Welcome

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.

As more than one client has said to me, "I didn't want to tell my friends I was coming to see you because I was too embarrassed.  When I eventually told them I found out that several of them had been to see you already!"  The more people who receive good quality, effective therapy, the more that stigma will be demolished.

I hope that, with this newsletter and mailing list arrangement we can find the right balance between your privacy and keeping you informed.  My colleagues and I have a lot of interesting news and information to share with you.  If you find this newsletter helpful you can help to reduce stigma by sharing it with a friend.

Maurice Tomkinson