GETTING BETTER: THE CAMDEN JOURNEY Issue 2: Winter 2014 1 GETTING BETTER: THE CAMDEN JOURNEY THE VOICE OF MENTAL HEALTH SERVICE USERS IN CAMDEN Winter 2014 Number Two New crisis house at St Pancras Hospital Katie Clayton writes: The Rivers Crisis House is a six bedded facil- ity set in calm, elegantly designed and home- ly surroundings located on the St Pancras Hospital site and staffed 24 hours by support workers and clinical practitioners. The House is based on a person-centred Recovery model offering an intensive therapeutic treatment programme and support for people who are in acute mental health crises as an alternative to hospital admission. Most guests stay between two to 10 days and 79% are discharged to their homes. Since opening, we have had consistently high user satisfaction (27 out of a maximum of 32). Currently, our guests are referred by commu- nity teams and inpatient wards, via the Cam- den Crisis Teams. We also welcome self- referrals. For further information please contact Simon Brunert (Manager) Email: si- [email protected]Tel: 0203 317 6862 Crisis Room Renovated at Royal Free Hospital Christopher Mason writes: The Royal Free Hospital have just completed the renovation of their crisis room. This was long overdue and the users in our community will be pleased to know that the room is light and airy with clean pastel walls and excellent lighting. The furniture consists of half a doz- en low sofa style seats in a pale blue mottled fabric. The door has a pale wood finish and has a soundproof quality which should stop much of the Accident and Emergency 'noise' reaching the interior. A small window, about one foot square, is heavy duty double glazed with a small lever on the outside to enable staff to see through clear glass strips. It does seem that the hospital is conscious of users' safety and dignity. On my last visit there I was delighted to be told by Ruth Green, the Manager of A & E, that a new crisis room has been installed in the Paediatric Section of A & E, for use by teenagers. This is particularly welcome since nationwide provision for the young in many parts of the United Kingdom is woeful- ly lacking. Children in crisis are currently held in police cells or police vans in some counties. In the last edition of Getting Better we carried an article about the crisis room. The Royal Free raised several points concerning this ar- ticle and we are pleased to print their thoughts on our letters page.
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GETTING BETTER: THE CAMDEN JOURNEY Issue 2: Winter 2014
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GETTING BETTER: THE CAMDEN JOURNEY
THE VOICE OF MENTAL HEALTH SERVICE USERS IN CAMDEN
Winter 2014 Number Two
New crisis house at St Pancras Hospital Katie Clayton writes:
The Rivers Crisis House is a six bedded facil-ity set in calm, elegantly designed and home-ly surroundings located on the St Pancras Hospital site and staffed 24 hours by support workers and clinical practitioners. The House is based on a person-centred Recovery model offering an intensive therapeutic treatment programme and support for people who are in acute mental health crises as an alternative to hospital admission.
Most guests stay between two to 10 days and 79% are discharged to their homes. Since opening, we have had consistently high user satisfaction (27 out of a maximum of 32). Currently, our guests are referred by commu-nity teams and inpatient wards, via the Cam-den Crisis Teams. We also welcome self-referrals.
For further information please contact Simon Brunert (Manager) Email: [email protected] Tel: 0203 317 6862
Crisis Room Renovated at Royal Free Hospital Christopher Mason writes:
The Royal Free Hospital have just completed the renovation of their crisis room. This was long overdue and the users in our community will be pleased to know that the room is light and airy with clean pastel walls and excellent lighting. The furniture consists of half a doz-en low sofa style seats in a pale blue mottled fabric. The door has a pale wood finish and has a soundproof quality which should stop much of the Accident and Emergency 'noise' reaching the interior. A small window, about one foot square, is heavy duty double glazed with a small lever on the outside to enable staff to see through clear glass strips. It does seem that the hospital is conscious of users' safety and dignity.
On my last visit there I was delighted to be told by Ruth Green, the Manager of A & E, that a new crisis room has been installed in the Paediatric Section of A & E, for use by teenagers. This is particularly welcome since nationwide provision for the young in many parts of the United Kingdom is woeful-ly lacking. Children in crisis are currently held in police cells or police vans in some counties.
In the last edition of Getting Better we carried an article about the crisis room. The Royal Free raised several points concerning this ar-ticle and we are pleased to print their thoughts on our letters page.
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Contents
Page 1 Crisis services in Camden
Page 2 Contents and a poem
Page 3 Editorial
Page 4 Christmas at St Paul’s Cathedral
Page 5 Ultra alternative therapy
Page 6 Letters
Page 7 GP inspections and service user forums
Page 8 Poetry really was a lifeline
Page 9 Poetry really was a lifeline continued
Page 10 Theatre review and story
Page 11 Useful contacts
Page 12 Festive open day
Stockholm October 1998 Before they arrived You died in my arms When they said you were dead I didn't believe you I wished; I was you Emil
Editorial
Well! There can be little doubt that those long lazy days of summer have been moved into the deepest recesses of our memory banks. Even though the departure of the season was delayed by several weeks by an Indian Summer there can be no doubt that the trees have given us their autumnal flares and the days have turned to winter sched-ules, which may be OK if you prefer dark-ness! As with most things, there are aspects to welcome in the coming of Au-tumn. It's the time to dig deep into our ward-robes to find winter clothing of different fab-rics and colours; shirts, pullovers and cardi-gans, trousers and skirts. Time to celebrate the cooler days! Autumn turns us towards more sustaining foods with soups, stews and puddings and other comfort food. And why not? In this issue of Getting Better we have included as many items from our read-ership as possible; both in our letters column where you can feel free to have a grumble and to give praise. Where any of you have a major item you feel to be important then we will certainly give you a column. We are continuing with the page of contacts of useful organisations and it would be great to receive more suggestions for in-clusion from our readership. If you see something there that might help someone you know then please bring it to their atten-tion. A new feature is the page of special en-tertainment offers in the entertainment world. London is an amazingly varied city and not least in the field of entertainment. So whether you go to a ballet or an opera at Covent Garden, an orchestral or instrumental concert on The South Bank, a musical or a play in the West End, you can have some amazing experiences without breaking the bank! On a more serious note; we will be throwing some light on some of the more controversial aspects of the machinery of government, both local and at Westminster, with particular regard to the field of health and disability.
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It seems that wherever society has a vic-tory of any sort over the providers of our care, as in the case of work capability as-sessment, events take on a tricky feel. The American firm Maximus has come in to replace the French firm Atos, then we find that Prof Michael O'Donnell, Medical Director of Atos, has slipped across to become medical director of Health Man-agement Ltd, a subsidiary of Maximus. The reason is to ensure 'continuity of service' and 'a seamless transfer'. It now appears that all ATOS staff and properties have been moved across to Maximus. All in a £500million government contract! On a happier note, we only have a few weeks to go before Christmas comes blowing in with red - cheeked Santas, Christmas trees and carols, all sorts of excess, loneliness, unfulfilled expecta-tions and discord! No, it is not all sweetness and light for many of us but here at The Newsletter we would like to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas. May you find, in whatever place you happen to be at the mo-ment, some elements which brings you joy.
The bells of waiting Advent ring, The Tortoise stove is lit again And lamp-oil light across the night Has caught the streaks of winter rain In many a stained-glass window sheen From Crimson Lake to Hookers Green. The holly in the windy hedge And round the Manor House the yew Will soon be stripped to deck the ledge, The altar, font and arch and pew, So that the villagers can say 'The church looks nice' on Christmas Day. Provincial Public Houses blaze, Corporation tramcars clang, On lighted tenements I gaze, Where paper decorations hang, And bunting in the red Town Hall Says 'Merry Christmas to you all'. And London shops on Christmas Eve Are strung with silver bells and flowers As hurrying clerks the City leave To pigeon-haunted classic towers, And marbled clouds go scudding by The many-steepled London sky. And girls in slacks remember Dad, And oafish louts remember Mum, And sleepless children's hearts are glad. And Christmas-morning bells say 'Come!' Even to shining ones who dwell Safe in the Dorchester Hotel. And is it true, This most tremendous tale of all, Seen in a stained-glass window's hue, A Baby in an ox's stall ? The Maker of the stars and sea Become a Child on earth for me ? And is it true ? For if it is, No loving fingers tying strings Around those tissued fripperies, The sweet and silly Christmas things, Bath salts and inexpensive scent And hideous tie so kindly meant, No love that in a family dwells, No carolling in frosty air, Nor all the steeple-shaking bells Can with this single Truth compare - That God was man in Palestine And lives today in Bread and Wine.
Christmas by John Betjeman
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Christmas at St Paul’s Cathedral
Free events
Doors open one hour before the published start times. Many of the services are very popular and unfortunately we are often unable to accommodate all who wish to join us. We advise early arrival, especially on December 11 and 24.
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ULTRA ALTERNATIVE THERAPY
Of all the many and various alternative therapies available today, the one I like best is HIPPOTHER-
APY. Someone with a very heavy cold introduced this to me recently at a Goal Setting Group at Jules
Thorn. No one in the Group had heard of it before, but we listened attentively as she struggled to ex-
plain it.
First of all, of course, you have to acquire a hippo—by fair means or foul. When you have found him,
or indeed her (I cannot emphasise too highly how much the sex of your hippo doesn’t matter—
whether your hippo is straight, gay, bi or A-sexual, or even a bi-sexual transvestite for the purposes of
this therapy). Your next task is to find a suitable bath or pool—about 8m x 6m (24ft x 18ft) should do
it, although for a very large hippo you may have to hire the Olympic Pool at Swiss Cottage. Failing
that, you and your hippo could catch the C2 bus (or the 214, although this might be a bit of a squash)
to Parliament Hill Fields and use one of the Highgate Ponds. I would suggest the second one along—
the Men’s Bathing Pond as it has a nice springy diving board.
Once there, and having cajoled your hippo into the water, you can join him there and the therapy may
begin. Basically, this mostly involves a selection of scrubbing brushes, brooms and mirrors (lipstick is
optional) and floating candles. I will be happy to send a copy of my in-depth handbook to anyone se-
riously interested in taking this further.
You may have gathered by now that the therapy is not actually for you, but for the hippo. But in the
process of treating your hippo, you will find that you have lost about 3 stone—and you can bask in
the glory of having helped a hippo back into the community.
Judy Sands
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Letters
Why aren’t boys allowed to like pink?
A few days ago I went to buy my 10-year old nephew a birthday cake. The woman in the shop asked if the inscription should be in “dark blue”. I said: “Make it pink!”. She then asked: “Are you sure, does he like pink?”. I replied: “I don’t know, we’ll see”.
I came back to pick up the cake and the woman in the shop excused herself: “The people that made the cake put the inscrip-tion in blue instead of pink. Sorry.” Why is it considered wrong for a boy to like pink? Why are boys with girly interests con-sidered weak? Why are women considered to be weaker than men?
When I went to secondary school the worst thing you could be as a boy was either a “f*g” or a “c**t”. As a 15-year old boy I lost my virginity together with another boy. I didn’t think I was gay at the time. For a long while I tried to attract girls. My idea of how I had to behave as a man didn’t at all work for me. I thought that I had to be someone protecting the girl and being very masculine.
It was a great relief when I realised I was actually gay as a 21-year old young man. All of a sudden I didn’t have to fit in to some gender role defined by the society.
Shortly after I came out I bought a whole new wardrobe of camp clothes. All of a sud-den I didn’t feel worried that someone would say: “Isn’t that a bit gay?”. It was a very liberating feeling to wear what I liked. As Iggy Pop said: “I’m not ashamed to dress like a woman because I don’t think it’s shameful to be a woman”.
A good quote I found online is: “It is the same sexism that hurts women that also hurts men. If we work together we can end that.”
Emil
Response to an article about crisis rooms in Issue 1 of Getting Better from Aisling Clifford Just to say that the Crisis Teams are in-volved in ALL decisions about admission to an inpatient bed and are the team that ulti-mately authorise admission.
We made a minor change to process on 30th December 2013 for Mental Health Liaison Teams (at the Royal Free or UCLH or Whit-tington A&E).
The positive effect on Service User experi-ence is as follows:
Should a mental Health Liaison clinician in the A&E department consider that someone needs Home Treatment or Hospital Admis-sion then the Crisis Team may not always need to carry out another DUPLICATE as-sessment. Instead, the mental health liaison team clinician will have a conversation with the A&E Liaison team over the phone to arrange the plan of care. There may still be occasions where the Crisis Team still assess.
This amendment to the process should cer-tainly
Reduce the amount of time a service user has to remain in A&E;
Eliminate any unnecessary duplicate assessments;
Speed up the process if a service user requires admission to hospital or re-quires ongoing treatment at home
I appreciate that you asked our Communica-tions Department to OK this before it went to print…but didn’t get a response back.
Disclaimer: the opinions and views expressed in this newsletter are not necessar ily those of VoiceAbility, the wider service user community or any supporting organisation.
If you would like to submit a reply to any of the letters or articles raised in the newsletter to be printed in the Spring edition, please email [email protected] or phone 07770 014 109
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Camden GPs risk rating published by clinical quality control commissioners
The Care Quality Commission has published details of performance in all Camden GP practices.This shows that seven out of thirty-five practices have been placed in a category where they are at a high risk of "providing poor quality care". This could include long waiting times for appointments, misdiagno-sis of cancer and poor care for the elderly. Readers with mental health issues may have their own stories.
In defence of the GP system it should be not-ed that surgeries are working with insuffi-cient funding leading to impractical work-loads and low morale. In one those classic fudges the Commission reminds us that a poor rating does not necessarily mean people using a practice are at risk.
So why, we might ask, is the study being done at all? Fortunately, twenty- eight out of thirty-five practices are doing well, which says a lot for the dedication and resource of all those people employed as doctors and receptionists in the GP system in Camden.
If you have a story to tell about your prac-tice please let us know. We would be pleased to receive positive stories where sur-geries have done well!
Job Vacancy
Charity Collectors
Help raise money for 'I am somebody's child soldier'. Funding therapies for the 35,000 children who were turned into soldiers in Northern Uganda.
Collecting in stores, shopping malls, high streets, rail and tube stations. Rewards scheme available.
GETTING BETTER: THE CAMDEN JOURNEY Issue 2: Winter 2014
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‘Poetry really was a life-line’
A successful journalist with a thriving family, Rachel Kelly’s life was torn apart by depression. She tried every-thing to cope, from medication to spending more time outdoors, but it was the power of poetry, she says, that ulti-mately saved her
Nicola Slawson
‘Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul.’ These words are precious to Rachel Kelly. “There’s something very special about a tiny bird as a symbol of hope and positivity,” she says, referring to the poem Hope by Emily Dickinson. “I find even now, if I’m feeling a bit low, I’ll go in the garden and I’ll seek out a little bird and just listen to it.” We’re sitting in a tranquil French cafe in Not-ting Hill Gate, discussing depression. It first struck her down 17 years ago. Kelly was a highly acclaimed journalist at The Times, with a successful husband and two small children, when she fell ill. Her depression was so severe that she was in physical pain and unable to get out of bed for several months. A few years lat-er, she was hit by an even more intense episode and to this day still needs to manage herself carefully to ensure she doesn’t relapse. “It’s a bit like being an anxious pet and having to look after yourself. And not to be ashamed of that,” she says as she describes how diet, exercise and not over-scheduling are tools she uses to manage her wellbeing. But it isn’t al-ways easy. “It’s hard to go against the prevail-ing trend, which is to be busy. I think there is a big problem with stigma and shame and a cul-ture of ‘pull yourself together.’ Carving out time in nature is another tactic. One of the characteristics of depression is be-ing so focused on your own bid for survival that you become self-centered, but nature can restore your connection to the wider world, she says. “We all know it instinctively; when we get out in the country or go for a walk in the park, we
come back feeling rested and calmer. It’s just finding time in your day. And knowing that it’s just as important as your big meeting.” But for Kelly, who shares her experiences in her recent memoir, Black Rainbow: How words healed me, it is poetry that was and still is her best coping mechanism. “It’s not for everyone,” she acknowledges. “But if the drugs don’t seem to be working and you’re really ill in hospital then what else is there? A healing phrase might help.” She quotes a line from the bible that became her mantra during her first nervous breakdown: ‘My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ And also lines from The Sickness Unto Death by Anne Sexton, who she says, “so brilliantly describes what a depressive episode feels like – ‘I’ve got to have something to hold on to’ – because it can feel like a trap door has opened and that you’re crashing. Sometimes you can almost hold onto a line [of poetry],” Kelly ex-plains. “It’s no exaggeration for me that it real-ly was a lifeline.” Kelly now works with United Response and Sane, two mental health charities that will ben-efit from the profits of her book. Her face lights up as she describes the workshops she runs with the charities’ support groups. In them, she typically takes seven or eight consol-ing poems or pieces of prose. Different mem-bers of the group, who all suffer from depres-sion or anxiety, read each one aloud and dis-cuss them together. The poems she chooses are “ultimately about people finding a compassionate and more for-giving voice for themselves and for others,” she says, “and to help them through every day life. “What’s really lovely is that it can work a bit like mindfulness in that because the poems sometimes require concentration to unpack the meaning, it keeps people in the moment. So they get a little respite even for that short ses-sion.” The Guest House by Jelaluddin Rumi has proven popular in workshops. This one, she says, encourages acceptance and that it’s not the circumstances but the way we approach them that’s important. “It’s about changing the story in your head from a more negative story to a more positive story, and just feeling that you’re less alone and that other people have
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been through this. “One of the things that happened to me is that I lost the powers of expression. It can be a real gift that other people can express how you’re feeling.” At a recent workshop in Maidenhead, one of the group read out Derek Wallcott’s poem, Love After Love. Kelly describes how after reading, the woman told the group that she’d had 20 years of psychiatrists and social workers and had never felt that anyone understood what it felt like to be her. But the poem was the first thing that did, she said. She planned to pin it to her fridge and read it daily. “So it can work in lots of ways,” Kelly con-cludes. “Some of the greatest writers in our his-tory have looked at these problems and ways of helping people.” And despite the suffering she has endured to get there, she says it’s a “privilege” to now dedicate her vocation to helping others to find comfort through words. “I do see how much pain and anxiety there is around us. If I can help nudge at least one person through their day in a small way, then that’s what gets me up in the morning.”
Black Rainbow: How words healed me – my journey through depression by Rachel Kelly, is available now, published by Hodder. Rachel Kelly has used her experiences to create an app to help people who are suffering with mental illness. The app is now available to download from the iTunes App Store. The app is split into two sections: help for a hurting mind and help for a hurting body. It offers both practical advice on diet and exercise as well as words of comfort in the form of poetry and prose. For information and advice about depression, visit the websites of Sane, United Response, or Mind
Rachel Kelly’s poetry pick
The Guest House
This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they are a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture, still, treat each guest honorably. He may be clearing you out for some new delight. The dark thought, the shame, the malice. Meet them at the door laughing and invite them in. Be grateful for whatever comes. because each has been sent as a guide from beyond. Jalaluddin Rumi. Translation by Coleman Barks More info
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Theatre Review
THE STAND UP & down at Camden People’s The-atre What happens when a comedian ceases to amuse his audience. Why he seeks help from anyone prepared to listen to him.
The Stand Up & down is a play that is not only highly entertaining but is most thought provoking.
Des Marshall opens up his life for all to see. Brilliantly interspersed with music that re-flects the mood, the play engages as it deals with themes of alienation, rejection and fear. The fear and anxiety that every comedian dreads, minimal laughter from the audience. Depressing material one would think, certain-ly not in this play.
Unique in style and content the STAND UP & down touches a chord in all who see it. It comprises five actors who represent aspect of the characters personality. Each highlights a side of his nature. The scenes at the drop-in centre are highly amusing as the protagonist analyses as to why he struggles to get a fa-vourable reaction from his audience.
The music here illuminates the relationship between the exterior behaviour of the main character and his inner world…The songs chosen drive the story on as we explore the maze that was Des Marshall’s early back-ground, and get to see his inspirations as to why he needed to be a comic. What was his motivation and most of all why he needed to create?
This is a thought provoking and entertaining play, that enlightens all who see it.
G. Garfield. July 2014
The author hopes to put on this production again and it will no doubt be mentioned in a future edition of this newsletter.
One night and one Friday early morning in September 2010 I shall never forget. It started off a few weeks earlier; every time I drank alcohol I started to feel paranoid. Cycling home to Camden from Hackney could be quite horrifying. I remember once when I passed Camden and I thought to my-self: “Can’t just anyone try to rob me or do any other harm, so that I get something else to think of rather than feeling like this". That Thursday was very stressful, in a differ-ent way than usual. I went to browse Face-book all the time, could not focus on any work. And then when the evening came, I was all alone. As it got darker and the paranoia worsened I spoke with a friend on the phone. At my usual bedtime I couldn’t sleep so I took some valium. Slept for an hour and then became wide awake and very worried. I real-ised then that something was not right. I called NHS Direct and a very helpful woman talked to me for a long time. I told her that I started to feel psychotic. She asked me to go and see my GP in the morning. After hardly any sleep I walked out of my house in the morning. I remember the trees on the street. They looked magical - as if I had taken LSD. At the doctor’s waiting room I remember that I thought of myself as dirty and that people around feared me. I called the a couple of friends. They said they were going to come to the GP with me. The doctor was listening when I told him I had been psychotic in the past and that I start-ed to feel the same symptoms again. I re-member I felt very upset. He asked if I could wait until after the weekend. I said: “No, I’m staying in the clinic until I can see someone from Camden mental health”. I was fright-ened of what would happen if I didn’t get anti psychotic medication. The doctor came back a while later with a prescription of anti-psychotics. By that time my two friends had arrived. I took my medi-cation and fell asleep shortly afterwards in the sun at the mixed pond by the Heath. I stayed together with a friend for a few days. When I felt secure I moved back home. It took several months to get back to well being again. It did help to go to the men’s pond and swim during the winter - I can recommend that to anyone suffering from mental health issues. Emil Berleen
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The Hub – Camden’s new mental health wellbeing centre. The Hub provides day opportunities and activities for service users across the borough of Camden. www.camdenhub.org.uk or phone 020 7278 4437
Camden Council – a mine of useful information! Go to www.camden.gov.uk or phone 0207 974 4444
VoiceAbility – may be able to help if you re-quire the support of an advocate to help you speak out about mental health. Phone 0207 485 2424 or email [email protected]
Camden Carers Service – phone line open Monday to Friday 9:00am – 12:30pm and 1:30 – 5:00pm (7:00pm on Wednesdays).
020 7428 8950/55
Need someone to talk to? Phone the Samaritans on 08457 909090
iCope – confidential counselling service for people to deal with depression or anxiety. Phone 020 3317 5600 or email [email protected]
Mental health assessment and advice service – If you think you might require support with your mental health, phone 0203 317 6590
Turn 2 us – confidential advice about accessing welfare benefits. Visit www.turn2us.org.uk or phone 0808 802 2000
Mental health service user involvement – use your experiences to shape and deliver services in Camden. Phone 07770 014 109 or email [email protected]
Camden Citizens Advice Bureau – new info 24 hour information line on 0300 330 0646 or visit-www.camdencabservice.org.uk New address: 2 Prince of Wales Road, NW5 3QL Camden CAB phone advice Monday to Thursday 1pm - 4pm Come in on Monday, Wednesday, Friday 10am - 1pm The CAB service is FREE IMPARTIAL CONFIDENTIAL INDEPENDENT
