I want that one! NOT!

Sadly, that wallpaper is not all in the MIND!!!

Nuff said.

Art for the sake of avoiding some rather tacky pooches

Was going to print a rather fetching picture of Paul Farmer (Chief Honcho and trend setter of Mind). Following on from his interview on a C4 programme (not dissimilar in core nature to what Pavlov did with his doggies) about mind alteration for post trauma victims.

Actually, I shall delve a bit further and say it was to do with trials which had taken place (actually giving me weird vibes about the Clockwork Orange effect) where people were given electric shocks to ensure they got trauma and phobias and were then treated with beta blockers to ease their troubled psyches. Personally, it all seems a bit macabre to me...and anyway one of the side effects of taking beta blockers is depression so not sure alls well that will end well but is progress of a sorts and might lead to something more substantial...or more fekked up minds than were there to start with but hey ho. It's research and it keeps people in jobs (or gives them something to do).

But the decor will have to wait..as in the decor Mr Farmer had placed himself in front of the interview for. Me thinks he was either on prozac when he bought that wall paper or was getting in touch with his feminine side. All will be revealed in the next blog posting (some time tomorrow).

Instead...I wanted to put up my cards because apart from the Carers' Valentine Disco on Saturday (which went pretty well and I got to shake my toosh a fair amount) the other highlight of my weekend was making cards.

Covering all angles..that seem appropriate to me

Following yesterday's review meeting, I have sent the following email to my MP. Is not that I am a doubting Thomas (MUCH) but very long in the tooth and I sense that 'other services' may not be keen to take on additional responsiblity for my father..either due to resourcing issues or bureaucratic ones.

For confidential reasons have not mentioned names..everything else is as was sent.

Dear MP


Thank you for your previous correspondence, in regards to your letter to the CEO . I can confirm that a review meeting took place with my father's consultant and other members of BLPT staff yesterday.

The outcomes of this meeting, as I view them, are that:

The WRVS have been contacted to provide one visit per week as a kind of befriending service.

Communications between my father's consultant, his team members, and members of the Older Age Services and Social Services will be taking place to see what additional support can be provided to my father. This is in order to provide care so that he is able to stay at home and hopefully become a more comfortable member of the local community.



The consultant also agreed that the Crisis Team be contacted to see if they could provide support whilst other care is being put into place.


At present, I am happy for these communications to take place and to see if the additional support is provided. However, there was some level of concern expressed by the consultant that other services may not wish to provide support to my father, or that my father may not meet appropriate criteria. My concern, in regards to this, is that it could mean my father will once again be left, mostly on his own, whilst his illness eats away at him.

I appreciate it may take a little time to get additional services in place but I do not want my father to be left for too long a period and I certainly don’t want it to end up that we are informed that no additional support is available. Particularly, as it is now a year since my father became seriously ill and I think he has waited long enough for more appropriate care.

I have explained that should father’s state deteriorate, then I believe the only option would be for him to go into residential care and I would seek your support and the support of MH services to ensure this is the case. It is, as I stated yesterday, a last resort but I think my father has suffered enough and if he is unable to sustain himself or be sustained (with additional care) within the community, he needs to be somewhere safe for the rest of his life.

If you don’t mind I would like to contact you at the end of a month period so we can review what has happened and what additional support, should it be forthcoming, has been put in place. I will be asking The PALS and Complaints Manager at BLPT to forward this email to the CEO as I don’t have his e:mail address and have no ink in my printer, so am unable to send it through the postal service.

Regards

Give It Some Welly - Uplifting Story of The Week

In the wee hours of this morning, heard a story, on local radio, about a woman who bought the old Woolworth's store she used to manage and has taken on the staff who used to work there.

The store was not only popular but made profits so she is hoping that by re-opening the store she will keep the custom of people who used to shop there (hopefully get some new custom too).

She is calling the store 'Wellworths' and wants it to be known as 'Wellies'.

The full story is available here:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1142256/Former-manager-bear-lose-job-Woolies-buys-old-store-reopens--WELLWORTHS.html?ITO=1490

Am not a Daily Mail fan but this story warrants a viewing.

Letter from BLPT Non Exec Board Directors

This arrived in my inbox.

Dear Member,



I am writing to inform you of the unanimous decision taken by me, as Trust
Chair, and my Non-Executive Board Directors, to stand down from the
leadership of the Trust (within six to nine months), in order to allow the
organisation to create a new partnership with an NHS Foundation Trust.



It has been an honour and privilege to serve the people of Bedfordshire
and
Luton by providing mental health and learning disabilities services. We,
as
a board, have always placed our communities and their service needs at the
heart of everything we do.



The departure of Paul Mullin as Chief Executive in late 2008 concentrated
our minds on what we needed to do to move to the next stage of development
-
that of attaining Foundation Trust status. However, we do not believe that
with the current structure and size of the organisation, there is any
prospect of the organisation attaining Foundation Trust status in its own
right within the timescale required.



Having seen the energy, skills and enthusiasm in the leadership of other
Mental Health Foundation Trusts, we have come to the conclusion that
seeking
a partnership with one of these holds the best prospect for delivering
modern mental health and learning disabilities services for our local
communities. We are confident that this approach will ensure that Trust
services continue to improve and meet the needs of local people.



We have asked NHS East of England, the Strategic Health Authority, in
conjunction with the Primary Care Trust - NHS Bedfordshire (who are
responsible for commissioning services from the Trust) to carry out a
process which will see established NHS Foundation Trusts put forward
proposals for the future management of our Trust.



We are determined to ensure the best possible outcome for our service
users,
carers and staff and will continue as a board to oversee the handover to a
new Foundation Trust board.



We agreed as a board that it is critical for the shadow membership and
governors to continue to have a role in the new organisation as a means of
ensuring local involvement.



I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all your support so
far and I hope you will continue to support our local mental health and
learning disabilities agenda during this transitional period, to help
ensure
a smooth handover to a new leadership team.



With best wishes,





Alison Davis

Trust Chair

NB. I am not a Trust Member and I don't intend to become one....because I feel that I need to remain independant in my dealings with the Trust and in regards to care I seek from them for my father and myself.

British Market Research and The Justice System

British Market Research are carrying out research for the Ministry of Justice. We are keen to talk to people who live with mental health issues or learning disabilities and who have been involved as a WITNESS or VICTIM (but NOT as a DEFENDANT) in a criminal , civil or family court . We would like to talk to you about your experiences of the court system.


We would also like to talk to CARERS or SUPPORT Personnel who have been involved in the court system as well. The research can be carried out at your home or a support centre and will last about 50-60 minutes. We are giving a gift of £25 cash for taking part in the research as a thank you for your help. The research is taking place in and around London during the month of February 2009. If you would like to help us, please contact DAVE WILLIAMSON on 01753 541485 or 07887 656 723 for further information. THANK YOU

Charity - No Pain, No Gain

Something shrink wrote about, few blogs back, has really got me to thinking.

He wrote that charity hurts or that is what I picked up from the posting.

Maybe was just another reason for me to go on a mind fuck, or twist it in with my own twisted thoughts, but I don't see what I do for my Dad as charity but it does hurt. Well, actually it is the doing things that don't seem to alleviate any of his pain that hurts.

His latest posting in regards to a daughter's attitude to her mother's deteriating mental state also hit a spot. Not because I view my father as vile or evil (he isn't at all but that is his view of himself) but it is the impact of someone's illness on another that hit me.

You can't really understand that until you are in it. I don't think. For sure you can empathise by imagining yourself in that position and wondering how you will feel or react but, in my experience, how I have thought I would react is different to how I react. As in, I liked to imagine myself as being able to handle anything with stoic bravery and rallying on to the bitter end, with a stiff upper lip and a hug and the reality is I chop and change...sometimes I am pretty upbeat with Dad..whatever he says to me and try to reassure him that we will get through things, together.... however, his behaviour and illness takes him. Then another time I see him and I am desperately trying to hold myself together as he pours his pain out.

I don't think this is charity. Charity is something that is separate to family ties. To me it is an organisation, or person, doing something for someone they aren't that close to....They aren't, for want of a better word, obligated to.

By using the word obligated, it makes it sound like Dad is a chore. Now, crunch point sometimes it feels that way to me. Perhaps because he isn't the Dad I used to know, rely on, look up to. Perhaps because his illness has changed him so much and it is so difficult to face his demons (especially when I am not quite sure what they are) whilst facing my own. I don't know. It gets complicated for me but to know someone is so miserable, so lost in life, so destroyed it is bloody hard to keep trying to see the light and then show it to them.

Am veering off on tangent but getting back to the title.... The saying may well be that charity begins at home but it is much more than charity that is going on between Dad and me. It is a fight for his survival and in some ways mine too.

I don't think charity is painful because people can opt in and out. They can decide what/who warrants their charity, family relationships are different. Well they are to people who care about members of their family.

And not having a pop at Shrink for what he wrote. It made me have a re-think about my views and what charity means to me (or not as the case may be).