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Welcome to Overcoming
The monthly newsletter for primary care mental health workers
As publishers of the Overcoming series – a range of self-help guides and assisted self-help courses based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Techniques – we aim to broaden access to assisted self-help by providing excellent resources and support to people working on the front line. This is our fifth newsletter and in it we digest some of the policy changes that most affect your work. We haven’t forgotten about World Mental Health Day and we’d still love to hear what you’ve got planned and how it goes.
The Choice Agenda – 2 years on
It’s been two years since the Government outlined its vision for choice in Our Choices in Mental Health (CSIP, 2005). As you will know from your own experiences, the interpretation of that agenda has had a mixed response and varies from PCT to practitioner.
Introducing choice in mental health raises many questions, including:
- Does choice create confusion or clarity?
- What information and support enables people to make an informed choice?
- How do you commission a range of services to ensure that choice is meaningful?
- How do health professionals feel about taking on board patients’ preferences, which may not be their own?
- Are carers listened to?
- What happens if people choose badly?
- Who should make decisions when a person lacks the capacity to make them for themselves?
The King's Fund and the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health have published a joint briefing on choice in mental health care, based on a literature review commissioned by the Department of Health. It analyses the above questions and can be accessed online at www.kingsfund.org.uk
Getting people back to work
Two-fifths of sickness absence in the UK is caused by anxiety and depression, and approximately one million people live on incapacity benefits due to a mental health problem (Oxford Economics, 2007).
Research suggests that unemployment is bad for your health, with higher rates of death, ill-health, hospital admission and prescriptions for medication. Whilst many people return to work with or without treatment, primary care professionals can play an important role in rehabilitating those who need a little more help.
The Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health advises that the primary care team should ensure an approach that includes:
- Appropriate therapy (e.g. cognitive behavioural therapy)
- An assessment of fitness to work
- Communication with employers and JobCentre Plus
- A back-to-work plan
To read more about how you can help people back to work, visit www.scmh.org.uk
Carers to earn more without losing out
Where would the NHS be without carers? We all know the invaluable role they play and now this has been recognised by the Minister for Work and Pensions, Peter Hain, who says:
"Carers play a vital role in our communities, providing invaluable help and support for their loved ones. It is right that where we can offer further support we do so.
"The higher weekly limit of £95 means that more carers will be able to keep their Carer's Allowance if they earn more money. And it means that more carers will now be able to receive Carer's Allowance for the first time.
"Together with next April's normal increase in Carer's Allowance, carers should be able to receive more than £7,500 a year combined."
If you come into contact with carers it’s worth checking they know about the new changes and that there are likely to be even more when the Government reviews its National Carers Strategy. Caring is a tough job and a bit of good news can go a long way!
Competition: congratulations to...
Fiona Patterson of Mid-Essex PCT, who won the Newsletter competition in our September issue.
This month everybody wins
We often get feedback from people who tell us how our three-part self-help courses have really helped them. Common problems such as sleep disturbance can have a horrific effect on a person’s ability to function day-to-day, making them feel that simple tasks are insurmountable. The courses are written by leading experts who know the issues and know how CBT can be used to deal with them positively. As it’s World Mental Health Day, and bearing in mind the ever tightening NHS budget, we wanted to give you the opportunity to try them for yourself. Just email your name, address, and from which of the courses you would like to try Part One, to nova@overcoming.co.uk, and we’ll get your free copy sent out. Choose from:
- Overcoming Bulimia and Binge-Eating Self-Help Course
- Overcoming Anxiety Self-Help Course
- Overcoming Panic and Agoraphobia Self-Help Course
- Overcoming Social Anxiety and Shyness Self-Help Course
We’re also offering 33% off A Complete Guide to Primary Care Mental Health – the one-stop resource for everything you might need to know in your work. Just email your order to nova@overcoming.co.uk
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