doctors-only-trust-doctors/#more-175I’m petrified. I’ve been invited to participate in the Institute of Medicine‘s Roundtable on value- and science-driven health care. The focus of the all-day meeting is “continuous learning and the digital
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Dr Pritpal S. Tamber ~ Evidence and the real world
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
Dr Pritpal S. Tamber ~ Evidence and the real world Re-posted from: http://www.optimisingclinicalknowledge.com/evidence-and-the-real-world/There is a lot of angst around why research evidence takes so long to penetrate routine clinical practice. My view is that it’s a miracle that any of it makes it into practice at all because research-derived info
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Prof. Nick Manning: “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose”
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
 (An epigram by Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr in the January 1849 issue of his journal Les Guêpes (“The Wasps”). 2012 is 40 years since I first became involved with research in the mental health field as a graduate social science student visiting Henderson Hospital in Surrey as a potential fieldwork site for a study of ‘therapeutic communities’. It i
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Sam Watson: The Ethics of Doing Nothing
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
This is an excellent post written by Sam Watson, a blogger on the Academic Health Economists' Blog  posted on 16 February 2012 entitled 'The Ethics of Doing Nothing'.  In the post, Sam reflects about the ethics of non-action in health care provision. Though the arguments put forward mostly relate to physical health care, there are some relevant iss
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Dr Hugh Middleton: “Illnesses like any other”. The challenge of a multi-disciplinary approach to mental health.
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
This week’s Observer (29/1/12) carries at least three articles concerning mental health issues. One refers to the growth of brain cells from stem cells, themselves derived from skin samples of people with schizophrenia and bipolar depression with an eye to testing new drug treatments for these conditions. Another discusses political debate over def
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