The Hope Street Centre Newsletter - October 2010

Welcome!

Welcome to our first fully electronic newsletter!

Reflecting on my experiences of producing this newsletter I realise how much internal resistance I had to overcome before I could get started.  I can track this back to early experiences of being trained as a helpline volunteer and being told never to leave a message on a caller's answering machine: "Why not?" I asked naively.
"What if the wrong person hears the message - perhaps the caller didn't want them to know they were talking to us.  What if leaving that message causes your caller to be battered or abused?"

Pondering all these "what if's" has made me much more cautious about issues of confidentiality and privacy, but there is another side to it.  If we keep quiet about mental health and therapy we perpetuate the stigma that still exists, and that can prevent people getting the help they need.

In the ten years since I created The Hope Street Centre I have always been keen to network with colleagues in mental health services of all kinds—public sector, independent and voluntary. In that time reorganisation has been happening almost non-stop as roles, responsibilities, targets, funding and geographical boundaries have all changed over and over again.

I am sure that many of my colleagues would prefer a period of stability rather than yet more change, but that seems unlikely to happen. The new coalition government is intent on driving through change at high speed, and with Britain’s debt now estimated at £4 trillion or £200,000 for every taxpayer* they have very little choice.

A major component of the new strategy is involving local groups and service providers in delivering services. This is not a new idea, and I have seen it happening in East Cheshire for several years. Some examples of the way this centre has been involved are listed below.

Asperger's Syndrome tends to be a high functioning condition on the Autistic Spectrum displaying such positive traits as honesty, reliability, dedication and determination.

Tony Attwood has described Asperger's Syndrome as “a different way of approaching life, one that is dominated by knowledge and truth”. He also says that great advances in science and art have been attributable to people thought to have had Aspergers Syndrome ...
Albert Einstein, Alfred Hitchcock, Bill Gates, Charles Darwin, Sir Isaac Newton, Ludwig Van Beethoven, Michael Jackson, Michael Palin, Thomas Edison, Wolfgang Mozart, and Gary McKinnon (the "biggest military computer hacker of all time") the list is endless.

Accidents and other distressing events happen to all of us at some time in our lives. Sometimes we take these in our stride and live through them unscathed, but some events can leave a residue that continues to affect us years later.

I've been trying to write this article on psychological trauma for over a year now, and each time I do I seem to end up with nothing but a series of lists. The problem is that the causes and effects of trauma are so diverse and widespread that it's hard to do justice to it in any other way. So there seems to be no option but to bow to the inevitable, and present the lists. These have been culled from a range of sources, and although they are lengthy I make no guarantee that they are complete.

Causes of trauma

Our brains are immensely complex pieces of machinery, vastly more complex than the computer you might have on your desk. As a complex and delicate machine the brain is vulnerable to damage or trauma.

Mild phobias are extremely common, as I discovered recently when talking to a group of friends - out of six people all of us had something we would go out of our way to avoid because of fear, including heights, trains, cats and cows! When phobias become more intense they can lead to strong fear reactions such as panic attacks, and become extremely limiting. For example, someone who is extremely fearful of spiders will start to avoid any situation where a spider might be encountered - since spiders can turn up almost anywhere this could mean avoiding going out, avoiding friends houses, shops, going in the garden, certain rooms in the house, and so on.
Read more...

People drink for many reasons, to be more sociable, to reduce stress, to cope with difficult feelings, or sometimes just out of habit. Some people are able to drink safely in moderation, while for others almost any alcohol can cause a problem.

Whatever your difficulty with alcohol, talking to a counsellor or psychotherapist with experience in the field can help. The following are some of the reasons people give for seeking help with their drinking:

Read more...

There are 38 remedies in the "Bach Flower" range with "Rescue Remedy"  probably one of the better known self help options available over the counter from Health Food stores and pharmacies.
Rescue Remedy - so useful to carry when those unexpected stresses or shocks occur.  Simply put 2 or 3 drops under the tongue for immediate relief. These are an ideal self help option until you are able to get advice from a professional.

Find out more.