Men & Mental Health

Pic: ImageQuest

A few weeks ago, the singer Kanye West was hospitalised for stress and exhaustion following a melt-down on stage. There followed a show of support from a number of fellow musicians. This was very significant according to this article, as a positive move towards a change in attitudes and the stigma attached to mental health issues, particularly in the African American male community; the macho hip-hop culture has meant that mental health issues are not usually discussed openly and those suffering have been far less likely to seek help.

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A report published earlier this year, outlined the changes to be introduced over the coming years in response to the Mental Health Taskforce’s recommendations to improve care. In addition, the Ministry of Justice and NHS England are working together to develop a £24m programme targeting mental health support at young offenders.

Alcohol & Substance Abuse

I've tried to gather some relevant resources here, for those of you writing on this topic. As a starting point, the World Health Organization's website has a dedicated page containing a range of resources, which include publications including:

• The health and social effects of nonmedical cannabis use
• Community management of opioid overdose
• Global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol
• This article explores the impact that alcohol consumption can have on young people. 

Numerous Government publications have been produced, here are the most current. There are several organisations that regularly publish research in this area: the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) provide current overviews of drug problems in Europe - the United Kingdom Drug Situation report is a publication submitted to the EMCDDA annually; Public Health England provides a list of articles, publications and statistics; the ONS have datasets on drug misuse and drinking habits in Great Britain; statistics have also been made available by the HSCIC on drugs misuse and alcohol abuse. 

The following related books are available in the library:

• Substance misuse : the implications of research, policy and practice - 362.29 BAR
• A-Z of substance misuse & drug addiction - 362.29 MAC 
• Understanding & working with substance misusers - 362.29 PYC 
• Drugs - 362.290941 ACR (Available in E-Resources: Isssues Online)
• Motivational interviewing and stages of change : integrating best practices for substance abuse professionals - 362.291 TOM 
• Getting wise to drugs - 372.37044 EMM 
• Emerging perspectives on substance misuse - 616.86 MIS 
• Applied cognitive and behavioural approaches to the treatment of addiction - 616.86 MIT 
• Theory of addiction - 616.86 WES 

In E-Resources (portal), try individual searches in CareKnowledge, SocIndex and Issues Online.

Hope this helps! If you do require anything further information, please contact 

Manjeet Dhillon.

#iwill

#iwill is a campaign taking place this week, to highlight the benefits of youth social action across the UK. 

Young people will be taking part in activities such as campaigning, fundraising and volunteering, all of which create a double-benefit – to communities and young people themselves. So far more than 500 business, education and voluntary sector partners have committed to embedding social action into the lives of young people. Find out more about the campaign...

Youth Social Action

A recent report by Ipsos Mori provides an evaluation on the Uniformed Youth Social Action Fund, created to support the Step Up to Serve #IWill Campaign. 


It was found that three quarters of adult beneficiaries surveyed considered the social action they experienced to be "very worthwhile" and most said they felt more proud of their local area as a result of the social action activities being carried out by young people. 

In addition, after talking to the young people involved, 77% of beneficiaries said they had a more positive impression of what young people contribute to their local communities as a result. 



The research also shows that youth social action can have a knock-on benefit to participation levels - the more young people that beneficiaries interacted with, the more likely they were to volunteer themselves. 
Find out more

Safeguarding

Safeguarding is always a popular topic so here are some sources of information that might help. Let's begin with the Chimat website; their Knowledge Hub provides a link to the Safeguarding Children Training Directory  and a list of  key organisations and sources of safeguarding information.   

The DfE website offers resources on various aspects of safeguarding children and young people, whether at home or in an education setting; there is also a list of related publications available. 

A couple of new reports have been published: 'Time to Listen' sets out how collaborative working can help tackle child sexual exploitation. 'Children in need of help or protection,' published by the National Audit Office, this suggests that the DfE has not yet succeeded in their attempt to improve the quality of child protection services delivered by local authorities.

During an online resources teaching session yesterday, a student spotted a particular article which she said was exactly what she needed for an assignment! I thought I would share it here - simply search for 'Completing Your SEF - Safeguarding' in Teaching Times (E-Resources - Athens) :0)

EU Gangs 2nd Annual Conference - Thurs 9th June 16

Mapping user experiences of the EHC process

A recent report, commissioned by the DfE, examines the experiences of children, young people and families involved in the EHC process and their satisfaction with the Education, Health and Care (EHC) process for children and young people with SEND. 

It also explores the extent to which the approaches employed to capture user feedback in the course of the study, could help others gather user satisfaction and make improvements to their service. 

Educate to Rehabilitate

Charlie Taylor, a former headteacher and child behavioural expert has set out plans to transform youth custody; his interim report suggests that the youth justice system would be more effective and better able to rehabilitate young people if it were focussed around education. Local, secure and smaller schools would draw on educational and behavioural expertise to rehabilitate children and give them the skills they need to thrive on release. 

Amongst its findings, the report states that around 40% of young people in under-18 Young Offender Institutions (YOIs) have not been to school since they were aged 14; they are also only receiving 17 hours of education every week against an expectation of 30 hours.

Body Image

If any of you are researching children and body image, the resources mentioned here may help; this report by Central YMCA discusses the various challenges faced by young people in Britain today and highlights youngsters concerns about being considered too fat or not attractive enough; the report also highlights the influence that celebrities and the media have on young people and on this issue, the all-party parliamentary group on body image is hoping to push for legislation to ban underweight and under-age models; campaigners are calling for new laws for health standards health experts and a models' union in the fashion industry. 

The Dove Self Esteem Project provides a range of free curriculum-related resources and workshops for teachers working with children aged 11 to 14 years old, with an aim to raise self-esteem and body confidence. Face-to-face pupil or teacher workshops are delivered through Dove's charity partner, BEAT. 

What About YOUth?

The new Health Behaviours in Young People (What About YOUth?) Tool provides local authority level estimates for several topic areas, based on what 15-year olds themselves said about their attitudes to healthy lifestyles and risky behaviours, including diet and physical activity, smoking, alcohol, use of drugs, bullying and wellbeing. For each topic area, the information is shown by ethnicity, deprivation, sexuality, region and local authority. The data is based on the What About YOUth 2014 survey.

No Fall Back for Body Clocks...

The extra hour in bed as the clocks turn back is always welcomed and a sure sign that Autumn has arrived. On the topic of sleep, a study has shown that the body clocks of those aged between 10 and 55 are not compatible with rising early - it's not natural, hence the reason for using alarm clocks. This has led to a generally sleep deprived society, particularly tough for those aged between 14 and 24. Dr Kelley, who has led the research, has suggested that school days should start at 10am and university at 11am, to better match the circadian rhythms of adolescents and young adults. Teensleep, a project involving randomised trials have been carried out at schools across the UK to look at the outcomes of later starts for pupils - findings will be published in 2018.

A number of schools, including Hampton Court House, have already changed to later start times. The benefits may mean better GCSE grades by improving learning, performance and attainment.

Young Offenders

There has been much discussion in the news recently about cared for young offenders. Government figures show that the  majority  of young people are in care because they have suffered abuse or neglect - just 2% of them are taken into care primarily because of their own socially unacceptable behaviour. However, a disproportionate number of them are more likely to end up in the criminal justice system than other children. The issues behind this will now be examined in an independent review, to be chaired by Lord Laming.

The latest 'Proven Re-offending' statistics bulletin from the Ministry of Justice is now available, giving figures for adult and youth re-offenders; it also looks at some of the underlying reasons for young people re-offending. NACRO are a crime reduction charity, aiming to reduce crime and re-offending in communities across England and Wales, by offering programmes that help people back into work. 

Amongst their publications is one that offers advice on employing ex-offenders.

Ready for work....

A number of SEN resources are available for young people requiring support to help them into work: as part of their Preparation for Adulthood programme, 'Preparing for Adulthood' have published two new case studies to support young people with mental health issues. 

Supported internships are study programmes that take place in both work and college so that learners receive practical hands-on experience; useful information on supported internships, who offers these programmes, setting them up and funding issues are provided in this factsheet. The number of study programmes available to 16-25 year old students with learning difficulties and/or disabilities are becoming more widely available; further information on study programmes can be found here.

From the DfE, the latest SEN statistics and analysis have been published on local authorities’ progress in transferring to the new system of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans.

A busy week....

It was a busy week in Parliament last week with the state opening and the Queen's Speech which set out the new government's plan for their first year in office; NCB's Anna Feuchtwang gives her analysis of events and how children and young people fared on issues such as child poverty, children's rights and childcare. This NCB briefing provides further information about the Bills that will impact children and young people.

A full list of newly appointed government ministers can be found here. 

Latest Reports: Sexual Abuse

An inspection report prepared by Ofsted, the HM Inspectorate of Prisons and the Care Quality Commission, has found that young people at Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre in Northamptonshire have suffered degrading treatment and racist abuse at the hands of prison officers. Meanwhile, figures obtained by the BBC from 106 councils show that there have been 4,748 reports of sexual abuse against disabled adults in the past 2 years. The NSPCC has warned these figures could be the 'visible peak' of a much bigger problem affecting disabled children and young people as well as adults. 

The Children's Commissioner's inquiry into child sexual abuse in the family environment, is running a survey for adult survivors of child sexual abuse to share their experiences; the aim is to better understand how to help children and prevent abuse in the future. To help young people keep themselves safe from child sexual exploitation, Barnardo's Cymru in conjunction with the Welsh Government has launched a bilingual guide. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) has updated 'Physical Signs of Child Sexual Abuse', otherwise known as the Purple Book, with three new chapters - the first update since 2008.

The UK Safer Internet Centre have declared today to be 'Safer Internet Day' here in the UK,  to help promote the safe, responsible and positive use of digital technology for children and young people. To help support the public, their website provides useful e-safety tips and resources, such as education packs for schools, advice for parents, carers and teachers, a hotline in case of any serious issues that cause concern and there is also a separate helpline dedicated to young people. Find out more about their youth film here.

A supporting TV channel, SID TV, has also been launched today; in the first episode, the presenters talk about being kind online and what being a good friend online means.

Ofsted Policy on Safeguarding

Ofsted's policy "Safeguarding children and young people and young vulnerable adults" is now available online; it aims to provide guidance for all members of Ofsted's workforce, who may come across concerns in this area. The policy and procedure for responding to concerns, when these have been identified, are also included in the document.

'Staying Put' in children's homes

Following a four-week consultation involving children/young people in care and adult care leavers, leading organisations have backed a proposal for extending so-called 'Staying Put' arrangements to children’s homes. The study also highlights the importance of each young person having a choice about what happens to them when they turn 18. Click here to view.