General secretary of the General Federation of Trade Unions GAWAIN LITTLE calls for support and participation in the national partnership organised to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 1926 general strike
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Police muscle in on mental healthcare
As concerns are being expressed about police involvement in drawing up and delivering mental health crisis plans, RUTH HUNT looks at the troubling facts
Police at the scene outside an address in Meadow Close in the Trench area of Telford, whre former Aston Villa footballer Dalian Atkinson died after he was tasered by police
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THE message that it is “time to talk” if you are feeling mentally unwell is broadcast through multiple mental health campaigns. And yet there is a scheme spreading throughout the NHS that means that certain people can be prevented from accessing help in a crisis.
Former police officer Paul Jennings is described as the “innovator” behind the scheme, which he gave the unlikely name Serenity Integrated Mentoring (SIM) and which is now managed through the High Intensity Network (HIN) he set up.
The approach bears a striking resemblance to an early embodiment of the government’s Troubled Family Scheme where the most “challenging” families, who require support from multiple agencies, are identified with the aim of modifying their behaviour through a mixture of coercion and support – “Family intervention workers make it clear that they have to either take this intensive help or face some tough consequences.” (2012 Annual Report of the Troubled Families Programme).
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