| First
university course for service users launched
September
12, 2005
by staff reporter
The
first university course specifically for mental health service user
students has been launched.
The
course - entitled leadership and empowerment in mental health course
- is being trumpeted by organisers as a means for service users
to gain a qualification enabling them to play a part in improving
mental health services.
Launched
by Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), the certificate in professional
development is run in partnership with the Five Boroughs Partnership
NHS Trust Learning Foundation and the government's national institute
for mental health.
Topics
studied include the history of mental health, mental health social
policy, and theories of leadership and empowerment.
LJMU
Programme Leader Malcolm Kinney said: "To our knowledge this
is the first fully accredited higher education course specifically
for mental health service users.
"The
course is based upon principles of empowerment, offering students
the chance to have a greater say and stake in services."
....
Patronising
and pretentious
Comment from:
Phil
Barker, professor of health science, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.
Date:
September 14, 2005
My
immediate response - at the risk of sounding critical - is: patronising,
politically correct, pretentious nonsense! What next? A 'qualification'
for refugees, asylum seekers, or survivors of any one of the 'holocausts'
of the past century?
They all could be required to study the history of colonialism,
globalisation, communism, fascism, anti-semitism, Islamophobia etc,
etc, etc. Only then - of course - would their direct experience
of living with, living through or living under such regimes have
any 'currency'.
Having
spent much of my adult life associated with mental health within
higher education, I find the idea as frightening (in an Orwellian
sense) as it is stupid.
If
you want to afford people a greater say in their affairs, simply
open the door and let them in.
.....
Better to
be in the know?
Comment from:
Judith Maw, Support Time and Recovery Worker, Humber Mental Health
Teaching NHS Trust
Date:
May 29, 2006
I
have been a service user for several years and use my experiences
within my role. Being accepted by collegues has been difficult,
but the NHS trust I work for acknowledges that service users have
a lot to offer.
An
informed service user will be able to contribute more effectively
in encourage change. At the moment the sensationalised news headlines
do nothing to help service users' views be taken seriously. There
may be aspects of the Liverpool John Moores University course which
are patronising, but surely it is better to be well informed?
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