ISPS UK Webinar

We are bringing together a panel of people with professional and personal experience of the mental health act and what they perceive needs to change in light of the recent white paper reforming the act.

For more information see:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/reforming-the-mental-health-act/reforming-the-mental-health-act

Our plan would be for each panel member to discuss what they feel are the pertinent issues of what needs to change in the act and will speak for five minutes each. Then open the discussion to attendees of the webinar.

See below our speakers:

Mark Trewin is Mental Health Social Work Lead with Chief Social Worker Dept Health and Social Care.

Dr Tom Cant is a Consultant General Adult Psychiatrist in Torbay and Principle Investigator for the ODDESSI research program in Devon. I am also a trained and practicing facilitator for Peer Supported Open Dialogue Network Meeting, which I am engaged in delivering as part of my role as a consultant psychiatrist in our POD CMHT.

Jill Hemmington is a UCLan Senior Lecturer and programme leader for the Approved Mental Health professional (AMHP) programme and post-qualifying training. She practices as an AMHP which means carrying out Mental Health Act (MHA) assessments. Jill is published in the area of and is completing doctoral research into the independence and decision-making aspects of the AMHP role. This includes understanding and promoting Shared Decision-Making (SDM) and the statutory Empowerment and Involvement principle within MHA assessments. Jill is interested in exploring the principles of service user involvement particularly where capacity is seen to be compromised. The Empowerment and Involvement principle will be changed in the MHA reforms to ‘Autonomy and Choice’ and Jill is exploring what this will mean for people experiencing MHA assessments and detentions.

Colin King: Sectioned, violated and subjected to modern Drapetomania on many times inside the prison and public mental health systems - Converted through a racialised academic compliance to become a mental health practitioner, senior manager, commissioner, researcher and and teacher to both challenge and perpetuate modern slavery through the Mental Health Act. Coordinator of the ‘White and Race Equality network’ in mental health.

Jenny Sanders Kowalczuk is a self-employed single mother who works in health policy research and communications. She worked with the British Medical Journal for several years developing patient safety and quality improvement resources for health professionals. Ten years ago her daughter was diagnosed with an eating disorder and three years later, following a traumatic event, she experienced her first psychotic break. Since then her daughter has been admitted nine times under the MH Act, spent more time in hospital than out and is currently an inpatient. Jenny is currently working with Safely Held Spaces to develop a model of the experience of those in a supporting role over time with the aim of bringing greater insight to their lived experience, so that service professionals can better understand the impact on individuals supporting others in crisis and those in a supporting role find meaning in their own experience. Jenny has also worked with Compassionate Mental Health.