Articles

Welcome back!

A warm welcome back to Alison, Clinical Specialist with the Meriden Team.  Alison has returned to the Programme following the birth of baby Grace. Alison has changed her name to Alison Lee and can be contacted at the Programme on Alison.Lee3@bsmhft.nhs.uk

Dr. Grainne Fadden wins Rethink Marsh Award 2009

Dr Gráinne Fadden receiving the Marsh Award from Mr Godwin Calafato, Rethink Trustee

On Saturday November 7, Dr. Grainne Fadden, Director of the Meriden Family Programme was presented the Rethink "Marsh Award" at a ceremony in London. The award seeks to recognise the achievements of an individual in mental health and nominees are suggested by members of Rethink, the largest membership mental health charity in England. 

Pauline Arksey, MBE, a carer and former chair of Carers in Partnership, nominated Dr Fadden for the award stating “Gráinne has contributed significantly to the understanding of the role and needs of families with mental illness and she has worked tirelessly to advance the training of professional workers. Changing attitudes and cultures of clinical and other workers can have been of no easy task. Only with perseverance has Gráinne and the team gone forward.” 

For more information on Rethink and the Marsh Awards, please see their website at www.rethink.org

The Contribution of Carers Event, London

Please be aware that this event, originally scheduled for October 13th, has been postponed and will now be running on 24th February 2010. Please see our training and conferences section for more details.

New Family Work in Early Psychosis DVDs

On the 8th September the Meriden Family Programme launched its new resource "Family Work in Early Psychosis"; a 5-disc DVD set covering all aspects of family work in this area including interviews with family members, professionals views and training materials which support the range of Meriden Family Intervention training programmes. The launch took place at the Electric Cinema in central Birmingham where the audience was able to hear about the background to the DVDs, view "tasters" of the material and hear presentations from key individuals and contributors. Jo Smith (Joint National Early Intervention Programme Lead, National Mental Health Development unit) stated that the DVDs were "internationally welcome and much needed" and described them as a "fantastic" resource.

The 5-disc DVD set and accompanying booklet are available to purchase through the Meriden Family Programme. Watch this space for more information.

Supporting Documents

userfiles/file/Flyer.pdf 

Royal College of Psychiatrists collaboration

On Tuesday 13th October, The Meriden Family Programme will be running a training day entitled "The Contribution of Carers to the Care, Treatment and Recovery of Service Users" in partnership with the Royal College of Psychiatrists Education and Training Centre, to highlight the important role carers can play in the care and recovery of service users. * * * Places still remain on this training course * * *. Further details can be viewed in the training and conferences section of this site, or by contacting the RCP Programme Administrators on 020 7977 6652/57.

Think child, think parent, think family

July 7th saw the lauch of the long awaited Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) guidance "Think child, think parent, think family: a guide to parental mental health and child welfare". The guide is about working with parents who have mental health problems and their children. It provides guidance on policy and practice and makes recommendations for key areas of professional education, workforce development and research.  The Meriden Family Programme feature as an area of good practice. It also provides links to useful resources and contact details of relevant organisations.

Both the full guidance and its summary publication can be downloaded from www.scie.org.uk.

Working with Families Across Cultures DVD

A new DVD has been developed by the Meriden Programme in collaboration with NIMHE West Midlands highlighting skills for working with families from Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities. The DVD and accompanying booklet breaks down the model of family work into its basic components and gives helpful tips and considerations, along with 10 key messages.

Copies of the DVD can be obtained from your local NIMHE, with a limited number available through the Meriden Programme. 

Nice Guidelines Updated

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has released the long awaited update “Core interventions in the treatment and management of schizophrenia in primary and secondary care”. This document updates and replaces the previous clinical guideline (2002). The full guideline, together with a quick reference guide and information for service users and families can be found at www.nice.org.uk

Social Pioneers!

 On Wednesday the 18^th March 2009, Dr Grainne Fadden and the Meriden Programme featured in an article published by the Guardian newspaper. In association with the Public Services Innovation Lab, its “Social Pioneers” supplement was published with the aim of drawing attention to “radical ideas that will help transform public services as they face their greatest challenges” and described itself as a “celebration of the possible”. The Programme was featured in the Lessons Learned section on page 7.

www.socialinnovationexchange.org/files/Social%20Pioneers%20-%20the%20Guardian

Health Service Journal Award Winner 2008

The Meriden Programme are delighted to announce that they have won the prestigious HSJ Mental Health Innovation award 2008. The Programme was selected from 70 entries in the category and is just one of a handful of winners to achieve this national recognition from a total of more than 800 entries. More details of the award and photographs from the ceremony can be viewed at www.hsj.co.uk

Meriden 10th Anniversary Celebrations

On Thursday October 16th, the Meriden Programme celebrated its 10th Anniversary by hosting a day-long event in Solihull, West Midlands. Guest speakers during the day included Professor Philippa Garety and Professor Antony Sheehan. The evening awards ceremony was attended by the Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Solihull. A full report of the celebrations will be posted shortly, including photographs of the days events and evening award winners. Many thanks to all those who attended and for all the Anniversary wishes received from around the globe.

Happy 10th Anniversary to the Meriden Programme!

On Thursday 16th October 2008, the Meriden Programme will be hosting its 10th Anniversary celebrations in Solihull, Birmingham. The celebrations will consist of a day-long learning event and masterclass with Professor Philippa Garety as a keynote speaker. The evening event will be opened by the Mayor of Solihull and will include an awards ceremony consisting of the Meriden Family Work Awards and the Ian Falloon Family Work Implementation Award.

The Ian Falloon Memorial Award 2008

Professor Ian Falloon who sadly died in 2006 worked throughout his career to ensure that those with serious mental health difficulties receive high quality care. He was particularly influential in developing services for families, and his evidence-based psychoeducational model of family work is employed worldwide. In order to honour his memory, Ian's family have established a biennial award for services demonstrating excellence in developing services to families of those with mental health difficulties. The 2008 winners will be announced at the Meriden 10th Anniversary celebrations on October 16th and will receive an award as well as a cash prize of £2,000.