Nicky Lidbetter and Dawn Bunnell
Self Help Services is a pioneering charity in how it champions personal experience of mental health and uses these experiences in the treatment of people living with common mental…
Abstract
Purpose
Self Help Services is a pioneering charity in how it champions personal experience of mental health and uses these experiences in the treatment of people living with common mental health problems – anxiety, depression, phobias, and low self‐esteem issues. This paper aims to describe how the charity grew from one individual's journey with agoraphobia to being the main provider of primary care mental health services in the North West of England.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper charts the growth of Self Help Services over time, with a particular focus on its employment of people with personal mental health problems. It describes the experiences of its founder and Chief Officer and includes case studies of a user of its e‐therapy services and the charity's Informatics and Governance Lead.
Findings
The case studies illustrate how the charity has grown in both size and success as a result of harnessing the skills and experience of large numbers of staff and volunteers living with a mental health problem. The case studies illustrate that, rather than being an issue, these personal experiences are vital tools in helping others work through their own difficulties.
Originality/value
The paper provides a detailed overview of a charity which was unique when it was formed and now thrives as a result of its uniqueness. It provides other similar organisations with advice on lessons learnt along the way, and advice for individuals or groups looking to establish similar organisations.
Details
Keywords
Kate Cavanagh, Nick Seccombe, Nicky Lidbetter and Dawn Bunnell
Around the UK, a number of strategies are being employed to expand the availability and increase the accessibility of psychological treatments for anxiety and depression…
Abstract
Purpose
Around the UK, a number of strategies are being employed to expand the availability and increase the accessibility of psychological treatments for anxiety and depression. Recommended interventions include supported self‐help programs based on CBT principles such as computerised cognitive behavioural therapies (CCBT) for mild‐to‐moderate depression, phobia, and panic. This paper seeks to describe innovative third sector, service‐user led CCBT clinics commissioned within Greater Manchester.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper describes how the project was initially set up, how the services are managed, how they work, and the impact of these services on the population they serve.
Findings
The CCBT clinic achieves a high throughput of service‐users, including more than one‐third accessing the service through self‐referral. Intake and outcome measures suggest that CCBT service users are representative of both the local population and those accessing increasing access to psychological therapies (IAPT) services for common mental health problems. For those engaging with the CCBT service, outcomes are equivalent to those reported in NHS‐based demonstration IAPT services. Service users highly value the service offered including the computer‐based programs and the support offered by paid and voluntary staff.
Practical implications
Roll out of this effective service model is recommended.
Originality/value
This paper has described a successful third‐sector, user‐led, CCBT self‐help clinic offering a Tier‐2 service for anxiety and depression that meets local needs. This will be of interest to service users, providers, and commissioners who want to develop similar services.
Details
Keywords
EVEN if rates and rents tend to equal one another nowadays the general impression we receive is that libraries have fared not badly in the annual estimates this year of library…
Abstract
EVEN if rates and rents tend to equal one another nowadays the general impression we receive is that libraries have fared not badly in the annual estimates this year of library authorities. In fairly large towns average library rates are about sixpence in the pound although some are more or less. That in itself does not give the actual amount spent by individual towns as in not a few cases towns which appear to be very highly rated have very low assessments. Some have increased their book funds and if, as is inevitable, few of us have got all we want, indeed need to realize an adequate service as we see it, there has been little sign of the panic about rates which was common only a few years ago, except at Stepney where, as recorded by Mr. Enser in his columns last month, the book fund was halved.
Adele Berndt and Corné Meintjes
Family businesses feature prominently in economies, including the South African wine industry, using websites to convey their family identity. This research paper aims to explore…
Abstract
Purpose
Family businesses feature prominently in economies, including the South African wine industry, using websites to convey their family identity. This research paper aims to explore the family identity elements that family wineries use on their websites, their alignment and how these are communicated online.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on Gioia’s methodology, a two-pronged approach was used to analyze 113 wineries’ websites’ text using Atlas. ti from an interpretivist perspective.
Findings
South African wineries use corporate identity, corporate personality and corporate expression to illustrate their familiness on their websites. It is portrayed through their family name and heritage, supported by their direction, purpose and aspirations, which emerge from the family identity and personality. These are dynamic and expressed through verbal and visual elements. Wineries described their behaviour, relevant competencies and passion as personality traits. Sustainability was considered an integral part of their brand promise, closely related to their family identity and personality, reflecting their family-oriented philosophy. These findings highlight the integration that exists among these components.
Practical implications
Theoretically, this study proposes a family business brand identity framework emphasising the centrality of familiness to its identity, personality and expression. Using websites to illustrate this familiness is emphasised with the recommendation that family businesses leverage this unique attribute in their identity to communicate their authenticity.
Originality/value
This study contributes to understanding what family wineries communicate on their websites, specifically by examining the elements necessary to create a family business brand based on the interrelationship between family identity, personality and expression with familiness at its core, resulting in a proposed family business brand identity framework.