Hi Penny

I offer three comments from the perspective of psychology services working with children and families.

Firstly, many of the clients we meet in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in Birmingham, particularly in outreach services, have had a history of homelessness. This is frequently as a consequence of having to flee domestic violence. This leaves children and mothers living in refuge hostels or “going homeless” as a means of finding alternative accommodation fairly quickly.

This situation is often followed by being rehoused in an area far from their previous support system. Sometimes this is essential, as it is the only means of protection from retribution from the partner who perpetrated the violence. People living in this kind of situation are then frequently fearful of raising their profile in an area, or of visiting any of the busier parts of the city. The situation is compromised in Birmingham also by the shortage of council housing.

The impact of domestic violence on children’s mental health is now recognized within the category of emotional abuse in child protection. The consequent impact of having to leave home, live in temporary accommodation (often a refuge or a friend’s settee) and change school compounds the risk of mental health issues further. For our service, homelessness is associated with a set of risk factors for the mental health of children and their mothers.

Secondly, “going homeless” is also an option for families who are living in overcrowded or unsuitable accommodation. By going homeless they move up the housing list to the top and are offered a limited number of choices of alternative accommodation. Although housing officers do their best to offer places as close to people’s preferred areas as possible, these choices can be widely spread across the city. Homelessness is a serious gamble that some families are prepared to take under certain circumstances.

Thirdly, in Birmingham there is an initiative which is part of the government’s Think Family agenda. This initiative is called the Family Intervention Programme, or FIP. In Birmingham the FIP is coordinated by Shelter, the homeless charity. The FIP works with 25 families a year who are at risk of eviction (due to “anti-social behaviour”). Like a lot of initiatives aimed at working with children and families, the FIP aims to coordinate services to provide support for families who may have complex needs and multiple agency involvement. As CAMHS, we have offered to provide a “fast-track” consultation, assessment and brief intervention service to this population. This should allow our input to arrive in a coordinated or simultaneous manner with input from others, hopefully to the benefit of the families involved. This is intended to reduce homelessness amongst families who may already be marginalized within their neighbourhood.

Carl

 

From: The UK Community Psychology Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Penny Priest
Sent: 08 May 2009 15:18
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] FW: Can you advise please - Mental Health & Homelessness

 

Hi there

I think there are probably a fair few people on this list who either work with people who are homeless or have an interest in this area and probably have some really sensible things to say. That's why I'm forwarding on this consultation. It may be that people would be very reluctant to engage with something like this, due to their starting points (e.g. who they're asking and how they're framing this, in terms of the very individualised and medicalised definitions they have offered in the attached document). But I thought I'd just pass it on anyway.

Best wishes

Penny

From: Jessica Studdert [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 05 May 2009 15:20
To: [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]; Priest Penny (South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust); [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]
Cc: [log in to unmask]
Subject: FW: FW: Can you advise please - Mental Health & Homelessness

Dear all,

I’ve picked up your email thread from our Call for Evidence email account, and following on from Robin’s very helpful clarification of our work in this area, thought I’d just send through a further message to follow up on a few points.

Firstly, thank you all for your interest in responding and seeking to establish who/how best to submit your expertise as part of this consultation. I hope you’ll agree this is an important and under-addressed issue in policy terms, which we’re hoping to raise the profile of with Government, and your contributions are warmly received to feed into our work in this context.

As an organisation, St Mungo’s ourselves as ‘London’s leading homelessness agency’ and are in our 40th year of operation. We are beginning to work in some urban areas outside London so will soon publicise ourselves as national (England-wide). With this piece of work, however, we are very much aiming to gather views from across the UK – for the credibility of the final report we publish as part of the Call for Evidence, it is important that we have gathered views from as broad a reach as possible. This is not just in terms of geography, but also sectors – we are hoping to bridge gaps between the mental health and homelessness sectors, statutory and voluntary services, etc, for example by disseminating good practice and publicising the importance of the issue (and solutions).

We welcome responses from individuals and on behalf of organizations. We would very much appreciate an organisational response on behalf of the BPS, but also as individuals working directly with the client group affected, it is very valuable to have your individual responses as your experiences/views may differ. As the deadline for responses is 10th June, the BPS may consider submitting some relevant already published work on PD, or anything related to housing support, for example, as part of your submission – this would still be useful. I attach the document that we have produced to outline the consultation and the questions we’ve asked. If time is short it is possible to be as brief as you wish, and answer the questions you deem most relevant to your expertise.

If you have any further questions or would like clarification on anything further, please do not hesitate to contact me directly on my St Mungo’s email. I very much appreciate your time on this issue.

All best,

Jessica

 

Jessica Studdert | Public Affairs Manager
DDI: 020 8762 5697 | F: 020 8762 5501 | E: [log in to unmask]

 

From: Robin Johnson [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 24 April 2009 17:00
To: Fabian Davis; [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]
Cc: call4evidence
Subject: RE: FW: Can you advise please - Mental Health & Homelessness

 

Dear all

 

We seem to have a slightly knotted email thread here.

 

The original request came to the BPS, from St Mungos, asking for in-put from clinical psychologists to their call for evidence on "what works" in relation to mental health and homelessness.  

 

With a few kinks in the thread, that has now become a question about personality disorder and homelessness - an important and increasingly dynamic issue; but not the whole of the original request.

 

Nick MaGuire in Southampton is the clinical psychologist referred to in Fabian's earlier mail. He is already involved with both the PD and homelessness issue, and the St Mungos' call for evidence.  It would certainly be valuable to identify others from the BPS in/for a network of interested parties in the PD and homelessness world.

 

But the original request to BPS was for any observations from clinical psychologists working at the frontline, with experience of homelessness services, which can contribute to an understanding of what works ( including what clearly doesn't work...)

 

St Mungos are based in London, historically, though now expanding as service provider outside of the London area. Their call for evidence is not based solely on London; they are attempting to be a conduit for the experience of the homelessness sector on mental health problems they encounter. The launch of their call for evidence was co-hosted by Crisis, a national charity, which also launched their report - Mental Ill Health in the Adult Single Homeless Population, PHRU, 2009 - which was actually written by a Dept of Health staff member. The report, and the linked call for evidence, now form part of DH's delivery planning for the Public Service Agreement on Socially Excluded Adults (PSA 16), which is an identified high priority for DH and the government as  whole. 

 

The request, in other words, is for clinician's experience and observations.  I do not think you need feel obliged to produce a summary on behalf of the BPS as a whole - though some such contribution might be welcome at some stage, it should not delay what is now, after all, a rather tight deadline. But if you were willing and able to disseminate this call for evidence through your membership, I am sure that would be most helpful.

 

Robin Johnson

[formerly] Mental Health & Housing National Lead

NSIP/CSIP 

 

 

 -----
From: Fabian Davis [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 23 April 2009 16:26
To: Robin Johnson
Subject: RE: FW: Can you advise please - Mental Health & Homelessness

Robin,

 

You can contact these folk and say I gave their details to you. Let me know if anything comes of it please.

Fabian

 

Why not visit www.developbromley.com and find out about social inclusion and mental health in Bromley

 



Dr. Fabian Davis
Consultant Psychologist (Community & Social Inclusion)
Lead for Social Inclusion
Bromley Mental Health Services
Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust
2nd Floor, Yeoman House
57-63 Croydon Road
Penge. London SE20 7TS
Tel: 020 8676 5489



>>> On 02/04/2009 at 16:12, in message <[log in to unmask]>, "Robin Johnson" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Thanks, chum.

I've passed it to my contemporary email account; and will reply from there.

I've not used that AOL account for years!

-----Original Message-----
From: Fabian Davis [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 02 April 2009 15:32
To: Robin Johnson; Robin Johnson
Subject: Fwd: FW: Can you advise please - Mental Health & Homelessness

Well well well, please see the attached and can you send me the details of the psychologist you know on homelessness and I can try and connect you all in to this and the people who might be developing the BPS PD stuff?!

 

Fabian

 

 

Why not visit www.developbromley.com and find out about social inclusion and mental health in Bromley

 



Dr. Fabian Davis
Consultant Psychologist (Community & Social Inclusion)
Lead for Social Inclusion
Bromley Mental Health Services
Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust
2nd Floor, Yeoman House
57-63 Croydon Road
Penge. London SE20 7TS
Tel: 020 8676 5489

I am currently working Monday through Thursday at Oxleas and some Fridays at the National Social Inclusion Programme.

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The information contained in this e-mail may be subject to public disclosure under the NHS Code of Openness or the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Unless the information is legally exempt from disclosure, the confidentiality of this e-mail and your reply cannot be guaranteed.

 

The information and material is intended for the use of the intended addressee, or the person responsible for delivering it to the intended addressee, you may not copy or deliver it to anyone else or use it in any unauthorised manner. To do so is prohibited and may be unlawful. If you receive this email by mistake, please advise the sender

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[Robin Johnson] 

That's great, Fabian-glad I sent it to you!

 

[log in to unmask]

[log in to unmask]

[log in to unmask]

 

Thanks,

 

John

 

From: Fabian Davis [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 02 April 2009 15:34
To: John Hanna
Subject: Re: FW: Can you advise please - Mental Health & Homelessness

 

Hi John,

 

I think our PD colleagues would be interested in this but I am also following up a contact from a national housing and homelessness colleague who knows a clin psych who is interested and specialises in this. Both of them are looking for other colleagues to look at homelessness and PD. Can I have our PD colleagues emails so I can put them all in touch

 

Fabian

 

Why not visit www.developbromley.com and find out about social inclusion and mental health in Bromley

 



Dr. Fabian Davis
Consultant Psychologist (Community & Social Inclusion)
Lead for Social Inclusion
Bromley Mental Health Services
Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust
2nd Floor, Yeoman House
57-63 Croydon Road
Penge. London SE20 7TS
Tel: 020 8676 5489

I am currently working Monday through Thursday at Oxleas and some Fridays at the National Social Inclusion Programme.



>>> On 01/04/2009 at 16:44, in message <[log in to unmask]>, "Hanna, John" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Dear Fabian and Mark,

 

I've discussed this further with Peter-it does not feel to us to be a fully-fledged request for DCP/BPS consultation response, rather a request for an interested party representing the profession to provide support and evidence to St. Mungo's to help advance their cause.  We thought of you both--would either of you be in a position to help, or could either of you suggest a colleague who is perhaps best placed to reply?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

John

 

From: BPS Policy Support Unit [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 01 April 2009 12:25
To: Peter Kinderman; John Hanna
Cc: Suzanne Jefford
Subject: Can you advise please - Mental Health & Homelessness

 

Dear Peter and John,

 

We have received an invitation from St Mungo's (addressed to you, Peter) to contribute to a call for evidence on mental health and homelessness.  The closing date is 10th June, so there would be time for us to circulate the details and organise a Society response, if you should feel that is appropriate. 

 

However, although St Mungo's describe themselves as Britain's 'leading charity for homeless people' and say that they will be producing a major report based on the responses to their call for evidence, they appear to operate generally within London only. That being the case, I would be grateful for your views on whether or not we ought to be considering responding.

 

The original email is attached in case you want to look at the full details. Briefly, the terms of reference cover 

 

·         the relationship between mental ill health and street homelessness;

·         the barriers and challenges faced by those who are, or at risk of becoming, homeless in gaining access to appropriate mental health treatment, care and support;

·         best practice in treatment, care and support of former rough sleepers with mental health problems;

·         the identification of policies and practical steps which might be taken to deliver effective and appropriate mental health treatment, care and support for rough sleepers.

 

What do you think?  Worth circulating or one to give a miss?

 

Best wishes

 

Frances

-------------------------------------

Dr Frances Mielewczyk, CPsychol

Consultations & Policy Executive

Policy Support Unit

 

(please reply to [log in to unmask])

 

The British Psychological Society

Tel: 0116 252 9926

 

www.bps.org.uk/consult

 

 

 

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