Prison Service Young Offenders Project (2004)

Prison Service Young Offenders Project (2004)
Introduction
This project arose from the concern that attitudes towards people who are experiencing mental health difficulties remain prejudiced in society at large. In 1995, the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) commissioned a survey of a random sample of the adult population to estimate the degree of stigma attached to six mental disorders (Crisp, Gelder, Rix, Meltzer, and Rowlands, 2000; Gelder, 2001). The results indicated that a common feature of public opinion is that people with mental health disorders are to blame, and that they deserve to be excluded or isolated. Stigma, with the attendant feelings of guilt and shame or defensive denial, is one of the biggest challenges that young people with mental disorders face (Kendell, 2001). Similar studies of young people's attitudes indicated negative attitudes towards mental health difficulties (Bailey, 1999; Eskin, 1995; Gale and Holling, 2000; Weiss, 1994). Young people use mockery, pejorative language and social exclusion to reduce the perceived threat posed by peers with mental health difficulties (Bailey, 1999; Hayward and Bright, 1997; Kendell, 2001). There is also a tendency to trivialise the problems of young people in comparison with those of adults. The sense of shame and embarrassment that surrounds the concept of mental health difficulty contributes to the fact that such problems are often unrecognised or even denied. Armstrong, Hill and Secker (2000) noted the unsophisticated methods that young people use to deal with personal mental health problems, such as bottling them up, sleeping, drinking alcohol or simply hoping that they would go away.
Bailey (1999) and Eskin (1995) consider that the urgent challenge is for healthcare professionals to join with educators to provide programmes of education if attitudes are to change. To this end, the RCPsych has produced a CD-ROM, Changing Minds, designed for use at Key Stages 3 and 4. Changing Minds includes a wide range of resources - audio, video, visual and written - with references for further information and help. Changing Minds is linked to the PSHE and Citizenship curriculum and covers such issues as depression, addiction, stress, self-harm, eating disorders and schizophrenia. The content of the CD-ROM has been designed for secondary school pupils in general and some evaluation has been carried out (Naylor, Cowie, Talamelli & Dawkins, 2002) which indicates that this kind of resource has a positive impact on young people's attitudes towards mental health issues by increasing their knowledge about the field and by heightening their empathy for peers in distress.
However, its impact has not been specifically evaluated in the context of young offenders, a target group that is known to be at risk of mental health difficulty and that is particularly vulnerable. We simply do not know whether there are gaps in the resource pack or areas where the materials could be made more directly relevant to young people in prison environments.
Aims
The aims of the project are to:
discover the views of young offenders about the Changing Minds CD-ROM;
elicit their views on its strengths;
elicit their views on ways in which it could be adapted to the specific needs of young people in prison;
collate the information gathered from young offenders themselves;
use this information as a basis for the development of appropriate materials for a new CD-ROM specifically designed for this target group.
References
Armstrong, C., Hill, H. & Secker, J. (2000). Young people's perceptions of mental health. Children and Society, 14, 60-72.
Bailey, S. (1999). Young people, mental illness and stigmatisation. Psychiatric Bulletin, 23, 107-110.
Naylor, P., Cowie, H., Talamelli, L. & Dawkins, J. (2002). The development of adolescent pupils' knowledge about and attitudes towards mental health difficulties. Project Report to PPP Medical Healthcare Trust.
Crisp, A., Gelder, M. G., Rix, S., Meltzer, H. I., & Rowlands, O. J. (2000). The stigmatisation of people with mental illness. British Journal of Psychiatry, 177, 4-7.
Eskin, M. (1995). Suicidal behaviour as related to social support and assertiveness among Swedish and Turkish high school students: a cross-cultural investigation. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 51, 158-72.
Gale, E. & Holling, A. (2000). Young people and stigma. YoungMinds Magazine, 49-50.
Gelder, M. (2001). The Royal College of Psychiatrists' survey of public opinions about mentally ill people. In Crisp, A. (ed.) Every Family in the Land: Understanding Prejudice and Discrimination Against People with mental Illness, 28-33. CD-ROM. London: Royal College of Psychiatrists.
Hayward, P. & Bright, J. A. (1997). Stigma and mental illness: a review and critique. Journal of Mental Health, 6, 345-3564.
Kendell, R. E. (2001). Why stigma matters. In A. Crisp (ed.) Every Family in the Land: Understanding Prejudice and Discrimination Against People with mental Illness, 28-33. CD-ROM. London: Royal College of Psychiatrists.
Weiss, M. (1986). Children's attitudes towards the mentally ill - a developmental analysis. Psychological Reports, 58, 11-20.
Weiss, M. (1994). Children's attitudes towards the mentally ill, an eight year longitudinal follow-up. Psychological Reports, 74, 51-56.
For further details please contact:
Professor Helen CowieEuropean Institute of Health and Medical SciencesUniversity of SurreyStag HillSurreyGU2 7TE
Tel: +44 (0)1483 689726
helen@ukobservatory.com

poverty reduction strategy (PRS)

one should build on
existing elements; recognize that changes will be gradual; aim at starting a
process of change rather than at designing a “perfect” system; focus on
building flexible arrangements that can be adapted to change; clearly define
relations, incentives, and activities; identify entry points in decision-making
processes and, in particular, the budget process; and adapt the various
outputs to the intended users.

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTPAME/Resources/383220-1153403450741/summary.pdf

Beyond the Numbers: Understanding the Institutions for Monitoring Poverty Reduction Strategies

Beyond the Numbers: Understanding the Institutions for Monitoring Poverty Reduction Strategies
Central to implementing a successful Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) is a system for monitoring the execution of the strategy and for tracking progress in poverty reduction. Such a system is vital to creating a PRS strategy that is evidence based, results focused and has the flexibility to evolve over time. While significant literature exists on the technical issues of PRS monitoring, less guidance is available on the institutional challenges. Yet, it is the institutional issues which undermine the usefulness and sustainability of monitoring systems. The publication, Beyond the Numbers: Understanding the Institutions for Monitoring Poverty Reduction Strategies, looks specifically at these institutional challenges of the PRS monitoring systems - the rules and processes which bring the various actors and monitoring activities together in a coherent framework. Author(s): Tara Bedi; Aline Coudouel; Marcus Cox; Markus Goldstein; Nigel Thornton (2006), The World Bank, PDF: 260p.

You can't step into the same river twice

The Buddha stressed the dynamic nature of existence. This resonates with the ideas of some early Greek philosophers, such as Heraclitus, who maintained that "All is flux" and "You can't step into the same river twice." Now, all this sounds like common sense. Yet there is something about our minds and emotions that kicks against the idea of change. We are forever trying to break the dynamic world-dance, which is a unity, into separate "things," which we then freeze in the ice of thought. But the world-dance doggedly refuses to remain fragmented and frozen. It swirls on, changing from moment to moment, laughing at all our pitiful attempts to organize and control it. In order to live skillfully, in harmony with the dynamic Universe, it is essential to accept the reality of change and impermanence. The wise person therefore travels lightly, with a minimum of clutter, maintaining the proverbial "open mind" in all situations, for he or she knows that tomorrow's reality will not be the same as today's. He or she will also have learned the divine art of letting go--which means not being attached to people and possessions and situations, but rather, when the time for parting comes, allowing that to happen graciously.