Editorial
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.5042/mhrj.2010.0729 |
| Pages | 2-5 |
| Published date | 14 December 2010 |
| Date | 14 December 2010 |
| Author | Rex Haigh,Michael Brookes |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
Mental Health Review Journal Volume 15 Issue 4 December 2010 © Pier Professional Ltd
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10.5042/mhrj.2010.0729
Editorial
When the First National Personality Disorder
Congress took place at Birmingham International
Convention Centre on 19 and 20 November 2009,
the task was to present the three active facets of
the National Personality Disorder Development
Programme, and show how they were a
co-ordinated effort across several government
departments and had numerous common
themes and principles. This was successfully
accomplished in the two-day event, which gave
heart and direction to all those who had been
working in various corners of the public service
(and a few elsewhere) to ‘improve the experience’
of ‘those diagnosable with personality disorder’. At
the point we are at now, when the papers have
been edited and collated for this special edition
of the Mental Health Review Journal, the landscape
is rather different. Although it remains populated
by many people who care deeply about this work,
the arrangement of the government furniture is
changing fast.
The three active facets of the programme have
always been those of a life trajectory:
! children and young people, for which the
programme has the multi-systemic therapy
pilot projects as its flagship, with its robustly
conducted randomised controlled trial
! community mental health, with its 11
different pilot projects, including excursions
into the voluntary sector, experience of
society’s elders, and serious intentions to
change the attitudes of all mental health staff
! the offender population, with its public
protection agenda and the high profile of
what were called the ‘DSPD’ units.
Despite the differences in populations, a
common set of values and intentions runs
throughout the work. These embrace: the need
to work in innovative ways to ‘join up’ the
thinking between different local agencies; the
central importance of including the voice of
service users at all levels of the thinking and
planning; and the need to take a stance that
is ‘fundamentally therapeutic’ rather than
‘fundamentally administrative’. A philosophy
colleague recently described this as ‘responsibility
rather than rescue, and empathy rather than blame’.
The Congres s was int ended as a celebration of
much excell ent work that had been undert aken,
often witho ut specific funding or widesprea d
recognition, and the programme reflected t hat.
Not only did it i nclude a wide variet y of talk s
describing innovative and promisin g new wor k,
but the organisers were also at great pains to
‘make it come alive ’. To thi s end, th ey engaged
the talents of arti sts, musicia ns and ac tors with
a personal interest in this field. The papers in
this editio n of the Mental H ealth Review Journal
reflect thi s eclectic mix and are pract ice–based
rather than academical ly based.
It would be inappropriate to match the
standards of enquiry or investigation normally
applied in academic journals such as this; the
intention is rather to capture how those working
with personality disordered individuals on a daily
basis have developed and improved the experience
for service users. There are also encouraging
accounts from service users themselves.
What we trust will be taken from thes e
articles ar e inspirati on and id eas that those
operating i n this f ield can then apply or adapt
in their particular setting. To assist w ith this, we
have identi fied key learning po ints. These are
included at the end of this editorial.
To give the congress due connection to
the ‘real world’, various prominent public
figures participated. First, the conference was
supported (both morally and financially) by
the Department of Health and its extremely
facilitative civil servants. It was also very
fortunate to have Lord Victor Adebowale to
deliver its opening address, and Mark Easton, the
BBC’s home editor, to host the entire event.
The order in which the articles appear has
been planned to reflect the structure of the
Congress. The journal opens with Lord Victor
Adebowale’s opening address, and is followed
by the artistic and experiential contributions
from the service user participants. This is
followed by papers from professionals working
in the criminal justice sector, then professionals
working in the the community.
Despite a vote in the final plenary session to
repeat the event, the changes in the economic
and political environment mean that the
Congress will never again happen like this;
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