Editorial
| Pages | 2-2 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/13619322200100021 |
| Published date | 01 September 2001 |
| Date | 01 September 2001 |
| Author | Elizabeth Parker |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
Editorial
Elizabeth Parker
Editor
significant contribution to the long-term implementation
of the National Service Framework through providing
the means by which service developments can be better
embedded in a mainstream community context.
Two papers set out the potential of the law to secure
the rights and thereby promote the social inclusion of
mentally ill people. Liz Sayce describes the work of the
Disability Rights Commission in enforcing the Disability
Discrimination Act 1995 and promoting equality of oppor-
tunity and shows that in the mental health field the law
can be instrumental in effecting social change. The
Human Rights Act 1998 came into effect on 2 October
2000 and Chinyere Inyama examines its potential impact
on services for patients subject to the Mental Health Act
1983. It is expected to be enormously influential and the
passage of a mental health bill through Parliament would
provide a good opportunity to assess the extent to which
human rights considerations have been incorporated into
the mental health agenda.
A big social excluder for most mentally ill people is of
course poverty, a downward spiral of discrimination,
losing one’s job, not being able to afford to go out or to
shop. Simon Lawton-Smith describes the work of the
FOCUS on Mental Health Consortium in drawing up a
set of pragmatic proposals designed to alleviate the link
between poverty and mental ill health which have been
put to ministers at the Department for Education and
Employment.
Finally, in the Case Study, Paul Monks and Tim
Harford tell the story of how patients and ex-patients of
Hackney Hospital coalesced around a local artist and
formed Core Arts. As the group grew more people came
to be included – each other, the hospital auxilary
workers, the press, celebrities and big business, all eager
to be involved. This is a striking demonstration from
Core Arts of social inclusion in practice and one from
which I hope all organisations can draw inspiration.
Elizabeth Parker
Editor
2The Mental Health Review Volume 6 Issue 3 September 2001 ©Pavilion Publishing (Brighton) 2001
ince the election of the new Labour
Government in May 1997 social inclusion has been the
prism through which all social policy passes. The forma-
tion of a Social Exclusion Unit resulted from the
Government’s concern about the combined effects of
unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing,
bad health and family breakdown – all factors well recog-
nised as being associated not only with social exclusion
but also with mental ill health. Promoting the social
inclusion of people with mental health problems is
increasingly and explicitly acknowledged as a worthwhile
and viable goal in the mental health field, as exemplified
by Standard One of the National Service Framework.
The contributions to this issue of the Mental Health
Review testify to the valuable work that is already under-
way to draw people with mental health problems into a
more inclusive community but also show the powerful
forces pushing such people away from the services and
facilities which those who are not disadvantaged take for
granted.
These forces are graphically depicted by David
Crepaz-Keay in his Personal Perspective. He puts
forward a compelling argument that the greater part of
social exclusion suffered by mentally ill people derives
from the mental health services themselves, resulting
from the consequences of, firstly, a psychiatric diagnosis
and, secondly, the medication.
Stigma and discrimination are also explored in the
Framework Feature by Karen Newbigging who compre-
hensively examines the concept of social inclusion and
its application in the mental health field. She identifies
two approaches; one based on notions of citizenship and
rights, and the other centred on the individual’s needs.
The notions of citizenship and community in mental
health are further developed by David Morris who
describes the joint national programme for social inclu-
sion which he is leading for the Sainsbury Centre for
Mental Health and the Department of Health. The
programme incorporates a range of initiatives to address
the main barriers to social inclusion and aims to make a
S
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