The newly launched Centre for Health and Social Care Research at the Faculty of Health, Birmingham City University , brings together health professionals, medical and social scientists from across the Faculty to provide high quality research for the benefit of patients, health care practitioners and students. We have a strong focus on the educational development of both our students and practice- based colleagues. We also contribute to the translation of laboratory based medical science into applied patient care. CHSCR has a strong commitment to knowledge transfer and we are working on many projects in collaboration with Health services, local hospitals, industrial partners and other Universities both nationally and internationally.

We are a team of Mental Health Nurse Lecturers based in the Faculty of Health at Birmingham City University . Between us we have more years experience of Mental Health Nursing than we care to admit! This blog is intended to reflect some of the things that we think about issues relevant to mental health nursing.  We each have slightly different interests & this will be reflected in the posts we make.

Although this blog was started by mental health lecturers we are keen to gather contributions from as wide a range of  people as possible. If you think that you want to say anything here then please get in touch - we would really like to hear from tea party guests!

The Cochrane Collaboration
The reliable source of evidence in health care

The Cochrane Collaboration is an international not-for-profit and independent organization, dedicated to making up-to-date, accurate information about the effects of healthcare readily available worldwide. It produces and disseminates systematic reviews of healthcare interventions and promotes the search for evidence in the form of clinical trials and other studies of interventions. The Cochrane Collaboration was founded in 1993 and named after the British epidemiologist, Archie Cochrane.

The major product of the Collaboration is the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews which is published quarterly as part of The Cochrane Library.

Emocards are a versatile and interactive training and development aid. Today, people are visually sophisticated through the constant exposure to creative design; and their response to it is often unique. Research using Emocards indicated that attention is drawn to images that reflect a person's current state of mind. Each Emocard image has been purposely designed to capture ‘reflective thinking' in the immediacy of a teaching/training environment or group activity. Emocards facilitate participation, stimulation, emotion, learning and discussions. Emocards can be used is a variety of professional, educational, organisational, social, group and therapeutic settings.

The Centre of Excellence in Interdisciplinary Mental Health (CEIMH) is one of 74 Centres selected for funding by the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

Its overall aim is to promote excellence, innovation and creativity in the delivery of interdisciplinary mental health teaching and learning. Central to the CEIMH's philosophy is the promotion of service user and carer involvement, together with an emphasis on collaboratively creating multimedia teaching and learning resources to enhance interdisciplinary mental health education and training.

Our website provides a variety of high quality, flexible teaching and learning resources that have been developed through CEIMH sponsored projects.

The Centre for International Mental Health is part of the Melbourne School of Population Health at the University of Melbourne, Australia. They offer an exciting range of graduate professional education and research training opportunities. Their approach emphasises a commitment to quality research-led teaching and learning embedded in fundamental principles of knowledge transfer.

The International Critical Psychiatry Network (ICPN) has been created by medical doctors as a forum (primarily for medical doctors) to discuss, critique, and publicise opinions, practices, literature, and events that support critical thinking and alternative approaches to psychiatry. Building on the work of the Critical Psychiatry Network (CPN) in Britain and motivated by a concern about the ‘global mental health’ movement’s approach of globalising Western models of psychiatry, the ICPN wishes to consider a greater variety of ways of thinking about psychic difference and suffering. Recognising that the current dominant models (particularly the medical model) for thinking about psychiatric difficulties and helping sufferers are not the only ones, we hope that the ICPN can contribute toward an exchange of ideas that can promote more locally meaningful and effective practice.

There are few people training in the specific way that Working to Recovery operate. Ron and Karen have an international reputation as speakers and authors and ‘Working to Recovery Limited’ has a cutting edge approach to mental health provision. Many services across the world are looking for a different recovery-based way to work with people and we can offer the expertise to deliver recovery-based services along with an extensive knowledge of service development and provision worldwide, therefore offering a unique approach in terms of training and consultancy. We are very comfortable working with people who use services; families and staff together.

The Movement for Global Mental Health aims to improve services for people with mental disorders worldwide. In so doing, two principles are fundamental: first, the action should be informed by the best available scientific evidence; and, second, it should be in accordance with principles of human rights. The Movement is a global network of individuals and institutions who support this mission.

Crazydiamond are a small and personal collective of experts by profession that have experience working in the wider fields of mental health, social care and young people's services.  They offer various training programmes and practice development workshops based upon their expertise, alongside a selection of published books for sale.

Network for Change is a local voluntary sector organisation providing Supported Housing, Community Outreach and Resource Centre activities designed to meet the needs of adults whose mental health problems have impacted significantly on their quality of life. Our values and working practice focus on Recovery and person-centred approaches to enable wellbeing and potential.

WAPR is a non-governmental organisation in consultative status with the World Health Organization, the United Nations Economic and Social Council and the International Labour Office. Moreover, it also maintains close relations with the European Commission, the African Rehabilitation Institute and keeps working and collaborating with many other agencies in the five continents. The primary aim of the WAPR is to provide ongoing discussions of the relevant issues concerning long-term mental health care. We welcome everybody interested in fighting the disability related to mental disorders to raise the quality of life and enhance the social inclusion of people with mental health problems. http://www.wapr.info/

Mental Health in Higher Education (MHHE) aims to increase networking and the sharing of approaches to learning and teaching about mental health across the disciplines in UK higher education. You are invited to use this site to access information, exchange resources, share ideas & keep abreast of new developments. http://www.mhhe.heacademy.ac.uk

“I am a carer to my son who has experienced psychosis. Nine months after being first introduced to the UK mental health system, I became sceptical of the treatment my son was receiving and became motivated to research about schizophrenia and anti-psychotic/ neuroleptic drugs.”

This web site focuses largely on information from international papers and research about side effects and adverse reactions which is overall largely unknown by service users/clients (patients), carers and possibly mental health and social care practitioners and students. http://www.neuroleptic-awareness.co.uk

The Carers Federation Ltd supports carers and the people for whom they care. The organization provides a wide range of services and useful information, and is managed by a board of carers, former carers and people who use services.

(Experienced Involvement) is a pilot project funded by the European Leonardo da Vinci Program. The project aims at the qualification of people with lived experiences in mental health distress to work as a supporter in mental health services or as a trainer for mental health professionals. In the frame of the project experienced people, mental health professionals and trainers from six European countries are working together to develop a specific training which is focused on the experiences of the participants.

Intervoice focuses on solutions that improve the life of voice hearers in the knowledge that these methods have been co-developed by voice hearers and professionals. Because hearing voices is a stigmatised experience, we wanted to create a safe place where you can find out more about hearing voices and to create an interactive online community where you can let us know about your point of view or experience. The need to develop new kinds of interventions other than those offered by psychiatry is paramount.

This web site is dedicated to the life and work of Thomas S. Szasz, M.D. In it you will find information on diverse topics ranging from psychiatry and law, to drugs and addiction, to psychotherapy and public policy . . . and more. Thomas S. Szasz is Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus at the State University of New York Health Science Center in Syracuse, New York, Adjunct Scholar at the Cato Institute, Washington, D.C., author and lecturer. His classic The Myth of Mental Illness (1961) made him a figure of international fame and controversy. Many of his works--such as Law, Liberty , and Psychiatry, The Ethics of Psychoanalysis, Ceremonial Chemistry, and Our Right to Drugs--are regarded as among the most influential in the 20th century by leaders in medicine, law, and the social sciences. 

The World Health Organization is the United Nations specialized agency for health.  WHO's objective, as set out in its Constitution, is the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health. The main tasks of the World Health Assembly are to approve the WHO programme and the budget for the following biennium and to decide major policy questions.

Reality therapy is a practical method of helping people take better control of their lives.  It assists people in identifying what they want and what they need and then in evaluating whether they can realistically attain what they want.   It helps them examine their own behaviors and evaluate them with clear criteria.  This is followed by positive planning designed to help control their lives as well as fulfil their realistic wants and needs. Reality therapy provides people with a self-help tool to use daily to cope with adversity to grow personally, and to gain more effective control of their lives.  Reality therapy is based on choice theory, a systematic explanation of how the human mind works. 

Loren Mosher 1933  - 2004

For over a decade Loren R Mosher, MD, held a central position in American psychiatric research.  He was the first Chief of the Center for Studies of Schizophrenia at the National Institute of Mental Health, 1969-1980. He founded the Schizophrenia Bulletin and for ten years he was its Editor-in-Chief. He led the Soteria Project.  The Soteria research demonstrated that there is a better way: A better way to treat schizophrenia and other psychoses that destroy the lives of so many young people. The Soteria research showed that the prevalent excessive destructive psychiatric drugging of all these young people is a huge and tragic mistake. The success of Soteria was the reason that Dr Mosher was forced to leave his key position in American psychiatry.  When Dr Mosher died he was Director of Soteria Associates, San Diego , and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, School of Medicine , University of California , San Diego .

We are a network of people in the UK promoting the development of drug-free and minimum medication therapeutic environments for people experiencing 'psychosis' or extreme states. We are part of an international movement of service users, survivors, activists, carers and professionals fighting for more humane, non-coercive mental health services. People who hear voices, have visions or experience reality in different ways to those around them — and become overwhelmed by their experiences — are often referred to as experiencing 'psychosis'. We believe that people can and do recover from difficulties which tend to be categorised under the term psychosis. This recovery can be with, without and sometimes despite psychiatric intervention.

We are the Regional Development Centre for the NHS in the West Midlands , an addition in 2009 to the
West Midlands Strategic Health Authority , and we specialise in Improving Services for Health in the region by:

•  developing capacity and capability of NHS and related organisations ,

•  supporting policy development and implementation;

•  working with partner organisations within the wider Health and Social Care services sector across the West Midlands, including the Community and Voluntary sector, and the Criminal Justice sector;

•  working with Commissioners and Providers, as well as Users of Care Services and their Carers.

We are formed from the majority of the re-constituted West Midlands Development Centre of the Care Services Improvement Partnership (CSIP), which operated between 2005 and 2009.

Prouty's Pre Therapy:
The Essence of Contact Work
A Carer's Perspective

Pre Therapy is an approach which focuses on clients who are difficult to engage. It is applicable for clients who experience regression, psychosis, learning disabilities, special needs, dementia and Alzheimer's disease.  Pre Therapy' Contact Reflections are the Skills which encourage psychotic clients who are out of touch with their own sense of self, in relation with other people and their surroundings to regain their essential  contact; clients are increasingly able to engage in the daily activities of life and at the same time the tenacity of psychotic experiences begins to recede. 

A useful website for sourcing service user involvement information.  Health R&D North West (HRDNoW) is the NHS R&D Support Unit (RDSU) for the North West of England and a member of the national network of RDSUs.  It is a collaboration between Lancaster University and the Universities of Liverpool and Salford, which enables us to cover the whole of the North West region whilst still providing support on a 'local' basis.

MeTZelf is an association based in the Netherlands, providing excellent information on the myths about medication and useful suggestions for reducing or stopping medication. Their activities are aimed at achieving MeTZelf goals and values, disseminating information, and offering mutual support.

The Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL (University of Central Lancashire ) continues a proud tradition of excellence in promoting awareness of the importance of the history of medicine and in developing sources and methods for exploring a wide variety of subjects in the field.  Based on the former Academic Unit of the Wellcome Institute, the Centre was established in 2000 as a research centre affiliated with the Department of Anatomy and Development Biology at UCL.  The Centre is committed to helping to bring to light accounts of human experience in order to offer analyses of the complexities and ambiguities, as well as the hard-won knowledge surrounding health, diseases and their treatment.

The Centre for Community Mental Health and Birmingham City University takes no responsibility for the content of any external links contained on this page