Prejudice, Neglect & Abuse Causes Serious Mental Ill Health.  World Health Organisation (UN) identified, nearly 30 years ago, that these problems are greater in the Advanced World than they are in the Developing and Under Developed World. The episodes of Serious Mental Ill Health are more frequent, more enduring and more disabling in Western Cultures than in any other Cultures. All the evidence now, is that this problem is getting worse and is affecting a larger proportion of the young and the elderly ("Mental ill health epidemic"). Mental Health has social causes and is a becoming a serious social problem.
Institutions have been negligent and incompetent at dealing with the underlying causes and the effective recovery, from serious mental ill health. Many of the misunderstood causes and inadequate 'quick fix' resolutions, have been passed on to the rest of us. We have tended to trust intellectually biased 'expert' opinions, assuming genetic pre-dispositions. The result is a highly prejudiced public perspective on all Mental Ill Health, Stigmatisation and low expectations of recovery, even from relatively minor difficulties, which become compounded by lack of early relief. This leads to much misdiagnosis.Modern Health & Social Care Services are barely able to meet the critical demands, leaving the early 'social' stages almost totally neglected. Social Policy, which now prioritises those in 'greatest need', has had the predictable result of drawing resources away from prevention. It also neglects the earlier stages of social, psychological and emotional distress and the manifestations of ill health, which invariable affect adult life at all stages, often quite seriously. In effect, Institutions are actually part of the problem, perpetuating 'unsafe' mental health practices, as we will show, by providing evidence. In Wiltshire Services we can quote the cases observed and experienced. For a more in-depth explanations on this 'Mental Health' topic, please follow the: LINK Towards a better Institutional, Professional and Media Understanding:  We have tended to become increasingly reliant upon 'experts' to make decisions for us and to take necessary actions to solve personal and social problems, along with legal & economic problems. Life has become quite complicated and often appears, or feels to be beyond our knowledge and understanding at times. This complicated institutional system of 'experts' has largely arisen because of the 'commercialisation' of our lives. The Industrialisation and commercialisation of our daily activities, and the means of sustaining ourselves in particular, has directly caused, or encouraged, the dispersal of our normal family and community networks of support. It has 'created' dependency. It will take positive support and education, to undo this level of dependency.
The health & welfare services were an an attempt to rectify the shortfall in support and to compensate for the more complex demands, caused by the revolution in working and living practices. Recognising the dependency this had created, the Community Care initiatives of the 1970's and the Community Care & Health Services Act, sought to redress this imbalance and help people live more independently. The idea was to support individuals, communities and family carer's, in looking after their needs directly, or else with the kind of help 'they' choose. It is a wonderful idea, and where it has been implemented well, it has been very successfully, although typically it is still under resourced. There are a few professional and other interested parties, who are resistant to this Community Care progression and the gradual return of choice and control to the people affected. Some sabotaged the process, some are highly prejudiced towards it, others are just confounded and disempowered. Aggravating all this; Managerial Incompetence, Risk Aversion, Bad Ass Attitudes and 'Dumbing Down' practices. Wilshire & Somerset Mental Health Services (both Health & Social Care) often fail in their duty of care to Patients & Clients and in protecting Staff from the unacceptable pressures of reduced staffing levels and wasted resources. This affects the reliability and quality of service and is seriously affecting the health of staff and service users alike For a more in-depth explanations for the reasons why Community Care fails to live up to expectations: LINK County Wide 'Service Users Conference', Resources through 'Your Choice' (Wiltshire).
We are planning to support a Health & Social Care, Service User's Conference for the Wiltshire area. There are so many issues that are common to people with any kind of impairment, disability or social problem. The opportunities to get help are becoming more scarce and it is often necessary to wait until problems have reached quite a critical state, before they are taken seriously enough to get any real help. There is also a distinct lack of the choice which was promised. Many people we talk to are frustrated, overwhelmed, disillusioned and stressed. Many Professionals are almost as frustrated as the Service Users. Their hands are often tied to dealing with only those difficulties that have reached a critical state. There is little attention paid to early intervention, or properly helping people to help themselves. When there are attempts to do this it is often dependent upon the individual Professionals and Agencies in a particular patch. This is fine, but there is often no consistency and the service can become reduced, or change, at quite short notice. There are not enough resources to go round, largely because of how they are used. By providing help late, the problems are often greater and more difficult to resolve. The biggest resource we have is that which we share among ourselves. Unlike in the inner cities, the problem of linking up and cooperating in organising our own self help, is hindered by the distances involved within Rural areas. The problems this creates is severely underestimated by the Authorities. If there is anything inhibiting our opportunities for travelling and getting access to the normal resources of the community, this is also a restriction on the support we can obtain for ourselves. Making this all happen requires imagination and some creativity. Unfortunately at also requires energy, much of which has been exhausted from beating our heads against the walls to the institution. After years of frustration and making do, with one failed promise after another, it is small wonder that some people are disillusioned and loose the motivation necessary to improve their situation. Only someone who has been there can fully understand this. Whatever our original problem; be it physical, psychological, social, or caring for someone with a disabling problem, the most disabling experience that we face is the sense of psychological, emotional and social isolation. Thankfully, some of us have overcome this level of disablement and are looking to take the concept of 'Community Care' to its next logical level. This has been done before and I was part of this. We are now inviting people, who feel that they have ever have been disadvantaged by any kind of problem, to meet together and identify a programme for positively raising public awareness of 'disability', in all the forms that it can take. We also invite existing voluntary organisations and charities, who have people with specific disabilities, to join us, irrespective of age and disability. Most importantly, we will wish to include those who do not identify themselves as 'disabled', in the terms that professional's often identify this. If you are interested in being part of this Reference Group, or become involved in organising the Conference, Please Call me on 07837 127830 (Daytime), 01225 775275 (Evening & Weekends), 01225 691140 (Message Service), or Email me at: terry@visitweb.org. We are also interested in anyone else willing to help set up the facilities for the Conference, or help with providing transport, etc. Companies in Wiltshire are being approached to see if they are willing to provide the venues and facilities for the conference. There have been some good initial responses. No disability group is excluded, nor individual who feels they are 'disabled', or 'disadvantaged' in any way. For a more in-depth explanations and outline arrangement for organising for the Conferences: LINK being developed. The Chicken 'Pecking Order' Syndrome:
 Background Story: A Farmer, with limited resources and keen interest to maximise his production, keeps his chickens (and other animals) 'cooped up' in pens and sheds, with just enough food and space to do what is required of them. This keeps most of them plump and tender, but vulnerable. In these situations, scientists observed that chickens tended to peck the chicken next to them more frequently, or, if they did have opportunity to move, they pecked the chicken more dishevelled and distressed than themselves; The one with least feathers often died after a distressed, shortened life. This behaviour was much more exaggerated than the 'quick peck and flurry' of one chicken protecting its opportunity to greedily grab at a morsel of food. It was 'pathological' behaviour, resulting from distress. That same, pathological behaviour, in a more sophisticated form, is often exhibited by abusers and aggressive displays of all kinds, including the behaviour of some more bullying and neglectful managers and a few practitioners within institutions. It is very powerful, abusive behaviour and usually 'blinkers' the abuser and 'gags' the abused. The behaviour is so ingrained it is often seen as 'normal'. (Or, as a colleague once said - "Like Mushrooms - Keep them in the dark and feed them bull****"). If anyone needed a simple explanation for the prejudice, neglect & abuses of children, frail elderly, vulnerable adults, people with physical, sensory and learning disabilities, the socially & culturally isolated and other stigmatised groups, this simple model of 'social behaviour under distress' would explain most of these. It also explains the intimidating behaviour of managers and the institutions' tendency to 'gag' the distressed professionals, who recognise these practices and failures. Staff have the stark choice. Attempt to meet ethical obligations, at the possible expense of their jobs & health, or 'put their head down & follow policy'. There are, of course, pathologically abusive and neglectful people. Most though, are poorly experienced, isolated and variously distressed. The tendency for professional's failure to identify impending crises, or to intervene supportively at an early stage, is because they are instructed not to. This is almost entirely due to the defensive, self protecting nature of Managers and Institutions that they work for. Each are 'somewhat' intimidated by the level above. They are tacitly required to disregarded inadequate provision, unreasonable administrative demands, pass on the pressures & distress, keep quiet, and act like there is no problem. At the end of this Pecking Order, Services Users, who feel things are getting beyond them, but are not yet 'Victims', can not understand why they are not getting the support and choices, promised in the glossy leaflets and on websites. If they become angry, they are 'difficult' and 'unreasonable' customers. Wiltshire Mental Health & Community Services, for all the new initiatives and restructuring, fail to identify these deteriorating cases, which represent a significant proportion of vulnerable people, of all ages. Front line workers, Family Carers & Clients get the bulk of the 'heavy pecking' and scant proportion of the available grain. Eventually a person's Health is affected; not by normal life and work stresses, but by the distress of increased 'pecking' demands; overwhelming workload and reduced support. Another form to fill, another excuse, another put down; then the situation is critical enough to "meet an institution's criteria" and professionals have to act. According to popular professional theories, the problem is now a 'weakness' of the individual. So the rest of us can pretend it is nothing to do with us. If something goes seriously wrong (and it does more times than recognised) it is the client, carers, or a single professional failing. We ticked the boxes, right? Managers of services need to think again. The failures and complaints are too frequent but are reduce to quiet murmurings, out of 'fear' from being treated as the problem. Respect has been lost and service shortfalls fail to be recorded, as required. The Professional's are too busy 'policing the resources' to meet the needs of customers earlier. The institutions are part of the problem and are abusive in their neglect to understand people's distress and in not helping them to help themselves. People are not stupid. They mostly know what they should be entitled to, but have difficulty getting out of this institutional 'chicken coupe'. For a more in-depth explanations on the 'Pecking Order' topic please follow this: LINK Copy Cat Failures:
 Copy cat reorganisations of Services and Institutions usually fail to resolve the problems that they have been experiencing and had hoped to rectify. The problems continue and often worsen, in spite of attempting to 'model' on best practices found else where, and despite 'appearing' to follow new Government Guidelines, produced as a result of repeated failures in services and the resulting 'Judicial Reviews'. The Good Practices proposed now were actually successfully tested by professionals like myself 20-30 years ago. They are sometimes managed effectively but are often totally misunderstood.  The reasons for these constant failures are explainable and are actually quite simple to understand. Changing and renaming the 'structure' and 'processes' does not alter underlying attitudes. More often, the changes are undertaken on duplicitous basis, saving money being a key feature. Professional Staff usually resent and become distressed at these changes, which often impact upon the established good practices as well as the bad. Often very effective teams are dispersed and have to rebuild. It is actually the bit in the middle that requires attention and reorganising. There is too much 'control'.
Any Institution that fails to bring staff along with the changes and fails to gain their confidence, runs the risk of 'alienating' them. Even attempts to retrain staff, without adequate understanding of underlying principles (not the words) of Good Practice and Managing Change, actually makes things worse. The argument that 'all our professionals are adequately trained', has been used as an excuse for not proceeding with User complaints further. Like the idea of 'I have years of experience', training can help produce effective & adaptive skills and insight, or produce habitual, well rehearsed and rationalised incompetence.  Training, of itself, does not change attitudes, remove prejudices, or ensure the acquisition of appropriate skill and insight. It can lead to convincing mimicry, the right signals given and raised expectations, without the real competence to follow through. This kind of problem has been identified within Wiltshire Health Care, Social Care, Housing and Community Policing Services.
The assessment processes are being used to 'exclude' people, not to enable 'social inclusion', as was legally intended. Assessments of people's needs and risks are effectively undertaken on the basis of the resources available. The real level of need and risk is missed and early interventions & support are neglected. to produce more serious problems later.
For a more in-depth explanations on this topic of 'Copy Cat Failures follow this: LINK The More Technical, Professional Arguments (Bare with us): 
Society, especially in the form of its institutions, seems only able to cope with social problems in intellectually manageable 'bits', where there is incontrovertible evidence and demonstrated professional credibility. Because of the underlying 'bullying' character of our culture, Professionals are made to feel 'isolated', if they do not 'tow the line' and go with the prevailing, fashionable, 'institutional' views. The services are fragmented with large gaps. The overall picture is rarely seen by Line Managers of specific services. They are too focussed on their own 'butts', sorry 'bits'. 
When professionals do try to operate ethically and thereby appear to risk 'being seen to be wrong'; by taking a more 'critical', person focused, human perspective; following service users underlying wishes, they are often chastised by managers. It can also raise the professional anxieties of colleagues. This then sets the expectations for all professionals. ‘Don’t rock the boat’. There appears to be severe difficulty in managers critically interpreting any evidence disclosed to them and greater difficulty in understanding the 'natural' consequences of allowing the perpetration of even low levels of psychological abuse and neglect. As a professional, I have seen increasing levels of serious physical and mental health problems of professional staff and care workers, due to the inadequate support of staff at the 'front end' of services. My own experience is in the Somerset and Wiltshire areas. I have no reason to believe this is not the case in other geographical areas, where professional's express similar concerns. I have direct experience within the services and as a researcher, from outside the services. A current research project is to obtain comparative statistical information, and to correlate existing research, on the level of 'early retirement on health grounds' and absenteeism from work, on health grounds. I will let you know my finding. Don't hold your breath though. For a more in-depth explanations on how our Health, Social Care & Policing Institutions fail, follow this: LINK So, where are things at now - concerning Abuse, Neglect & Bullying:
 Domestic violence towards children and women has been more successfully addressed in recent years. It has provided some relief, of course, but much physical and serious psychological & emotional abuse still remains, undiscovered for years. Abuse towards men is grossly underestimated and very poorly addressed, including its effects upon their children. The Psychological and Emotional abuse is treated as 'Low Priority' by Social Services who, in spite of their obligation to assess, assert that supportive intervention is not their priority - FACT. Why? The abused argue that it is the psychological effects that are worst.Racism & Sexual Discrimination are particular forms of abuse. Its most obvious forms have been challenged and the Law now protects the most public forms of abuse. There still remains subtle prejudice and substantial institutional prejudice, especially towards those who are 'less credible witnesses' to it; expressing themselves with anger, exhibiting mental ill health, or with limited insight. There is scant insight by mangers and professional, of the significant personal, family and social impact of these 'small, incremental failures' and the cumulative, poisonous effects upon people's psychological & emotional security and stability. I see it - clients feel it - what is happening here?There has been some success for the more 'vocal' and those who generate the most public sympathy (news worthy). Others, who are less vocal and generate less 'sympathy', continue to suffer prejudice, discrimination and actual abuse, in all areas of social experience, including their dealings with institutions. Institutions are prejudiced against the less vocally competent and the less 'sympathetic' presentations of abuse. Political correctness is often used as a weak excuse and sometimes in abusive forms. I have been involved in trying to get people supported, who normally fall through gaps in Wiltshire's 'Safety Net'. Comment like 'well, what do you expect from social housing', are not unusual from professional's & managers and belays an underlying prejudice. For in-depth explanations on Abuse, Neglect & Bullying, Surviving Abuse and Institutional Neglect, please follow the: LINK | Please note that the presence of adverts does not constitute a recommendation.
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