mental health – Page 50 – The NEN

Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival opens today

Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival launches today – World Mental Health Day

A national Ats and Film Festival tackling the stigma of mental health opens in Edinburgh this weekend, celebrating its ninth year.

Over 60 events are scheduled to take place across Lothian as part of the 2015 Mental Health Arts and Film Festival, making it one of the largest social justice festivals in the world, (SMHAFF) with performing arts, literature, photography, comedy and dance all set to feature.

The Festival officially opens today – World Mental Health Day – and this year explores the theme of ‘passion’

Linda Irvine Strategic Programme Manager, Mental Health and Wellbeing, NHS Lothian, said: “One in four people in Scotland will experience mental health problems at some point in their life but it is still something which attracts significant stigma.

“Through the many powerful, inspiring and provocative events taking place this year, the Festival aims to open up conversations about mental health and go some way towards challenging discrimination.”

Gail Aldam, Festival Manager, Scottish Mental Health and Arts Festival, said “We are delighted with the scale and scope of the events taking place in Edinburgh and Lothian this year and are struck by the passion that the planning team have for using art to give a voice to marginalised groups, challenging social injustice and instigating change.

“There really is something for everyone in the programme, offering an inspiring range of arts activities from spoken word to visual arts to music, across the region.”

Highlights of this year’s Festival include:

Out of Sight, Out of Mind A series of powerful and compelling exhibitions taking place at venues and galleries across Edinburgh featuring work from artists with experience of mental health issues. Returning to the Festival for a third year, these events aim to get us thinking and talking about mental health and challenge preconceptions.

A Play, A Pie and A Pint: Decent, a play by Linda Duncan McLaughlin has a special five day run at the Traverse (Tues 20^th-Sat 24^th Oct)
To celebrate Arthur Miller’s centenary, Rapture Theatre present a new production of The Last Yankee, one of the legendary writer’s final great plays which is touring throughout Lothian.
Rally & Broad An eclectic mix of spoken word, authors and music, the line-up features LOKI, one of Scotland’s most powerful and political performers (Fri 23^rd Oct, Bongo Club, Edinburgh)
In the Shadow of the Castle an evening of spoken word reflecting on the Gretna train disaster in the spectacular setting of Edinburgh Castle’s Great Hall (Thurs 22^nd Oct)
The Wellbeing Mela A free, fun, family day to celebrate diversity and promote positive mental health and wellbeing amongst Edinburgh’s varied minority ethnic communities. Music, dance, complementary therapies, relaxation workshops and lots more (Sunday 11th Oct, Out of the Blue)
Push Me Pull Me Join the Writing Mums, poet Jenny Lindsay and singer-songwriter Polly Phillips, for an evening of prose and poetry (Wed 28^th Oct, Dunbar Library)

There is also a wide ranging film programme curated from the more than 400 entries submitted to the Festival by filmmakers from across the globe. The winners will be recognised at a special awards ceremony hosted at the Filmhouse on 29 October.

Highlights of the film programme include the Scottish premiere of documentary Dancing With Maria, telling the story of Argentinian dancer Maria Fux who welcomes dancers from all backgrounds, including men and women with physical and mental impairments, to her Buenos Aires studio and Ida’s Diary – a powerful film that has been used by many mental health organisations for training and awareness raising purposes.

Details of all events taking place as part of this year’s Festival can be found at: www.mhfestival.com

WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION (WHO)

World Mental Health Day 2015

Thousands of people with mental health conditions around the world are deprived of their human rights. They are not only discriminated against, stigmatised and marginalised but are also subject to emotional and physical abuse in both mental health facilities and the community. Poor quality care due to a lack of qualified health professionals and dilapidated facilities leads to further violations.

The theme for this year’s World Mental Health Day, observed on 10 October, is “Dignity in mental health”. This year, WHO will be raising awareness of what can be done to ensure that people with mental health conditions can continue to live with dignity, through human rights oriented policy and law, training of health professionals, respect for informed consent to treatment, inclusion in decision-making processes, and public information campaigns.

Minister for Sport, Health Improvement and Mental Health, Jamie Hepburn comments on World Mental Health Day:

“On World Mental Health day, I am proud to be the first Scottish minister with mental health in my job title. While this is a sign of how seriously we take this issue – I want us to be judged on the actions, not words.

“Demand for services is increasing significantly. The number of people seen by Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services has risen by 30 per cent in the last year – more than 1,000 extra patients in the quarter ending June 2015. To respond to this we are investing heavily in the workforce. For example, we’ve seen a 70 per cent increase in the number of CAMHS psychologists working in Scotland’s health service since 2009/10.

“Yes, there are challenges, but we have also made great progress. Waiting times have decreased significantly, we have better data to drive improvement, and the number of deaths by suicide are their lowest level since 1977. This doesn’t mean we’re complacent. More progress is needed and we continue to work with health boards to attract more staff and bring waiting times down further. That’s one of the reasons why we’ve committed to invest an extra £100 million in mental health over the next five years. This funding will also be used to promote wellbeing, improve patient rights and develop better responses to mental illness in primary care.

“We’re moving towards the end of our current mental health strategy and are assessing what the strategy has achieved. Once we have a clear picture of our progress against the 36 commitments we set, we will then decide the best focus for the next strategy.

“The 2015 Mental Health Act will strengthen the framework for mental health legislation making the system more effective and efficient, and promoting patient involvement in their care, through strengthening the position of advocacy and advance statements.

“Mental health has deservedly moved up the agenda and that’s something we can all welcome. As treatment improves and the stigma of mental illness decreases, we will see more people coming forward to ask for help. I’m determined that we are able to meet that challenge.”

Tomorrow is Living Life Day

Emotional wellbeing is the focus of Scotland’s first ‘Living Life Day’, which takes place tomorrow (Tuesday 25 August).

With the theme ‘Make your day different’, Scots are being encouraged to take steps to improve their wellbeing, whether that’s through exercise, relaxation or time with family or friends.

National Living Life Day will also raise awareness of NHS Living Life, a free service providing over-the-phone therapy for anyone in Scotland experiencing mild to moderate stress or anxiety. It will be 7 years since the NHS Living Life service was launched, which offers free telephone appointments with a Self-help Coach or Therapist.

Tony McLaren, National Coordinator of NHS Living Life, said: “One in four people in Scotland will experience a diagnosable mental health problem each year. Living Life Day helps turn the spotlight on the importance of looking after your emotional wellbeing at an early stage. Services such as NHS Living Life are an empowering and practical way for anyone feeling stressed or anxious to get information, access resources and learn coping skills.”

Jamie Hepburn, Minister for Sport, Health Improvement and Mental Health, said: “I’m delighted to support Scotland’s first Living Life Day. It’s so important that we all start think about looking after our mental health in exactly the same way we think about caring for our physical health. Physical activity, relaxation and spending time with family and friends are all excellent ways to improve mental wellbeing and reduce the likelihood of problems developing. Living Life Day is a chance for people to think about how they might be able to devote more time to these things.

“NHS Living Life is a tremendous service that helps thousands of people every year. It’s there for anyone experiencing stress or anxiety, and gives them the chance to talk about their feelings and get some practical advice on how to cope. This service is one of the many steps the Scottish Government is taking to improve Scotland’s mental health, reducing the number of people who develop more serious illnesses.”

To find out more about NHS Living Life visit www.livinglife.scot, or phone 0800 328 9655 (lines are open Mon-Fri, 1pm-9pm). Follow @NHS24 to find out what’s happening across the country for #LLDay

Fringe benefits: Mental health charity to benefit from festival productions

Scottish charity Health in Mind is to benefit from two Fringe productions which are based on true-life experiences.

The productions highlight the impact of mental illness on the individual and the people around them in the play, Disorder, and of domestic violence in the dance and spoken word performance, Herstory.

Disorder is the first production of the amateur creative collective, Kincaid Productions and is based on the childhood experiences of one of the two authors.

A spokesperson for the collective explained: “Focussing on mental health and in particular Bipolar Disorder, the play is set in both the present, where a son is visiting his mother in a psychiatric hospital and the past, where the mother and son attempt to address the differences between their perspectives.

“The play looks at the effects and impact of mental illness on the individual and the people around them and highlights the shifts of mental state caused by Bipolar Disorder.”

The spokesperson added: “Herstory is a combination of dance and spoken word and is performed by its writer Zosia Jo. It was created after women were invited to share their stories about their relationships.

“Ten of the women’s experiences, some being told to Zosia for the very first time, were woven to create a single story, which is the performance. The show deals delicately but powerfully with the issue of domestic violence and it is a love story with a painful twist that has nothing whatsoever to do with love. Herstory has been described as ‘A powerful testimony to survival and renewal’ (ThePlace.org.uk).”

Katherine Sellar, Health in Mind’s community fundraiser is delighted that both productions have pledged to raise funds for the charity. She said: “The productions reflect in different ways, the experiences of some of the people engaged with the specialist services Health in Mind delivers.

“Services include a range of support and counselling for people affected by trauma; befriending services for those feeling isolated due to experiencing difficulties with mental health and support to enable people experiencing long term and enduring mental health difficulties to stay in their homes.

“We believe that people should not be defined by their illness or trauma and we work with them to help them live the life they want to live and to survive and thrive.”

Disorder is on daily until 31 August at C NOVA Studio 6d, India Buildings, Victoria Street from 14.30 to 15.15 and Herstory is on daily from 7 to 22 August at The Aviary, The Zoo, 140 The Pleasance from 14.25 to 15.10.

Scotland’s first community-based self-harm skin camouflage clinic opens

Mental health charity Penumbra has opened Scotland’s first community-based skin camouflage clinic for people who have scars as a result of self-harm. The clinic is based at Penumbra’s Self-Harm Project in Leith and offers free advice and specialist cream formulated to reduce the visibility of scarring.

Although similar clinics exist in a number of Scottish hospitals, this is the first time a community-based service focusing on self-harm will be available in Scotland.

The service has been created in partnership with Changing Faces – the UK charity that supports, represents and campaigns for people who have disfigurements of the face or body.

Penumbra Development Worker Tammy Kirk, who runs the new clinic, said: “Across all ages and backgrounds self-harm remains a big issue. This new service in Edinburgh will allow people to reduce the visibility of scars caused by self-harm, if they wish to.

“Everyone referred to the service will have an appointment with specially trained staff who will match their natural skin tone with camouflage cream. Staff can then provide a prescription request for the products through a GP and it can be picked up from a local pharmacy.

“We hope these appointments will provide a vital opportunity for people who self-harm to speak confidentially about their concerns.”

The new clinic will be part of Penumbra’s wider Self-Harm Project in Edinburgh, which recently received a Bronze Cosla award in the category Tackling Inequalities and Improving Health.

The Cosla awards recognise innovative approaches that improve pathways into, through, between and out of a range of local public services, particularly for people who are most at risk of poor health and wellbeing.

Anyone who would like a skin camouflage appointment or wishes to enquire about the service can email skincamouflage.edin@penumbra.org.uk.

Referral forms can also be downloaded from the Penumbra website: www.penumbra.org.uk.

MP ‘distressed’ by report on impact of benefits sanctions

‘It is time to make this system fit for purpose – and that should be to help people recover to better mental health.’ – Jo Anderson, SAMH

Scotland’s leading mental health charity, SAMH (Scottish Association for Mental Health) welcomed Joanna Cherry MP to their Redhall service to help launch a new report last week.

The ‘Fir for Purpose’ report documents the negative impact the welfare system has had on 15 people participating in SAMH’s therapeutic gardening programme. The report calls for an end to benefit sanctions which put undue stress on people with mental health problems.

Last year, one of the participants highlighted the negative impact this had on their health:

‘Well, last year my psychiatrist was reducing my medication. When I got this letter from the DWP… I had to stop that and increase my medication again… Suicidal thoughts are massively increased. Urges for self-harm massively increased. Basically, when it comes to getting reassessed, every other part of my life kind of shuts down because it just has a really bad effect on me. It’s almost as if they were to design a process to make it as difficult as possible to stay alive, this is exactly how they would do it.’

The key findings of the report are:

There was a lack of understanding about mental health throughout the assessment process, with those responsible appearing not to be well trained or experienced in mental health.
Those who experienced repeated reassessments or challenging a poor decision found the experience very stressful, which can have an adverse effect of an individual’s recovery.
SAMH is calling for the Scottish Government to ensure that when it takes over the Work Choice programme for disabled people in 2017, it also takes the opportunity to incorporate tailored support for individuals in order to help more people into work and stay mentally well.

Joanna Cherry MP was elected to represent Edinburgh South West in May. She is a QC and recently co-authored the textbook “Mental Health and Scots Law in Practice’. The new local MP said: “The findings from SAMH’s Fit for Purpose report are quite distressing and highlight the real need for a review of how Work Capability Assessments are conducted and monitored effectively.

“The Redhall service offers a great environment for people to receive training and learn to cope with challenges while recovering from enduring mental health problems. I have met some very inspirational people who have overcome huge obstacles in their life and it is important that both the UK and Scottish Government work together and ensure nothing stands in the way of each person’s recovery.”

Jo Anderson, Director for External Affairs at SAMH said: “We are very grateful to Joanna Cherry for supporting our calls for a review to the Work Capability Assessment, with many of those interviewed stating that their mental health had deteriorated as a result of these changes.

“The majority of people with mental health problems continue to be placed on the Work Programme as opposed to the more successful Work Choice, which offers specialised employment support to people with disabilities and other health issues.

“It is time to make this system fit for purpose – and that should be to help people recover to better mental health.”

If you would like to download a copy of SAMH’s Fit for Purpose report, please visit: www.samh.org.uk/our-work/public-affairs/financewelfare

More money for mental health

‘Mental health services are an absolute priority of this government’ – Jamie Hepburn, Minister for Sport, Health Improvement and Mental Health

An extra £85 million will be invested in improving mental health services over the next five years, the Scottish Government announced today.

The money is on top of the existing £15 million fund for mental health innovation, announced last year, making a total additional investment of £100 million over the next five years.

The fund will partly be used to further improve child and adolescent mental health (CAMHS) services, and bring down waiting times. There has been a significant increase in demand in recent years, with a 35 per cent increase in the number of young people starting treatment over the last two years. This is thought to be mainly because more people are seeking help. It will also be targeted at improving access to services, and in particular psychological therapies.

Further areas of focus will be better responses to mental health in primary care, promoting wellbeing through physical activity, and improving patient rights, which is one of the elements of the forthcoming Mental Health Bill. Third sector service providers will be key to delivering new services, and there will be a focus on innovation and providing services in community settings.

There has already been significant investment in improving mental health services. The Scottish Government has already committed to invest almost £7 million in CAMHS this year. This is in addition to the new £100 million fund.

More than £16 million has been invested specifically in developing the CAMHS workforce since 2009. Staffing levels are at an all-time high and have risen by 45 per cent since 2008.

Jamie Hepburn, Minister for Sport, Health Improvement and Mental Health, said: “Mental health services are an absolute priority of this government. These are some of the most vulnerable people in our county and it’s vital that the health service is properly equipped to give them the support and treatment they need.

“We have been investing heavily for a number of years, and waiting times have come down significantly, despite an unprecedented rise in the number of people seeking help. Scotland was the first country in the UK to have a mental health waiting times target – a sign of how importantly we view this issue.

“There is still more work to be done. I’m delighted to be able to announce this £100 million investment which will make a real difference to people right across Scotland.”

Living Well relaunch today

Living Well North Edinburgh are holding a relaunch event today from 12 – 3pm – all welcome!

LWNE Brand Re-Launch Invite0001

Rebranding, relaunching – and receiving guests this Friday!

Living Well North Edinburgh opens it’s doors this Friday

Living Well North Edinburgh (LWNE) is holding a rebrand launch event at their West Pilton Park home this Friday.

Join the LWNE team to celebrate the project’s brand new look – it’s a great opportunity to meet staff, volunteers and members and find out the wide range of services and activities on offer – and there’s food and refreshments too!

The fun kicks off from 12 noon – all welcome!

For further information call 343 6375.

LWNE latest newsletter

Redhall Walled Garden Open Day

A May Date for your diary …

Open Day – 24th May 2015

Redhall Walled Garden is holding an Open Day on Sunday 24 May from 12 – 4pm. The main focus will be around a Plant Sale.

To summarise what’s on offer :-

Plant Sale
Book Sale
Cream Teas
Historic Garden

Redhall Walled Garden

97 Lanark Road, Edinburgh EH14 2LZ

0131 443 0946

The garden is open to the public Monday- Friday 9am -3:30pm

To find out more about Redhall see our video on Youtube click on www.youtube.com/watch?v=VglRmOglZis or attend our Information day on the first Wednesday of every month – phone to book.

Childrens services coalition urges more spending on mental health

A coalition of children’s service providers has launched a petition, calling on the Scottish Government to plough its £25m share of additional UK Government spending on mental health services from the Budget to improve mental health services for vulnerable children and young people in Scotland.

The Scottish Children’s Services Coalition (SCSC) – members include Falkland House School, Mindroom, Spark of Genius, Who Cares? Scotland, Young Foundations and Kindred- has launched a petition on the 38 Degrees website, calling for Scotland’s share of the £250 million extra for mental health services in England announced by the UK Government in the Budget for this year (£1.25bn over the next 5 years) to go towards Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) north of the border.

Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People, in evidence to the UK Joint Committee for Human Rights (JCHR) this week, raised several concerns about both access to clinical mental health services and the quality of treatment that children and young people in Scotland receive.

The petition is available to sign on the 38 Degrees website at https://you.38degrees.org.uk/p/investinmentalhealthscot

The SCSC believes that extra funding for CAMHS, which are under increasing pressure in Scotland and have seen a 60% increase in referrals over the last 2 years, could help address and improve significantly key problem areas like:

Diagnosis and treatment wait times

Half of Scotland’s Health Boards are failing to meet an 18-week Scottish Government waiting time target for treatment from CAMHS which came into force in December 2014 and five are failing to meet a 26-week target dating from March 2013.¹

This is set against a background of a 10 fold increase in waiting times for those waiting more than 13 weeks to access services from 20 in December 2013 to 226 in December 2014.

An increased number of children and young people being sent to non-specialist units

According to figures from the Mental Welfare Commission (MWC) the number of children and young people being admitted to non-specialist units such as adult and paediatric wards has increased from 177 last year to 202 (174 adult and 28 paediatric) meaning that they may not be getting the appropriate support they require.²

This situation has been worsened due to a lack of inpatient beds, 42 in all of Scotland, a totally inadequate figure, reinforced by a 60% increase in the number of those being referred to CAMHS over the last two years.

There is also no secure/locked provision in Scotland for under 18s – all 3 adolescent Inpatient Psychiatric Units are open wards and there are no units for those with a severe learning disability.

Thus those with challenging behaviours and learning disabilities are oftenbeing treated in unsuitable adult or paediatric wards, or being sent miles away from their families to England, a clearly distressing situation.

SCSC Member and Director of Kindred Scotland Sophie Pilgrim said: ““We would urge people to really get behind this campaign and sign the petition to ensure that this £25m in additional funding is put into mental health services north of the border.

“At the moment mental health services in Scotland are at breaking point, with 20% of children and young people having a mental health problem in any given year, and about 10% at any one time. This is putting medical professionals are under incredible pressure, with the number of referrals for specialist child and adolescent mental health services increasing by 60% over the last two years.

“Our health professionals do fantastic work to help people suffering from mental ill health, but this is often seen as a poor relation when compared with physical health. A lack of resources in the face of dramatically increasing demand means that we are often asking medical staff to work with one hand tied behind their back.Due to a lack of adequate provision hundreds of vulnerable children and young people are being treated in unsuitable adult or paediatric wards, or being sent miles away.

“We urge that the Scottish Government takes this opportunity to go that extra mile and ensure that we have a range of mental health services available in Scotland for those who so vitally need it.”