Depression Alliance Scotland Email Announcement July 2006
News From Depression Alliance Scotland
What Do You Think of Our Poster?
Depression Alliance Scotland has recently released a new poster and
leaflet. It would be very helpful for us if you could take a couple of
minutes to let us know what you think of the new design. Please visit
http://www.dascot.org/pubs_quest.htm to give us your feedback.
Self-help support groups
We have a limited number of places left in the following self-help
support groups: Edinburgh; Glasgow; Dundee and Inverness. For further
details, contact info@dascot.org or call 0131 467 3050.
Information and Support Services
Contact our national information services, weekdays (closed Wed)
between 10-2pm on 0131 467 3050 for information and support with
depression and related topics.
Events and Courses
Carers Scotland Training Courses
Carers Scotland is offering the following training:
24th August - Adults with Incapacity Act 2000. The aim of this course
is to provide participants with an understanding of this Act and the
background to why the act was introduced. The course will also cover
how the Act can be used appropriately to ensure the welfare of an
adult with incapacity, and to help with managing finances.
A similar course is taking place on 31st August in Glasgow, to
introduce the new Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act
2003.
On 7th September in Glasgow, a session will be held on raising
awareness of mental health issues. This is to explore myths and
stereotypes surrounding mental health difficulties; to explore what
mental well-being is and to introduce concepts of assessment,
diagnosis and classification of mental health difficulties.
Finally, for carers, there will be a half-day session in Glasgow on
13th September, to raise awareness of carers? needs amongst those
working in the health, social care, education, local authority and
voluntary sectors.
For more information on any of these, contact jacqui.taylor@carerscotland.org
Course - Young People and Sexuality
Young People and Sexuality is the title of a Mental Health Foundation
conference being held on 27th September 06. The event is about working
together to improve the sexual health and emotional well-being of
young people.
For further details contact:
www.mentalhealth.org.uk
News round-up
Depression UK Biggest Social Problem
Depression is UK's biggest social problem, says Lord Layard (advisor
to the government on mental ill-health). He advocates that there
should be 250 centres set up as a network throughout the country, with
10,000 extra therapists. These would provide therapy for an illness
which affects 15% of the population and costs, in economic terms,
around £17billion in lost productivity.
The report highlights that only 4% of people with depression and
anxiety disorders receive psychological therapy, despite the fact that
"talking therapies" are popular with patients who often do not want
drugs.
Layard speaks from an economical perspective and claims the cost of
offering this therapy for one person is £750. He also says that if
this was provided, then it would produce about 12 months extra time
free of illness compared with no treatment, saving at least one extra
month in work, worth more than £1,880. British Medical Journal on
April 29th of 2006, Vol. 332 pp1030-1033.
Disability Equality
How often have you felt frustrated when your local council, school or
hospital doesn?t take disability equality seriously? This guide is the
chance to help them sort it out.
A guide to the Disability Equality Duty for disabled people and their
organisations has now been published. To access this publication you
can contact:
Tel 08457 622 633 or write to DRC Helpline, Freepost, Mid 02164 Stratford upon Avon CV37 9BR
Mental Health First Aid Training
Scottish Mental Health First Aid training courses continue to be run
at locations all over Scotland. The training raises awareness of the
need for good quality mental health and well-being among the general
public. It seeks to improve the quality of life and social inclusion
of people who experience mental health problems.
To find out if there is a course near you, check out their website on
www.healthscotland.com/smhfa/calender/cfm
More needed to tackle Depression
According to Professor Jan Scott, Professor of Psychological
Treatments Research, at the Institute of Psychiatry in London,
depression should be treated as a "chronic disease" and more needs to
be done to tackle it. She said there needs to be a more systematic
approach to treatment and that sometimes there is "under-treatment"
from doctors failing to "prescribe effectively". She went on to say
that depression may arise due to life stressors but this did not mean
it should be exempt from treatment. The systematic approach should,
according to Professor Scott, continue to treat the patients for a
longer period of time to have better results.
British Medical Journal, April 29th 2006, Vol. 332 pp985-986.
The Real Cost of Illness and Disability
Citizen's Advice Scotland often works with people seeking help in
claiming their rightful benefits. CAS has produced a report called
"Paying the Price" looking at the real costs of illness and disability
for CAB clients (author Clare Lardner Clarity).
This is based on evidence of working with their clients across
Scotland. These are some of their key findings:
- 38% of respondents (from 417 clients given the questionnaire)
reported a mental health condition as one of their main conditions
affecting their ability to work;
- Of those applying for Incapacity Benefit (for any condition), 63%
who were appealing against an initially unsuccessful claim were then
successful. This suggests that a significant proportion of initial
decisions are overturned;
- For Disability Living Allowance, appeals were successful in 52% of
those who had been refused previously. Similarly, this suggests a
significant amount of initial claims were also incorrectly assessed;
- For people with any illness returning to work, 53% felt that
benefits protection at this time would help, as well as employers
needing to be more flexible about returning to work.
Contact Depression Alliance Scotland at info@dascot.org for a full
copy of the report.
Voices of Experience (VoX)
Voices of Experience (VoX), the emerging national organisation for
people with mental health problems in Scotland, have now appointed a
Development Co-ordinator. The official launch of VoX will take place
later in the year or early 2007. Anyone interested in finding out more
about VoX, its work and contact details, can call DAS at info@dascot.org
Are you interested in speaking to the media?
If you wish to get involved in talking to the media about your
experiences of mental health and related topics, see me (the national
organisation working to reduce stigma in mental health) may be able to
offer you media training, to support you in this process. If you are
interested, please get in touch with DAS at info@dascot.org
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