Editorial

Welcome to the summer issue of A Life in the Day. As always in this journal, we have tried to explore what the concepts of social inclusion and empowerment can actually mean when applied to practice in a wide variety of settings and contexts.

There is a lot of talk of empowerment these days, yet those living with long-term mental health problems cannot be empowered in any meaningful sense while financial exclusion relegates them to an underclass. Peter Campbell describes how service users often face difficulties in accessing financial services, and makes suggestions for changes to address these barriers.

A first step back into the world for someone who has experienced mental distress can be involvement in artistic activities. These can be invaluable in helping rebuild confidence and a sense of self-worth. The Old Parcels Office is an innovative community arts centre based in the railway station in the seaside town of Bridlington. Operated by Hull & East Yorkshire Mind, the centre is firmly embedded in the local community - it is open to the whole community - while offering tailored programmes for people who have experienced mental distress.

Another important route back can be through learning a new skill. Like any arts activity, writing can be a transformative experience, allowing individuals to express their thoughts and feelings, and to experience the joy of creation. Josephine Sharpies describes how a creative writing course she undertook while in hospital under section has radically changed her life. Josephine also shares with us a poem from her darkest days.

Standard one of the national service framework requires health and social services to promote social inclusion for all people. Achieving this goal is obviously even more challenging for those working with people in forensic services, which are, by their very nature, excluding. This is not an area that has been explored before in A life in the day, so we are pleased to publish a contribution from a low secure unit in the East Midlands. The authors outline the particular features of forensic settings that work against social inclusion, and describe their attempts to counter these through a group resettlement programme.

Continuing the theme of user involvement in research and evaluation started in issue 9.2, members of Capital Project Trust describe their experiences of undertaking a user evaluation of an assertive outreach team in West Sussex. The team describes the challenges and dilemmas they faced along the way, as well as the very real rewards of participation in such work. The article reveals the particular strengths that service users can bring to the process of researching and evaluating services.

From the south west, Richard Frost from Work Ways describes the MINDFUL Employer Initiative. This is a new employer-led initiative that aims to support local employers in the recruitment and retention of people experiencing mental health problems. The project is in its early days, but is an interesting development none the less.

Editorial board member Diane Crone has been involved in design, delivery and evaluation of physical activity programmes for people with mental health problems for over decade. In this network page, she flags up a new campaign from the Mental Health Foundation that challenges the leisure industry to open its door to people with mental health problems, and suggests how this can be capitalised on.

And finally, the Resources page highlights reports, articles, books and websites that may be relevant to your work or interests. As always, if you have any resources that you think might interest other readers, please let us know.

Copyright Pavilion Publishing (Brighton) Ltd. Aug 2005
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved