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Support for families of death in custody victims to attend UFFC Conference

Bereaved Families Speak Out
Bereaved Families Speak Out

provided by: UFFC
published: 28 June 2018

The United Families & Friends Campaign has some funds to support affected family members to attend the INTERROGATING STATE VIOLENCE: CUSTODIAL DEATHS, JUSTICE AND RESISTANCE conference that will take place on 26 October 2018 in London.

The conference aims to bring to focus research on the issue of deaths in custody in the UK. The anniversary event will map trajectories of struggles for justice over two decades, highlighting new research and policy directions, as well as offering contextualised and historical understandings of state violence.

The conference will be followed by the UFFC 20th Anniversary Procession on Saturday 27 October 2018 at Trafalgar Square, London.

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Tippa Naphtali

Mental health triage scheme recognised internationally

Benjamin Zephaniah for 4WardEverUK & CI Sean Russell – The One Show 2014

source: West Midlands Police
published: 14 April 2018

A specialist emergency response unit which offers immediate assessments to suspected mental health sufferers in the West Midlands has been recognised internationally – after counterparts from Australia visited the region to learn about best practice.

The Mental Health Triage scheme sees West Midlands Police officers joined by psychiatric nurses and paramedics to attend calls from people who are believed to be suffering from mental ill health.

The successful police and NHS partnership means patients get on-the-spot assessments at their home or on the street and can be taken to safe health facilities for the support they need rather than held in police custody.

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Tippa Naphtali

Independent Review of the Mental Health Act: interim report

Mental Health Word Cloudsource: GOV.UK
published: 1 May 2018

Everybody has “mental health”, but far too many of us have mental health problems. For many years this has existed in a twilight zone, both in society in general and the NHS in particular.

There is now a welcome desire and indeed some success in bringing it into the light. The effect of light, though, is to illuminate not only what is important but also to draw attention to those areas which, whilst no longer in the dark, remain very much in the shadows.

In recent years, there has been necessary attention given to issues such as anxiety, depression, relationship problems, how people react to adversity and so on. We have seen unprecedented investment in talking therapies for those with common mental health problems, and an upsurge of general interest in mental health, aided by campaigns such as “Time to Change” or “Heads Together”.

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