Abuse relief for those who care for mentally ill

Dec 29 2009 By James Gates

A BOLD new program has been launched to reduce verbal and physical abuse experienced by staff at West London Mental Health Trust.

The trust, based in Uxbridge Road, is introducing a new creative workshop which aims to increase self esteem and respect for fellow patients and staff. Health bosses hope it will create a sense of responsibility for people's own actions and, ultimately, a reduction in incidents.

The scheme uses poetry and performance art to explore issues relating to mutual respect, how patients feel they are valued and treated, and how they treat other people.

The workshop is initiated by Bernie Collins, the Trust’s diversity lead, and facilitated by barrister-cum-poet Dave Neita. She said: “The purpose of these workshops is to make sure that patients and staff are starting their therapeutic relationship from a basis of mutual respect, where service users have responsibilities to themselves and each other.

"This means we can start aiding their recovery sooner. All sorts of issues have been raised – how patients feel that they are treated by staff, their length of stay, racism, sexism, ageism - and we’ve had feelings expressed through poetry, rap, drums and song. The response has been hugely enthusiastic.

"We’ve been able to tackle issues which are very difficult to get at any other way. This, in turn, enables us to maximise the patients’ opportunities for recovery.”

The sessions are currently being rolled out across the Trust to support other initiatives surrounding improving recovery for service users.