This week is Deaf Awareness Week and the experts from Cygnet Hospital Bury, who provide specialist mental health support to deaf people, have shed light on why members of the deaf community are more prone to mental health conditions and how treatment can be adapted.
The National Children and Adult Services Conference (NCASC) is back - and in the physical realm this time after two years of pandemic-enforced virtual presentations. Once again, the Manchester Central Exhibition Centre is the venue for the year's biggest social care event, taking place this week, 2 - 4 November.
Social care apprenticeship schemes are a hugely rewarding and effective way to recruit and retain high quality staff. Find out how Cygnet Health Care's own career pathway has helped new recruits become registered mental health nurses, with more routes to satisfying roles coming soon.
Tracey thought her fiancé was struggling with his father’s death but realised later he was experiencing psychosis. She describes how caring for him has brought them even closer together. Marking Carers Week, this wonderful blog, brought to us by Rethink Mental Illness, reminds us that, while unpaid carers are doing an amazing job supporting loved ones, they need support and understanding too.
Kathy Roberts is CEO of The Association of Mental Health Providers, the only national organisation with over 280 members representing voluntary and community sector providers of mental health and wellbeing services. In her debut DHSC blog, Kathy goes back to basics, describing why mental health social care and support services are essential, the impact they have on people’s lives, and how the sector can inform the social care reform strategy.
A new podcast series presented by mental health social workers explores real stories from people who have lived experience of serious mental health difficulties. Co-hosts, Beth Green and Tom Pollard have spent the last three years working in NHS community services, with individuals who have experiences often diagnosed as psychosis, bipolar and complex trauma.
While the pandemic has reminded care staff how capable and resourceful they are in a crisis, the traumatic nature of their experiences over the last year has also meant learning to accept help from others. As a regional manager with Cygnet Health Care, Vicky Bradshaw was struck by how many of her colleagues have bonded and supported each other in ways they had not experienced before.
The Government has launched a new white paper and accompanying consultation: Reforming the Mental Health Act. This consultation, which asks for your views on changes to the Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA), is the Government's response to the MHA review of 2018, led by Professor Sir Simon Wessely. Mark Trewin, our Mental Health Social Work Lead in the Chief Social Workers for Adults Office explains the work getting us to this point.
As we approach a festive season that will be very different for all of us, Fran Leddra and Mark Harvey, our Chief Social Workers for Adults, offer their hopes, thoughts and heartfelt thanks for the support of health and care colleagues this year. Their message is simple: look after your own mental and physical health as much as those around you. You deserve as much support as anyone else.
In the first in a series of blogs by inspirational women marking International Women's Day on Sunday 8 March, Fran Leddra Joint Chief Social Worker for Adults reflects on the women in her life who have nurtured, taught and inspired her, both personally and professionally. Starting with her amazing mum!