Discover Top Posts Tagged with #amhp

Barrow Borough Council unanimously adopts the Mental Health Challenge SUPPORT for those facing challenges with their mental health and wellbeing is to be championed by Barrow Borough Council as the authority adopts The Mental Health Challenge. Full story: https://www.cumbriacrack.com/2020/10/06/barrow-borough-council-unanimously-adopts-the-mental-health-challenge/

#AMHP #Barrow Borough Council #Mental Health Challenge #SUPPORT

A Broken Mental Health System Breaking Patients and Staff Alike

This article is such a devastating read. As I exit the hospital gates, the nurse mask slips from my face. Tears stream down my cheeks and for the first time in my 10 years of nursing I think: “I don’t think I can do this any more”. I always worry about the strains on the amazing mental health nurses involved in my care – especially my wonderful care coordinator who truly goes above and beyond,…

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#AMHP #CMHT #community mental health team #community psychiatric nurse #CPN #crisis #emergency #failing #gratitude #Mental Health #mental illness #NHS #nurse #police #psychiatrist #psychiatry #psychologist #social worker

Locked Up Again!

I was feeling suicidal for days when my social worker came round to see how I was doing. After a brief chat she decided to have me assessed under the mental health act that very same day as I refused to go into hospital. About an hour later I had an AMHP…

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#AMHP #Assessment #Hospital #Mental Health #Mental Health Act #Section 3

"If you want to test a man's character - give him power!"

So in the next 6 weeks I start stage 2 of my AMHP training.

AMHP stands for Approved Mental Health Professional, which in the Mental Health Act 2007 replaced the ASW (Approved Social Worker). Without getting vastly complicated this means I am doing an advanced Social Work qualification - although I am a Registered Nurse - at masters level. How's this for a mouthful: Postgraduate Diploma in Higher Specialist Social Work in Mental Health Services (Approved Mental Health Professional) Once I have completed the qualification and undergone a probation period it gives me a pivotal role in the process of assessing whether individuals require detention in hospital against their will, usually in crisis or emergency situations. I should add that this massive responsibility is likely to involve antisocial hours and no additional pay whatsoever.

The first part of the course was fairly brief, only two modules, and really served as an introduction to the role. Some have suggested that it also acts a test, weeding out those who don't have the correct attitude and aptitude to combine an open-minded, non-judgemental approach with antidiscriminatory practice at the same time as applying clinical judgement and acting as a social policeman.

It's probably apparent that I have some anxiety about this more practical and more difficult part of the course. If I am honest, due to my current team being about to be dismantled and massive uncertainty about my employment, now isn't a bad time to take three months away from my normal working environment. The role of AMHP if I manage to attain it does give me an extra string to my bow and make me eventually more employable. And in times like these that is inestimably important.

Another part of the role which I am drawn to is the independence. Not just because I envisage being able to legitimately challenge medical colleagues about what is best and alternatives to just detaining people and dosing them up on medication. Also the role is one that because of the legal power and responsibility, representing the Local Authority, can never be legitimately privatised. It SURELY can never be ethical to give the role of deciding whether to detain someone (these days sometimes involving paying a private provider) to someone employed by that private provider. Although I am sure ATOS would like to bid for it.

However I am lead to question why people would take on such a role. I used to work with a social work colleague who was an ASW whose nickname was Forensic F(insert name). He was undoubtedly an adrenaline junkie who enjoyed the excitement of dealing with crisis, bashing in people's front doors and dragging people into hospital. He had a reputation for detaining people whenever asked by doctors, which meant he was asked a lot and invested a lot of time in fostering relationships with the police, often popping by the station for a brew. He enjoyed the power and responsibility of his role, and the respect he felt it gave him, too much. I have a strong desire to ensure I never become like him. For one I think I will always maintain a healthy indifference towards the police and detaining people against their will should always be a last resort.

Robert Heinlien, one of my favourite sci-fi authors one said that anyone who wants to be a politician should be disallowed from being one and sometimes it seems this would be a sensible approach towards people who wield any form of power. Similarly Abraham Lincoln, fast becoming one of my heroes as I learn more about him, said that the best test of a man's character was to give him power.

Pragmatically, someone has to take responsibility for the protection and safeguarding of both unwell or distressed people and the wider population and make the judgements and decisions required. I believe that my professional experience, and my attitude, means that I am equipped to do that but at the same time it scares me silly.

I can only hope that I can meet the intense demands of this training and go on to qualify for the role, but more importantly I pray that I retain the integrity and humility to do the job properly, make sound decisions and put the interests of people before institutional demands or convenience.

#social work #power #mental health act #integrity #amhp