Our Priorities
Our Priorities
During 2008 to 2010, Recovery Devon went through a lengthy process to identify and promote our priorities for development in the local mental health services.
These will now be reconsidered in the light of recent developments, but they are described below in order to give a flavour of the process we went through in deciding upon them.
The process began in 2008, following visits to Devon by two leaders within the Recovery movement, Mary O'Hagan and Mike Slade.
Visits by Mary O'Hagan and Mike Slade
In June and July 2008, Devon and Torbay were visited by Mary O'Hagan, former Mental Health Commissioner and architect of New Zealand’s commitment to recovery, and Mike Slade, Reader in Health Services Research at the Institute of Psychiatry and Consultant Clinical Psychologist in South London, who had been on a tour of recovery sites around the English-speaking world. Mary and Mike looked at how Devon and Torbay were progressing towards recovery oriented mental health services.
Their reports are available here:
'Adult Mental Health Services in Devon - A High Level Recovery Assessment', Mary O'Hagan
'Reflections on Devon Experience', Mike Slade
Their visits are also described in Laurie Davidson's Recovery Devon newsletters of the time:
Newsletter, Summer 2008
Newsletter, Winter 2008
Newsletter, Spring 2009
Recovery Devon's Response
Through the course of 2009, Recovery Devon held a series of meetings and events to consider these reports and to set our priorities for the development of local mental health services.
These included Day Workshops on 6th March, 8th July and 8th October. As these meetings progressed, a number of discussion documents were produced.
Following the July workshop, six main topics were identified for further consideration:
Topics 1 to 6 from July Workshop, 2009
The six priorities were:
1. Crisis Response, Inpatient Provision and Community Alternatives to Admission2. Risk Assessment, Risk Taking and Safety Planning
3. Workforce Culture
4. Promotion of Wellbeing and Strength Based Approaches
5. Stigma, Discrimination and Language
6. Support from Peers, and Staff Support in Assisting Recovery
These were then presented to the October workshop and further responses gathered:
Recovery Devon Workshop, 8th October 2009
At this meeting, the commissioner for mental health services in Devon asked Recovery Devon to suggest three priority areas for development locally. Discussion to identify these continued at a meeting on 6th November.
Setting Our Priorities
At our meeting on 18th January 2010, Recovery Devon decided that the three main priority areas we would like to see further developed locally are:
- Peer Support
- Personal Recovery Plans
- Acute Care Provision - alternatives to hospital and improving support for moving back into the community
These were explained further in this document:
Recovery Devon - Three Priorities - May 2010
In March, a small group from the Recovery Devon Task Group met with the commissioner to discuss these priorities and how Recovery Devon could work most effectively to support any new developments.
As regards work within Recovery Devon on our priority areas, on Peer Support, Ann Ley, a member of our Task Group, had prepared a discussion document on this for Recovery Devon to consider:
'RD Peer Support Discussion Document', Ann Ley
Recovery Devon had also been able to purchase a licence to use, and if desired modify for local use, the Personal Recovery Planning Toolkit formulated by SW London / St Georges NHS Mental Health Trust.
Within this work I am actively promoting a strategic approach so that where we do have to withdraw resources we do not recreate a late intervention system.
The three priorities identified by Recovery Devon remain at the front on my mind as I contribute to the work to make firmer links between emotional and physical health (using resources currently in physical long term conditions pathways to improve access to mental health expertise to deliver better outcomes for people and efficiency savings for the public purse) .Much effort is also being invested in bringing people back to Devon through the development of more local specialist services.
Resource priority currently includes improved crisis response for OPMH, for people on Sec 136 (place of safety) and for people either approaching the residential care threshold or ready to leave residential care (I think that I have already forwarded to the group the accommodation strategy that covers the latter point).
Through the community support contracts I continue to encourage the development of both peer support and wellbeing action planning. I have checked with one of the third sector providers re using peer support for people working in acute impatient settings .The pressure on current budgets has meant that that overall focus is on damage limitation rather than development at the moment.
I am happy to discuss the above and any other issues with Recovery Devon if this is considered as helpful to the group.
