Interactions between individuals experiencing mental health (MH) problems and the police are complex and may affect the way in which both parties react to and experience the…
Abstract
Purpose
Interactions between individuals experiencing mental health (MH) problems and the police are complex and may affect the way in which both parties react to and experience the interactions. The purpose of this paper is to examine three commonly used interventions to improve these interactions.
Design/methodology/approach
Mixed methods were used to examine embedded MH professionals in command and control rooms, Liaison and Diversion Teams and Street Triage. The authors also reviewed the use of Section 136 (s136) of the Mental Health Act 1983 (2007) during the period these interventions were deployed.
Findings
There was strong support for these interventions but also gaps, resource and operational issues that need to be addressed if they are to have optimal effect on delivering appropriate diversion from the justice system, reduce reoffending and improve MH outcomes for individuals. The use of s136 remained relatively constant.
Originality/value
Despite a recent increase in the level of investment related to these interventions the evidence base remains limited. This study provides baseline of research evidence for those who commission and provide services for individuals experiencing mental ill health and who are in contact with the justice system.
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This pilot study aims to assess the feasibility of conducting shared philosophical inquiry with women at risk of re-offending to improve motivation to change. The philosophy…
Abstract
Purpose
This pilot study aims to assess the feasibility of conducting shared philosophical inquiry with women at risk of re-offending to improve motivation to change. The philosophy sessions aimed to give participants new ways to think about their lives and to help them have more control over their own mind by learning new ways to think differently.
Design/methodology/approach
The pilot study adopted a mixed-methods approach to collect and analyse data pre- and post-intervention. Ten women serving a custodial sentence at the Democratic Therapeutic Community (DTC) in HMP Send were recruited to take part in ten weekly sessions of philosophical discussion. The intervention was adjunctive and not meant to replace other treatments an inmate may already be receiving.
Findings
The results showed that most participants experienced improved levels of well-being and mental health post-intervention, and that the intervention has the potential to help participants better critically assess their own behaviour and ways of thinking. It also suggested that the intervention has the potential to help participants engage more effectively with the therapeutic process.
Research limitations/implications
The results of this study are limited by the small sample size and the lack of a control group. As such this study cannot rule out that the changes observed in participants were a function of time or the specific therapeutic environment they were in (or both).
Originality/value
This pilot study is innovative not just for introducing philosophy classes to the women’s prison estate for the first time in England and Wales, but also in its ambition to contribute to the “what works” agenda in offender rehabilitation.
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This article presents the findings of a study of the victimisation of three cohorts of young people living in a county town in the East Midlands. Following a brief review of…
Abstract
This article presents the findings of a study of the victimisation of three cohorts of young people living in a county town in the East Midlands. Following a brief review of research into contemporary youth victimisation in the UK, it reports the findings of the study and discusses the reasons for variations in rates of victimisation between the three cohorts. It concludes with a discussion of the implications for professionals.
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In this article Alison Cameron of Dual Recovery Anonymous talks about the complexity of dual diagnosis and tells the story of her experiences as a service user and her own journey…
Sarah Hill introduces a new, regular section from the National Social Inclusion Programme (NSIP) on policy developments and best practice in social inclusion and mental health.
Elizabeth Hughes, Neil Robertson, Cheryl Kipping and Claire Lynch
Dual diagnosis poses particular challenges for inpatient mental health services. Workers have low levels of training, clinical experience and support to deliver integrated care…
Abstract
Dual diagnosis poses particular challenges for inpatient mental health services. Workers have low levels of training, clinical experience and support to deliver integrated care that combines mental health and substance use interventions. In addition, inpatient workers have to balance being therapeutic with ensuring that illicit substance use does not occur on the wards. This often leads to confrontation and poor engagement.In order to improve the capabilities of the workers to deliver more effective interventions for this group of service users, dual diagnosis training should be a high priority for acute inpatient services. However, there are a number of challenges in the implementation of this including lack of resources to fund training and specialist roles, lack of time to attend training (and supervision), and lack of time to implement learning in routine care.This paper will describe the policy drivers for the improvement of dual diagnosis care in acute psychiatric inpatient services, and how two initiatives in London are overcoming some of the obstacles and showing some promising initial outcomes. This paper will make recommendations for future research and developments.
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Rap music subordinates music to language. It is this emphasis on language that can make rap a vehicle for many ideas, if that is the rapper's intention. Playthell Benjamin, former…
Abstract
Rap music subordinates music to language. It is this emphasis on language that can make rap a vehicle for many ideas, if that is the rapper's intention. Playthell Benjamin, former academic and freelance writer for such magazines as the Village Voice and Emerge, believes that rappers can be divided into distinct groups, based on the message or non‐message conveyed. He groups rappers as “Narcissists, didactics, party‐time rappers, or gangsters” based on the content of their rapping. Any rapper who falls into one of these groups can have political significance for blacks, whites, women, liberals, conservatives, Jews, Muslims, and Christians. Narcissists frequently refer to women as mere sex objects, the worst example being the group 2 Live Crew, and less offensive examples being L.L. Cool J. and Big Daddy Kane. Didactics are the chief proponents of Afrocentric thinking and revisionist history. Representatives of this style would be Public Enemy, KRS‐One, and X‐Clan. Party‐time rappers, such as Heavy D and the Boyz or Biz Markie, are rarely serious, but sexism and homophobia can be elements in their raps. Gangster rappers N.W.A., Ice‐T, and Ice Cube are currently receiving a lot of attention from the press, and violent behavior characterizes their lyrics.
Sikkens UK Ltd. have appointed Michael J. H. Manning (41) as field sales manager decorative products to plan and control the activities of the field sales force.
– This paper aims to offer both a practical and reflective stance on a longitudinal multi-method interpretive consumer research project carried out with tween girls.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to offer both a practical and reflective stance on a longitudinal multi-method interpretive consumer research project carried out with tween girls.
Design/methodology/approach
This multi-layered approach to data collection, involving qualitative diaries, accompanied shopping trips, e-collages and in-depth interviews, addresses the need, as articulated by Morrow and Richards (1996, p. 96) to “move away from the narrow focus of socialization and child development” toward a research approach that prioritizes children’s own experiences of their lives as children, thereby reconsidering the richness of children’s voices.
Findings
In line with those whose work seeks to privilege children’s knowledge of the world they inhabit while also emphasizing the need, as in the case of adult “doing” to place that existence within its broader social context (Russell and Tyler, 2005, p. 227), diaries, in-depth interviews, shopping trips, e-collages and researcher diaries were used to access the world of these social neophytes as they mediate their social worlds through the ever pervasive prism of consumer culture. The light and shade of their worlds cannot be captured by adult-oriented perspectives on research which assume that young consumers are incompetent, worthy of debate merely to ascertain levelness of agency or of interest merely to quantify degrees of participation in and comprehension of the semiotic markers of our consumer society.
Research limitations/implications
Only female consumers were involved in this study which underlines the need to engage with both genders when it comes to researching young consumers.
Practical implications
This paper offers a tangible contribution to the movement of research toward understanding young consumers’ worlds through engagement with multi-layered discourses and representations.
Originality/value
This multi-layered, multi-method research project acknowledges the enthralling complexity of these young consumers’ social worlds, giving a richness and immediacy to their accounts of the compelling intimacy between young adolescent identity and the marketplace.