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EDITORIAL: Hypnosis can help! Self Suggestion, or Self-hypnosis. This is a very useful Site with lots of free Guidence: 'Hypnosis Downloads'
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For further examples, use the reserved Search Engine below to search 'Survivor Groups' or 'Mental Health Survivors', 'Sexual Abuse Survivors', etc.
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NOTE:
This Document is still at some stage of development. You are invited to respond and comment on its content and its logic. If you return to the document at a future date, you will be able to see its continued development, hopefully reflecting your own and others commentary.
I thank you, in advance, for any contribution that you make. Please also feel free to visit and contribute, in any valid way, to these and other social issues, through our Forums. There is also a Chat Room and protected Chat Space for more serious group discussions and individual counselling. Please feel free o use this space for your legitimate activities.
Copyright:
Although you will see very few reference to other formal writings in this document, I acknowledge general recognition to the discussions and debates that I have had with students, practitioners and clients over the years. Most of the ideas and theory has evolved through this rather pragmatic process (operational research), rather than any formal reading.
If any content of this document describes concepts, theory, or ideas that have been established else where, (prior to my writing, either here or else where - in part or in full), I acknowledge their entitlement to claim them as their intellectual property for financial purposes, if they can evidence this. I also reserve the right to retain them as my intellectual property, with due recognition to those who have made direct contributions, including other writers, should I identify such a past influences.
Other than this, I invite you to share and copy any content, to the benefit of intellectual debate and the benefit of individuals and groups, without restriction, other than it be used for constructive purpose, in the wider context of my writing.
Should you wish to use any material presented here 'as is', I ask that you then make reference to myself and the web site. The 'Reading Date' would be a useful 'publishing date' for the Current Edition. 1980 is the core publishing date for most of the basic ideas and theory (unless stated otherwise).
This 'Reading Date' may be an important part of this 'reference', as the document (by its 'internet fluid' nature) will be constantly changing and this may affect meaning and interpretation, for those following up on such a reference at a later date.
Mental Health & Wellbeing are central to our lives - Learn to take a positive attitude towards mental health and learn to protect yourself.
Peace Campaigners Banned from Trowbridge Park! Peace women are banned from taking part in Armed Forces Day. The organisers of the family event, being held in Trowbridge Park on June 27, told them their presence could be 'inflammatory' (like war isn't?).
Anger & aggression are misunderstood in professional circles. Bad attitudes are 'maintained' and sometimes anger is induced. In mental health, this is sometimes used to 'evidence' mental breakdown. Assertions can actually be more abusive than natural human anger.
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We are interested in Professional's and Service User's accounts of the Highs & Lows of Life, about Professional Services and Voluntary & Community Experiences. We are all in the same boat. Sharing experiences is therapeutic. It informs and inspires others. It informs & challenges Service Providers:
Also visit our VISITWEB Magazine Check out the Features via the Links on the right ->>>>. Headlines and Articles are in the links at the top right column. Some of these stories will 'be transferred to the 'Your Choice' Magazine.
This site will eventually focus upon the Health & Social Care Issues, Advice, Therapies, Techniques, Recoveries & Theory.
Forums & Chat Rooms:
Because of technical problems and hacking, we have had to re-start our Forum Pages. We are keeping it simple. If you want to chat about problems on-line, use our chat space. You can open your own chat-room & book counselling.
If there anyone able to help us in these areas would be appreciated. I do not have the time to keep these areas working properly on my own. Fund raising would also help.
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Please feel free to use our 'chat room' for keeping in touch with each other and for discussing problems with us. If it is not in use just go ahead. If it is in use, we can created a private chat room room for you. FORUM - BLOG - CHAT
A CHALLENGE TO THOSE WHO THINK THEY MAY KNOW BETTER: (Reply to: terry@visitweb.org)
Open Invite: If you fundamentally and intelligently disagree with anything published on this site, its sister sites, or any accredited links, please submit your arguments for publication. We will give anyone a fair hearing, provided it is not abusive in content; But be warned, we have heard most of the counter arguments already and are well prepared with sound evidence, theory and rational arguments. All the topics covered here are always open to debate & challenge. I would also appreciate 'typo' corrections and request for clarity - I have Dyslexia.
Most of what we write here is 'original thinking', not regurgitation. We rarely deal in opinions - we operate from the basis of substantiated facts, fundamental principles , rigorous thinking and direct, experiential evidence - this is a different order of understanding. Some say things will never change. This is a self fulfilling prophesy - we challenge that assumption. Human adaptation wills that natural social order will prevail, for those who 'collectively' survive. Evolution did not end with Darwin.
Change is inevitable and the most important changes comes from within. So; get out of the new road if you can't lend a hand, for the order is rapidly fading; the times they are a changing. Adapt or become extinct, like our Neanderthal ancestors. They provided our 'red in tooth and claw', emergency backup to the advanced forms of social adaptation and cooperation. It is time to defeat and tame the Neanderthal within. Fight against ignorance, prejudice & every form of abuse. See Genetics Unplugged
For Your Choice - Special Topic Searches: (Irrelevant items filtered out)
Are you being Bullied, Humiliated, Abused, or Prejudiced Against?
Whichever Way, Where Ever, Whatever Sex, Job, Faith, or Culture and at Whenever Age. Abuse of any kind is completely unacceptable? Stop it now!
Lots of people are abused and most just sit, or lay and take it. It causes serious mental and physical ill health, now and later. It disrupts your life and stops you progressing and thriving. Men are also abused; almost as often as women.
Much of what you will read on this site could apply to you in some way, now or later; Recognise what is happening and get it stopped. It is people with the Strongest Wills, the Most Caring, Socially Aware & Thoughtful, that become 'victims'.
It is the self-interested, bombastic, least considerate people & the weakest willed, who become Bullies, Abusive & neglectful. Size & strength makes little difference. Stay as sweet as you are, but don't remain an easy target. We are lucky in many ways, we survived our childhoods, some didn't; the survivors have answers.
Kelsey's Law: These issues are not just responsibility of Parents. Parent have their baggage. Some were damaged, distressed and neglected. We need positive help at times in our lives. Others are just selfish and indifferent to suffering, like some people will always be.
It is too easy to assign blame and judge. In the end it is children who suffer. Some live on to suffer in adulthood. It is everybody's business to make this all work and we must regain the trust of ordinary people. Human Right bring big Responsibilities.
Nothing is as simple as it seems, Stop the cycle of neglect and abuse - listen past the anger of survivors - Videos.
Are you feeling Distressed, Depressed, Anxious, Fearful, or Paranoid?
These fears can take over and rule our lives. They are the social consequences of abuse, neglect and institutional prejudices.
These are usually quite natural reactions to distressing circumstances. Recognise these 'symptoms' are your head telling you to get something important sorted out, or that you need a break from something, before your body suffers.
Mental Health and Safety - A Serious Employment Issue; with responsibilities ignored.
'Mental Health and Safety', at work, play & just going about your business. Work Stress can be enjoyable or Disabling. Watch for the sudden switch. Sometime it can creeps up on us, especially when working under emergency conditions. Highlighting The Psychological & Emotional Components of Health & Safety
Like so often, in so many circumstances, there are many misunderstandings of issue like those of Health & Safety. In Civil Law, we all have entitlements and obligations to help ensure our own and other people's health and safety.
We usually understand these entitlements to a reasonable degree, unless we are vulnerable for some reason of health, or social circumstances. However, there are some areas of risk where we do not fully appreciate these entitlements. People can then suffer serious consequences, which no amount of financial compensation can correct. We are educated to be embarrassed about mental health issues.
The costs, to ourselves and to others (through taxes), for these 'failures of duty' of various kinds, are quite considerable. These costs are not just in terms of processing and payment of compensation claims they generate (which are directly, or indirectly paid by us all). Some costs arise out of the wide range of disabilities created and the subsequent absences from work. These have to be compensated for, in terms of expensive support and therapeutic services; the cost of person-hours lost and work impact on the remaining employees.
How to Proceed (Scroll down or click here to open in New Window):
These 'risk' factors overlap with issues of abuse and prejudice at work and are covered by further Employment Law. Make your stand, even if you have to use 'constructive dismissal', or 'unfair dismissal', as your escape routes, in order to protect yourself more fully; but - Get good legal advice. Search for someone with the skills to do an effective job, but always remember; it is your own and others, life and wellbeing and therefore it is ultimately your Human Rights and Responsibilities that at are stake here.
One Size does not fit all. ; Repeated Observations lead to Consistent Conclusions ; Analogies Count as Evidence ; Why bother with all this? - Because the negative effects constrain Professional action ; It is the Good News which makes the Bad News 'Sad'! (Concerning 'Relativistic' Perspectives). LINK Below are summaries of more recent Blogs:
On Social Work & Enabling Social Care (summary): LINK Index: Details of this and other recent entries.
Part of our counselling and support role is to help people understand and reconcile the individual's unique reaction to the personal and social trauma of various kinds. It is to 'enable' them to understand the strange (but explainable) mental impact of both the most dramatic and the more subtle, pernicious influences of their physical, personal & cultural experiences. Many people in modern cultures are both over protected from distress in early years, or over exposed to this and the images of trauma, throughout their lives. Both distort 'perspective'.
We are Media Managed - fed what suits officials purpose. When people tell their real stories, they are often not listened to.
Be warned. I am now on the real mission - I will take on any intellectual challenge to any of the assertions published here, or evidence of prejudicial, or continued disempowering behaviour, by anyone, in any position, within any profession. Over 40 years of preparation is long enough for professionals and officials to have got things right in respect of Human Rights.
. . . No more excuses . . . Get sorted, or get out of the game. . . . . LINK
According to Albert Einstein: "Only two things are Infinite; 'The Universe' and 'Human Stupidity'; and I am not too sure about the former". Albert Einstein developed a radically new perspective on the Universe. It revolutionised our understanding of its nature and opened the door to the new technologies we enjoy. He thought outside the box.
He also instigated a new perspective on Human Perception and Thinking: 'Relativistic Psychology'. In his lifetime he experienced the progressive undermining of Human Rights & Dignity in Nazi Germany and USA. He saw how ordinary people, doing as they were told, without question, destroyed or undermine a State and abused its people.
Niemoeller became an advocate for world piece and 'Spoke Out', along with Albert Einstein (Physicist & Humanitarian), Linus Pauling (Quantum Chemist & Peace Activist) and Albert Schweitzer (Ethics Philosopher & Humanitarian). Were these 'Conspiracy Theorists', or just Intelligent, Insightful people with a Social Conscience? Read Pastor Niemoeller's words - these are a general warning to us all.
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing"; Edmund Burke. He also said "A State without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation"; Progress is the advance over 'doing nothing'.
"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear".Nelson Mandela. It takes courage to 'Speak up' amidst the fear of condemnation & ridicule.
There are a great number of clever people with substantial knowledge about relatively limited areas of human understanding. These undoubtedly intelligent people see themselves as experts in their field. Unfortunately they often have very little knowledge about other, significant areas of human endeavour. The result is a highly distorted and fragmented picture of 'normality'. This expertise is tantamount to a form of ignorant arrogance. You are often being duped and it is wholly appropriate that you remain sceptical about expert opinions. Some do make a small contributions to the progress of human understanding and welfare, but are usually proven to be largely wrong in the end.;"Sometime you can know too much about things of relatively little importance". Terry Couchman.
Two women peace campaigners have expressed their shock at being refused a stand at a flagship Wiltshire British Armed Forces and Veterans Celebration in Trowbridge this summer. The organisers of the family event, being held in Trowbridge Park on June 27, told them their presence could be inflammatory.
Retired teacher Peggy Thomas, 67, and retired social worker Catherine Willis, 64, both of Sanders Road in Trowbridge, wanted to hand out leaflets from groups that work for peace. They are both members of the Trowbridge Ad Hoc Peace Group and used to hold peace vigils in Fore Street from 2001 to 2003.
Ms Thomas said: “Clearly the presence of two women in their sixties displaying leaflets with inflammatory messages such as ‘seek peace and pursue it’ is more threatening than we realised. We found it bizarre. . . Wiltshire Times story
Blog Comment: Click here to open new window
See you in the Park Ladies – Peace will prevail, but not on June 27 – It will not be silenced. Let’s give these Ladies some support and protect all our own rights to future security. There are too many lies. See you there, Posters and Voices at the ready and the spirits of those who died ‘for these rights’ at our side.
There’s another storm brewing in mental health – this time in the name of Marion Aslan. It’s time to speak out against the “bastardisation” of the recovery concept. Every NHS trust, mental health organisation and user group has embraced recovery. Marion has worked in mental health for 15 years and argues that not only have any emancipatory aspirations to recovery been lost, but that radical service users have “sold out” to a diluted version of recovery.
Substantial & Critical Needs and Risks - Community Care Assessments are failing.
Lets stop kidding ourselves; Social Care & Health Services are in Crisis, which is due to get worse in the next two years, whatever we do in response to the Budget Crisis. The resources are not adequate and they are often used ineffectively, with too few (and often reducing numbers of) professional staff, with increasing administrative demands, reducing admin support, less locally available services and poor transport access to these increasingly centralised services. Critical Funds are used up in Bureaucracy.
You are less likely to get an appropriate 'empowering' services if: You live in social housing and have a down to earth way of expressing yourself; have in any way expressed yourself angrily; made frustrated (even unprovoked) threats; made repeated complaints; if your needs and concerns are disabling, but not deemed as 'Critical or Substantial' (in a particular respect); if you have multiple problems that are physically, mentally or socially disabling you, but no single problem is seen as critical or substantial by any one of the specialist services. Basically, for many officials, it is about whether your face fits. It is a 'one size fits all, off the peg culture'. 'If it is good enough for everybody else then its good enough for you'. Problem is 'Its not good enough'.
You are more likely to get a service you do not want if: You are also very likely to get a service that you insist that you do notwant. If you are deemed by a professional, to be lacking in 'mental capacity'; You are entitled to a service based upon the least restrictive practice, in your best interests, considering your established, preferred lifestyle and wishes. You are also entitled to Dignity and 'informed Choice'. You are actually more likely to get a service which is determined by the fears & anxieties of your family , neighbours and many of the involved professionals and managers. Any resistance, or anger shown by you will often be seen as part of your 'condition'. It is quite unlawful, but you will be in no position to win that argument at that point.
You are quite likely to be kept safe, but at the expense of your freedom if: Community attitudes are generally still inclined towards 'keep people safe', by taking and locking them away, 'out of sight and of mind', in nice tidy Homes (and sometimes not so happy homes). This is unacceptable and restricted by the limited funding available and poor use of what is available. Family members who had been lead to believe (mostly by poor professionals attitude) that 'there is no hope of an improvement, or recovery', or 'the person will need to be in an institution for remainder of life', have been convinced that highly restrictive services are acceptable and necessary. They are not.
You are more likely to get an appropriate services if you are informed: By the time it is your turn (if you are fortunate enough to live into older age), only those who are best informed and who understand their own (& others) rights, are guaranteed any chance of an appropriate service. The rest will be 'binned', as they have in the past. In the absence of anything else reliable, families, out of frustration, choose the best 'bins' available. I should start writing you living wills while you can, if I were you. Money is less critical than attitude. Many of these environments have become mini institutions, lacking adequate Dignity and freedom of action, protecting professionals rather than us.
You are likely to get a service that is determined by costs & ignorance: The level of professional, managerial and community ignorance in the area of Community Care, Human Rights, Mental Capacity and Disablement, is astounding and is rarely malicious. The simple test is 'Would I want to be treated like this, under any circumstances'?. Any invented justifications are just that, especially; 'Well they are not me'; 'I have prepared for my old age' and 'They bring it on themselves'. I have even experience situations where criminal process was less damaging and more insightful than other professional interventions, like mental health and social care provision. I have, of course met the flip side of that coin. It is not the professions so much at fault, it is the attitudes of disproportionately powerful, often poorly informed, bigoted professionals and managers (who believe they know best).
You are less likely to get an appropriate 'empowering' services if: If it is the clear, 'fully informed' and un-pressured decision of someone to live within a 'residential', 'retirement home' or 'nursing home' type environment; they clearly have need of this kind of support and all other alternatives have been properly offered, tried and seen to be inadequate; then we can feel justified that we have done all we can to provide the most empowering, dignified and appropriate service. If the alternatives are not there for people to make choices, then there is a clear shortfall. If they are there and not offered? Well think about it - why are some people excluded from options? It is those who congratulate themselves on the services they provide who often fail the worst.
We are all in this together: Look, I am going to be as frank with 'service users' and 'Carers' as I am with Professionals. Everything looks and sounds very complicated, but it is not. It is actually quite simple. The problem is, very often, getting people to see the simple solutions. This requires us to be honest, transparent, caring, sensitive and realistic. This is true whether we are Professionals, Carers, People in receipt of services, or more importantly, trying to get properly considered for obtaining some kind of 'enabling' service. This is entirely possible in you own home, in sheltered housing, in supported living, or in a retirement / nursing home. It should remain you informed choice and the least restrictive option.
See full story on link below. More to come. . . . . .
ON QUASI-INTELLECTUAL ELITISM (Intellectual Stigmatism we call Autism, ADHD, LD, MH, etc.):
There is still so much misunderstanding, even amongst some professionals, concerning what causes psychological and social problems. Because of a relatively small number of successful identifications of 'organic' causes (of rare conditions), the assumption is that all 'irritating' differences that people have, are the result of physical abnormalities, individual incompetence, or genetic weaknesses.
What is often not realised is; the frustrations that we feel are often repercussions of the distress we collectively generate for others, through relative ignorance and general prejudice. There are 'optimum' levels for human beings to function. Push the limits and there are social consequences. The Environment overrules Clinical Judgments (Click here to Full Text in a New Window).
First Law of Relativistic Psychology: Frustrate any person's initiatives and abilities to express their intuitive skills and intellectual competence, positively in the social world and they will either: Express these inwardly, within their own world (Autistic Features, Psychosis & Schizoaffective Disorders, etc.). Or; They will express these negatively in your world (Violence, crime, aggression, antisocial behaviour, terrorism and other, variously destructive individual and social behaviours. There is always an outcome.
Second Law of Relativistic Psychology: We recreate our social world every day. Short term selfish benefits replicate themselves and create long term social distress, which eventually affects everyone. Like the existence of gravity, this has always been the case and has been recognised by the wise for hundreds of generations. These Laws are as fundamental as the laws of Thermal Dynamics and Relativistic Theory. Like Tumbling Dominos, Stacked Dice. or a House of Cards - There are knock-on effects.
A PERSONAL STORY: ADHD, Dyslexia, Autistic Spectrum and Schizoaffective Disorders.
My son has not been diagnosed, or assessed as having Autism, but he would have been if others would have had their way. I strongly resisted him being statemented, because I have seen both the advantages and the disadvantages of this (and the outcomes in adulthood). Being Statemented can carry a very heavy price, affecting a person's entire life. Its not all positive.
I battled to resist any clinical diagnosis and 'belligerently' refused to co-operate along that route, sometime being criticised and even accused of being negligent, or abusive. These label was not available when I was a child, I was described as socially withdrawn and a slow learner - I was lucky. My younger Brother was also physically & sexually abused, developed a drug habit and was then identified as schizophrenic. (Click Here to show text below in New Window)
How often do we ask of a child (or Adult for that matter) "Why did you do that?" in the 'anger frame' of "Don't you dare do that again". These days, we often don't really want to know why. The question originally arose as a genuine desire to know. It springs from our lips so easily. It is so deep rooted and feels such a natural question to ask. Why has it become, like so many utterances, distorted in this ugly way? FEAR!
We no longer want to know answers that may undermine everything we have been lead to believe. A challenge to every quick fix we have been given. Fear that our child may be seen to be different and in being different may challenge all that we have come to believe and rely upon.
Institutionalisation is still with us - In our Residential & Nursing Homes and even Families.
Since the Ann Shearer and others first started her Campaign, in the early 1970's, we have seen a serious advance in Community Care. The concept began to take root when people with learning difficulties became 'organised' and though their Advocates, Friends and directly from themselves, they spoke up at National and Local Conferences. Local Authority representatives and media were astounded at their eloquence.
It was a time of challenge and for change. Many people with learning difficulties and Autism had been incarcerated in special hospitals for many years, often for very minor problems and 'moral' issues. Some were surprisingly outspoken. Others found their voice and through the process of Self Advocacy and Advocacy, their wishes were made known. They still need to be heard. (Click Here to read text below in a New Window)
Many of the difficulties that professional's and carers are calling 'Behavioural Problems' have been generated because of these rather ignorant practices and attitudes, incorporated into the more modern ways of thinking. This completely distorts the original concept of Community Care and appears to invalidate its benefits. People's Rights and Entitlements are once more restricted, often using 'clinical' justifications that are not fully understood, with poor appreciation of the 'social' causes. The person's intelligent challenge, generates the conflicts that professional's identify as 'a problem with the person'. Sometimes, in some measure, this may be true, but the problem is mostly with how we think and behave. Sometimes it is our thinking capability that is severely limited and our behaviour that is out of order. Don't get so cocky.
HUMAN RIGHTS: 'ANY' CULTURAL DISCRIMINATION IS UNLAWFUL (Article 8 esp.).
Self Willed, Tattoos, Long Hair, Outspoken, Disabled, Fiercely Independent with a healthy Kick Ass attitude to Personal Care? You may do better playing a Pathetic Victim. Read about Enablement (or is it 'Disablement') Services. Hopefully not typical, but this is Appalling, Victimising practice, which we challenge. A case of ignorant reactions producing predictable results. A Failure to recognise effects of Brain Damage. Anger is the normal expression of prolonged frustration & is not 'violence'.
This debate is about keeping safe while working with angry, distrusting and frustrated people; those with some forms of brain damage, serious, distressing mental health problems, post traumatic stress reactions, learning difficulties with' behavioural issues', and attitudes and philosophies alien to the average social worker or care worker.
. . . . .(Click here to read the text below in a New Window)
After more than three decades of working in the most challenging, specialist, social work fields - Serious Mental Illness, Learning Disability, Alcohol & Drugs and Community & Youth Work; I have had 3 attempted assaults upon me (minor), while doing my work. This is in spite of my direct intervention in very distressed, aggressive and often psychotically charged situations.
By contrast, while employed in less challenging work and while going about my daily life, I have been threatened and assaulted, by 'normal' people, usually after they had a few drinks. I have been sexually assaulted by 'normal' people, I have been robbed, humiliated, 'cut up' by aggressive drivers, lied to, cheated and condescended to, by a number of 'normal' people; from every class and background and all walks of life.
That is also the general experience of most of the clients I have supported. I really think we need to put things in perspective. Before the usual judgment about how come I found myself in these situations! Well, I am the product of childhood abuse. I refused, any longer, to tolerate any form of abuse, by anyone, to anyone. I accept the price; I am still here though, I will not give in to any form of Bullying, the price for this is fare too high. I'm a survivor you see. I know of these these ignorant reactions
Let me tell you a recent story of someone who will not give in to condescension, prejudice, abuse, or neglect:
On Anger, Aggression and Assertion. (I suggest you enjoy this dissertation before I tidy it up too much)
Why are we so surprised that some people become angry, that others tend to be particularly aggressive and that still others develop a style of anger and aggression that they camouflage as 'Assertive' Behaviour. Of course, there are those other 'identified' individuals and groups who are labelled as 'passive-aggressive'.
The tendency is to contextualise these expressions of emotion and forget that they are powerful, natural mechanisms for self protection and for advancing our species at times of personal, environmental and social need. I have experienced more personal and social distress cause by 'Intellectual Assertions' than by 'verbal or physical aggression'. Give me anger any day. (Click here to read text below in a New Window)
Take the confident 'offensive', try not to be 'defensive'. By being defensive you are accepting a battle on 'their' terms and on their' grounds. By 'reactive assertion' and being more on the offensive, we have more control over the field. We are not interested in a battle, this is our ground and they are not coming onto it, unless invited. Sometimes it can be as simple as putting up one hand, palm forward and stating very firmly, in a low pitch. 'Stop, don't even go there!'. 'No' - No, No... Then assert you conditions and requirements and turn away.
The Web Search link below will provide some good insights but you may want to take some of the basic assumptions with a pinch of salt.
Have fun but become skilful at to ducking and diving. Have a little think about it for a moment. I will be back with more.
Try a protected search on the subject, on our dedicated Google search engine:
Professor Elliott Jaques (1917 - 2003); Psychoanalyst and Social Science Researcher
Professor Elliott Jaques was the inspiration for many of my insights into how institutions succeed or fail to meet their instituted objectives.
He additional contributed to the understanding of how the relationship between clients, patients, employees, mangers & executives thrive or dive.
Organisations function very much like organisms. They are born, grow, mature, need feeding and nurturing. The thrive, they fail, they become sick and they die.
Each part of the Organisation needs to fit equitably with each other part, in order to continue to operate effectively & healthily.
Like any organisms, all parts are important for the overall function and continued survival of the organisation and 'fit' within it's 'culture medium'.
Organisations have to cooperate with other organisms within the social environment, or get swallowed up and overwhelmed by fitter, or more aggressive organisations.
All organisations have a duty to care for their 'environment', or risk its pollution and the subsequent demise of it's customers and thereby; subsequently the demise of itself.
All organisations have a shared obligation and responsibility to operate ethically and openly, or risk generating the same kinds of destructive behaviours in others, as it uses itself.
Like any healthy environment, all organisations benefit most from cooperation between themselves and within themselves. Employees at all levels are both the providers and the users of the ideas, products & services produce.
Please feel free to contact myself on any Health & Social Care issue, Personal, therapeutic, or counselling matter. The level of confidentiality and/or disclosure will be restricted to your choice.
We are interested in Professional's and Service User's accounts of the Highs & Lows of Life, about Professional Services and Voluntary & Community Experiences. We are all in the same boat. Sharing experiences is therapeutic. It informs and inspires others. It informs & challenges Service Providers:
Are you being Bullied, Humiliated, Abused, or Prejudiced Against?
Are you feeling Distressed, Depressed, Anxious, Fearful, or Paranoid?
'Mental Health and Safety', at work, play & just going about your business. 
According to Albert Einstein: "Only two things are Infinite; 'The Universe' and 'Human Stupidity'; and I am not too sure about the former". Albert Einstein developed a radically new perspective on the Universe. It revolutionised our understanding of its nature and opened the door to the new technologies we enjoy. He thought outside the box.
Lets stop kidding ourselves; Social Care & Health Services are in Crisis, which is due to get worse in the next two years, whatever we do in response to the Budget Crisis. The resources are not adequate and they are often used ineffectively, with too few (and often reducing numbers of) professional staff, with increasing administrative demands, reducing admin support, less locally available services and poor transport access to these increasingly centralised services. Critical Funds are used up in Bureaucracy.
You live in social housing and have a down to earth way of expressing yourself; have in any way expressed yourself angrily; made frustrated (even unprovoked) threats; made repeated complaints; if your needs and concerns are disabling, but not deemed as 'Critical or Substantial' (in a particular respect); if you have multiple problems that are physically, mentally or socially disabling you, but no single problem is seen as critical or substantial by any one of the specialist services. Basically, for many officials, it is about whether your face fits. It is a 'one size fits all, off the peg culture'. 'If it is good enough for everybody else then its good enough for you'. Problem is 'Its not good enough'.
You are also very likely to get a service that you insist that you do not want. If you are deemed by a professional, to be lacking in 'mental capacity'; You are entitled to a service based upon the least restrictive practice, in your best interests, considering your established, preferred lifestyle and wishes. You are also entitled to Dignity and 'informed Choice'. You are actually more likely to get a service which is determined by the fears & anxieties of your family , neighbours and many of the involved professionals and managers. Any resistance, or anger shown by you will often be seen as part of your 'condition'. It is quite unlawful, but you will be in no position to win that argument at that point.
Community attitudes are generally still inclined towards 'keep people safe', by taking and locking them away, 'out of sight and of mind', in nice tidy Homes (and sometimes not so happy homes). This is unacceptable and restricted by the limited funding available and poor use of what is available. Family members who had been lead to believe (mostly by poor professionals attitude) that 'there is no hope of an improvement, or recovery', or 'the person will need to be in an institution for remainder of life', have been convinced that highly restrictive services are acceptable and necessary. They are not.
The level of professional, managerial and community ignorance in the area of Community Care, Human Rights, Mental Capacity and Disablement, is astounding and is rarely malicious. The simple test is 'Would I want to be treated like this, under any circumstances'?. Any invented justifications are just that, especially; 'Well they are not me'; 'I have prepared for my old age' and 'They bring it on themselves'. I have even experience situations where criminal process was less damaging and more insightful than other professional interventions, like mental health and social care provision. I have, of course met the flip side of that coin. It is not the professions so much at fault, it is the attitudes of disproportionately powerful, often poorly informed, bigoted professionals and managers (who believe they know best).
If it is the clear, 'fully informed' and un-pressured decision of someone to live within a 'residential', 'retirement home' or 'nursing home' type environment; they clearly have need of this kind of support and all other alternatives have been properly offered, tried and seen to be inadequate; then we can feel justified that we have done all we can to provide the most empowering, dignified and appropriate service. If the alternatives are not there for people to make choices, then there is a clear shortfall. If they are there and not offered? Well think about it - why are some people excluded from options? It is those who congratulate themselves on the services they provide who often fail the worst.
There is still so much misunderstanding, even amongst some professionals, concerning what causes psychological and social problems. Because of a relatively small number of successful identifications of 'organic' causes (of rare conditions), the assumption is that all 'irritating' differences that people have, are the result of physical abnormalities, individual incompetence, or genetic weaknesses. 
My son has not been diagnosed, or assessed as having Autism, but he would have been if others would have had their way. I strongly resisted him being statemented, because I have seen both the advantages and the disadvantages of this (and the outcomes in adulthood). Being Statemented can carry a very heavy price, affecting a person's entire life. Its not all positive.
Since the 
Why are we so surprised that some people become angry, that others tend to be particularly aggressive and that still others develop a style of anger and aggression that they camouflage as 'Assertive' Behaviour. Of course, there are those other 'identified' individuals and groups who are labelled as 'passive-aggressive'. 
Professor Elliott Jaques was the inspiration for many of my insights into how institutions succeed or fail to meet their instituted objectives.