FRE

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SPR

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2011

ISSU

E 40

EQUILIBRIUMONLINE Magazine for Wellbeing

32 PageOnline

Special

Cool Creatives Coping Strategies ECT - New Research Tizzy & Polly VolunteerThomas - A Personal JourneyEpigenetics - latest science

FREE

EQUILIBRIUM 2

Patron: Dr Liz Miller (Mind Champion 2008)

Photo copyright remains with all individual artists and Equilibrium. All rights reserved. 2011

Equilibrium is devised, created, and produced entirely by team members with experience of the mental health system.

If you know anyone who would like to be on our mailing list and get the magazine four times a year (no spam!) please email: equi-libriumteam@hotmail.co.uk(www.haringey.gov.uk/equilibrium).

Front cover image: Anthony

Web alerts:

Design: www.parkegraphics.co.uk

EQUILIBRIUM 3

contact us

the team

contributions

advertisement

Equilibrium, Clarendon Centre, Clarendon Road, London, N8 ODJ. 02084894860, equilibriumteam@hotmail.co.uk. We are in the office on Wednesday mornings 9.45-11.45, but you can leave a message at other times and we’ll get back to you.

Wanted: contributions to Equilibrium! Please email us with your news, views, poems, photos, plus articles. Anonymity guaranteed if required.

If you wish to advertise in Equilibrium email us using the contact details above.

Facilitator: Polly Mortimer. Editorial team: Pumla Kisosonkole, Angela, Siham Beleh, Ian Stewart, Michael O’Connell, Tizzy McKenzie. Graphic design: Anthony Parké. The views expressed in Equilibrium are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editorial team.

Our second online only edition hits the back of the Net with a

wham! Fizzing issue and issues - Ian’s smoking story, Thomas’

first person account of his individual journey, coping strategies

for wellbeing, latest evidence based findings on ECT, powerful

poetry, Equilibrium members stories underpinning the European

Year of the Volunteer 2011 and lots of other treats. Enjoy!

contents editorial

4 -5 Lynn Featherstone writes; Black History Month - Sisters in Spirit.

6-7 Sandra Robinson: Art saved my Bacon.

8-9 Volunteering Tales: Tizzy and Polly.

10-11 Studio 306: cool ceramix.

12-13 Epigenetics special.

14-15 Coping strategies: Angela’s investigations. Bookspot.

16-17 Thomas to Jesus.

18-19 ECT latest; V&A narrative in embroidery.

20-21 Mahalia Amartey poem.

22-23 Fishtank review, Mental Health in the Media awards.

24-25 Smoking: Ian’s advice.

26-27 Mongolia pictures, High Society exhibition, mood mapping workshops.

28-29 Big Society - con or pro? Food hygiene; Michael’s wait for CBT. New £ for talking therapies...

30-31 Cafe in the woods. A Peculiar night.

Summer/ Issue 38EQUILIBRIUM Summer/ Issue 38

i Black History MonthArt exhibition

An art exhibition for Black History Month

took place in Hornsey library - Crouch

End last October. The art exhibition was

done by 11 artists called Sisters in Spirit.

There were paintings of the same

black women. The pictures were nice

and very colourful, but there was very

little represent black culture, in com-

parison to previous black art exhibitions

that I have reviewed.

However there was one picture of

a black lady with chains only on one

arm. To me this represents the end of

slavery. (Both my parents come from

Jamaica). You cannot see which part

of the world the artist originates from.

There were images of a black lady

coming out of a flower this was unusual

but and pretty.

This was a nice exhibition with lots of

colour, but lacked culture.Angela

i Stop Press

Lynn Featherstone, our local MP, has

intervened on our behalf to see if we

can get Equilibrium printed again in the

future. She wrote to Haringey’s Corpo-

Carole Spiers, a BBC broadcaster

and author who talked about growth

within people and gave us a taster of

her work. Also, Julian Smith, 2009 Final-

ist from Britain’s Got Talent made an

appearance. Finally, a previous stu-

dent at Hillcroft, Praise Asemota spoke

about her successful career and how

she became a Talk show Host on Faith

TV Sky Channel. I enjoyed the event

throughout and was pleased to have

attended. Lunch and refreshments

were provided.

For further information about the college and If you are interested in any of the courses that are available, please contact Hillcroft on: 0208 399 2688 or visit their website on www.hillcroft.ac.uk

i HUN

Haringey User Network in its 11th issue

has short succinct articles with news

past and present, as well as general

information, so that its usefulness lies

in the fact that at a glance of this 4

page leaflet one can choose to let go

or to be involved without first plough-

ing through highly specialised articles

wishing to see , for instance, where

one can get “support for people ex-

ploring ways of expressing how they

are feeling” etc, walks, activities etc.

Pumla

rate Resources stating concerns that

the magazine had become online only

‘potentially limiting the readership and

leaving vulnerable people without the

support of the magazine’.

So far the appeal has been unsuccess-

ful but watch this space…..

i Hillcroft College Hillcroft College Celebration of

Achievement June 2010- 90th year

Anniversary

Hillcroft is a National Residential Col-

lege for women. It has been founded

in 1920 and set in a Victorian house in

Surbiton.The college offers a range of

short, weekend and various courses,

It can enable women to gain new

skills or update some skills they already

have, build their confidence and meet

new people whilst learning.

Last year in June, I was invited to

Hillcroft 90th year Anniversary Cel-

ebration. The Principal June Ireton

introduced herself and gave a short

speech welcoming everyone present.

She highlighted that most importantly

priorities were given to students’ suc-

cess and achievement and all of the

staff were very proud. Also I found it

quite remarkable and moving when

June Ireton shared an important mo-

ment with everybody stating “A 97

year old previous student wrote me

a letter as she couldn’t attend...” She

read the letter to us with a smile on her

face, it was incredible!

The Worshipful Mayor of the Royal

Borough of Kingston Upon Thames,

Councillor Chrissie Hitchcock praised

Hillcroft and everyone’s hard work.

It was followed later on that day by

news

EQUILIBRIUM 4

Proud mama by Melanie LaRocque

Siham with Praise Asemota (right)

Principal, June Ireton and Colleges’ Governors

Summer/ Issue 38Summer/ Issue 38 www.haringey.gov.uk/equilibrium EQUILIBRIUM

i Radio 3: More Writing

When David Foster Wallace died in

2008, at the age of 46, he was consid-

ered by many to be the most gifted

and linguistically exuberant American

novelist and short story writer of his gen-

eration. His books include the 1,000-

page Infinite Jest, a novel of grand

ambition and stylistic experiment that

came complete with 388 endnotes.

(Footnotes, digressions, constant sec-

ond guessing of every thought are fea-

tures of Wallace’s signature style).

In April The Pale King, Wallace’s final,

unfinished novel will be published. Few

literary novels have been more eagerly

anticipated in recent years. Its great

subject is Boredom.

i Comedy

Warning: May Contain Nuts was per-

formed as a cabaret night at the

Brighton Comedy Festival in late 2010.

Users of mental health services in

Berkshire and Sussex were invited by

Company Paradiso, an arts charity, to

try standup. Seaneen Molloy, a blog-

ger (Secret Life of a Manic Depressive)

took part after being initially sceptical.

‘Mental illness in comedy is usually con-

fined to hideous caricature on sketch

shows. You’ll get a madcap old lady or

a drooling imbecile’. She also feared it

would have a ‘care-in-the-community

feel. People would be like ‘as look at

those mental people, how brave they

are.’’ Her routine offers a user’s guide

to psychiatric appointments (‘rule one:

look like shit’).

i LoopLondon Outer Orbital Park

LOOP has a 2 page guide for walks

around the capital with as much prac-

tical guide as any given group desires/

requires. Discussion/community meet-

ings - these are monthly on a middle

Wednesday of the month. Activities

and opportunities for service users/

survivors are discussed. Meetings are at

Excel House on the High Road oppo-

site the Bus Garage in Tottenham.

i Charity Spotlight

Nafsiyat – Intercultural therapy centre

Nafsiyat provides intercultural psycho-

therapy and counselling for clients

from diverse backgrounds. The thera-

pists themselves come from a wide

range of ethnic, cultural and linguistic

backgrounds. It offers services to peo-

ple from ethnic and cultural minorities,

for people in mixed cultural relation-

ships as well as anyone for whom

cultural matters are an issue. Training

is offered inhouse and bespoke to

individuals and agencies in order to

enhance professional competence.

There are seminar series and workshops

and a yearly conference. Services are

free or low cost to residents of Cam-

den, Islington, Enfield and Haringey.

Do apply by email, writing or fax if you

would like to use the service, enclosing

name, address, borough, date of birth,

phone number and language spoken.

There is no drop-in service – access is

by appointment only.Admin@nafsiyat.org.uk

Fax:02075611884

T:02072636947

www.nafsiyat.org.uk

i Listen out: Radio 4:

Out of the vortex: Poet Matthew Sweeney claims that poets are more

likely to undergo a depressive illness

than others – he says 30 times more

likely (I don’t know where he got this

figure). ‘It’s because the unconscious

drives poetry’…Poetry is all about ‘

the jumps and sudden lurches that

forge new connections, new ways of

seeing.’ His exploration of this terrain,

which he called a ‘ wild country’ was

done through poems. He read one of

his poems, referring to his experience of

depression, and there were readings of

John Clare’s last poem and Emily Dick-

inson’s Could it be Madness – this?

Jean Binta Breeze performed Riddym

Ravings. She talked of living with schizo-

phrenia since her early 20s and the im-

pact of recurrent breakdowns.

She can no longer read: ‘Since the last

six or seven breakdowns, I can’t do

more that a paragraph.’ She can only

write when well,weaving her experi-

ence of illness into her poems. Riddym

Ravings was influenced by times when

she ‘used to listen to radio and do any-

thing the radio said’.

EQUILIBRIUM 5

news

EQUILIBRIUM 6

i

arts

art saved myThe title of Sandra’s exhibition is lifted from a featured work in which build-ing block style letters are laid out to form the sentence, ‘As a Jewish woman art saved my bacon’. The letters in the piece group together in odd combinations that make it diffi-cult to decipher meaning, suggest-ing that it is art rather than words or doctrines that communicate who she is to the world. Sandra comments: ‘After all these years of being unwell I’m finally able to come out with my first solo exhibition and say: this is me, this is who I am.’

After showing much promise and being accepted to art-college a year early (age 17), Sandra dropped out due to periods of depression. Decades later, which included a pain-ful 13 year creative block where she was unable to produce any work,

she was diagnosed as being bipo-lar. Following a referral from the day hospital she was attending, Sandra was supported to regain belief in her art by Community Link, a department at Barnet College providing support to adult learners. It is this that has given her the confidence to finally put on her own exhibition, with the support of Together Our Space.Much of the work on display in this exhibition is humorous and powerfully hopeful as it emerges from painful and difficult periods in Sandra’s life, to eventual wellbeing. In Dreaming of Cream Cakes, the striking image used on the poster for the exhibi-tion, the colours and tone remain stubbornly bright, however Sandra describes the image as, ‘an expres-sion of my low self-esteem, and the angry feelings I had toward myself at a certain point in my life. My psychiatrist at the time said I was an ‘entertainer’. Like many people I often use humour and jokes to survive bad times.’”

Bacon“THE FIRST SOLO EXHIBITION BY JEWISH artist Sandra Robinson, Art Saved My Bacon, was on show at Our Space Gallery , Old Street. Life-size sculptures plus paintings and poems map Sandra’s journey through her childhood, cultural heritage, and periods of mental illness, to recovery and happiness.

From: Campaign for Independent Living/ Disability Reveiw

EQUILIBRIUM 7

art saved myBaconarts

Summer/ Issue 38EQUILIBRIUMEQUILIBRIUM8

Tizzy McKenzie Charity shop volunteer

I volunteer in an animal charity shop

in north London. When I first come in I

tidy the shop which also allows me to

get an idea of what is in the shop, if

people ask me for this and that. Then I

either go on the till or I work in the store

room downstairs. The till work is quite a

challenge as I sometimes panic if I get

a complicated run of prices to plug in

to the till. However I’m usually fine.

I love the job because we take every-

thing and anything in the way of

donations and it’s exciting because

you never know what you are going

to get out of the bags people bring in.

Sometimes we don’t even know what

donated objects are and we have to

try and guess. If there are games you

have to open them up to check all

the pieces are there. Antiques have

to be valued. I tag clothes and price

them. You have to be able to recog-

nise which are designer labels and put

a value on them. Toys and electrical

items have to be tested for safety.

We also dress the window and have a

different display each week. The theme

of the display depends on the type of

donations we have been receiving (for

example if we have been receiving a

lot of toys or games) When you throw

things in the bin you have to completely

destroy them to stop people going

through our rubbish bags.

I also had to attend a talk about what

to do if there is a robbery. I was taught

how to look out for potential suspicious

characters and and the best way to

act during and after a robbery.

The atmosphere in the shop is very

friendly. For some reason it is mainly

women who work there and more

women come in the shop then men.

People always think they can barter in

a charity shop but we are not allowed

to bring down the price of any item.

We do chat to the customers a lot and

we are all animal lovers. Lots of our

conversations are about animals.

I find it very rewarding working in a

charity shop. It really boosts your confi-

dence meeting and talking to the

general public. Sometimes you get a

stroppy customer which really stretches

Rags, bags & old mags...

charity

Summer/ Issue 38 EQUILIBRIUM 9

your assertiveness skills, and it is all for a

good cause. It is also a stepping stone

for going back to paid work eventually.

Polly MortimerCharity shop volunteer

I’ve volunteered on and off for OXFAM

books and music, Crouch End, and

before that, years ago, I worked in a

Scope shop at the Angel ( then called

the Spastics Society).

The Angel shop was a great thera-

peutic experience. Having tottered

through a lot of my twenties in a

combo of disorder and prescribed

knockout drugs, it was very hard to

contemplate a 9-5 professional gradu-

ate-style job. I wandered over the road

one day to meet Scruff and Happy ,

a brilliant couple – ex-boxer and shop

manager – who drove a vintage taxi.

They took me on without a murmur

and I worked one day a week, serving

a clientele as diverse as city gents on

the hunt for polo helmets and teenag-

ers looking for baby clothes. It was a

dark cavern of a shop , and was soon

knocked down to make way for the

huge new Angel station development,

but it served me well.

OXFAM is a cave of delights. Yards of

desirable and non desirable books pour

in , and the volunteers sift through, send-

ing some on to other stores, some for

recycling and la crème goes out in the

shop. A trove of old postcards came

in before Christmas and I have been

sorting those into the pre-first world war

(very valuable) to the seaside PC of

the 70s. Vinyl goes like hot pies to the

connoisseurs – who crowd in on a Thurs-

day, and the occasional visitor. There

are events like poetry readings, flash-

mobs, the visit of a Dalek, carols and

more. The manager, Chris, is endlessly

patient and open to new ideas, good

with volunteers and runs a brilliant shop.

They raise thousands for OXFAM and

provide North London with an Elysium

of gifts, stories, beautiful illustrated art

books, maps, comics, airport fiction,

nonfiction, lifestyle books, cookbooks,

travel books and records as well as a

friendly atmosphere.

Rags, bags & old mags...image: Anthony

charity

i

EQUILIBRIUM 10

THE COOL CREATIVES

STUDIO ROCKS THE HOUSE

arts

‘306 is a brilliant creative space, and

they take commissions! So far I have

bought a handmade bag, earrings

and a quillt worthy of a medieval

potentate. Lately they made me

numbers for our house, and these

stunning tiles as a splashback. So if you

need expertly crafted textiles, pottery,

jewellery or clothes, get in touch! Thor-

oughly recommended.’ Polly

They offer a professionally equipped arts and crafts studio space for people who are recovering from severe and enduring mental illness and who are able to work independently, as well as provide a space for contemporary artists. They have facilities for textiles, printmaking, ceramics and jewellery making.

Studio 306 is part of the Chocolate

Factory complex, a thriving creative

arts business environment in Wood

Green. Artwork can be commissioned

by the public.

If you require interpreting services or

information in a different language we

will be happy to arrange it.

EQUILIBRIUM 11

arts

306 studio shotsTop:

Creating cool ceramicsMiddle:

The results speak for themselves

Bottom: The screen pririnters

tools of the trade

Images: Ian Stewart

Opposite page:A commision of bathroom

tiles for Polly Mortimer by the Clarendon ceramics group

How to access their servicesTo use Studio 306, you need to be

a member of either Clarendon Centre or Six8four Centre. The

centres will refer you to us. Your tutor at the centres will assess

you to confirm that you have the necessary skills and that you are

able to work unsupervised.

Where to find usStudio 306,

The Chocolate FactoryClarendon Road

Wood Green N22 6XJTel 020 8365 8477

We are open Monday to Friday 10am - 6pm. Please note that the

service does not have disabled access. Although we have a lift to

the 3rd floor, there are two steps up to the studio.

COMMISSIONS TAKEN

Summer/ Issue 38Summer Autumn Issue 38EQUILIBRIUM 12

research

epi genetics

Summer/ Issue 38Summer Autumn Issue 38 www.haringey.gov.uk/equilibrium EQUILIBRIUM 13

research

RACHEL YEHUDA A DIRECTOR OF THE TRAUMATIC STRESS

Studies Division of the Mount Sinai School of Medi-

cine in New York City is “one of a growing number

of researchers who think that our response to stress is

shaped early in life, sometimes even in the womb” so

says an article by Laura Spinney in the New Scientist

(27 Nov. 2010)

So called “epigenetic mechanisms “can alter the activ-

ity of the genes we inherit-though not the genes them-

selves-and could affect our mental health later in life.

Behavioural or neuro epigenetics works on investigat-

ing the influence of the environment on our develop-

ment helping to “tease out the molecular mechanisms

responsible” The area of research entailed in epigenet-

ics is whether or not genes lie dormant in our system or

whether they are “active” or “turned on”, or if in fact

they occur in an individuals lifetime or are passed on

from one generation to the next.

The science is focused on our responses to stress

including post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and

the chemicals released into the brain. Yehuda’s study

involved holocaust survivors and pregnant women who

had been involved in the 9/11 attacks.

The research is of interest to those who seek to under-

stand mental illness and its causes and possibly depres-

sion and anxiety etc too .Breaking down the funda-

mental causes of such illnesses in this way can help to

understand the body’s chemistry which in turn can facil-

itate the development of treatments to combat such

illnesses. We have to learn to understand the processes

in which we don’t water the leaves of a tree to produce

results but instead tend to the roots in order to encour-

age the healthy growth of the whole tree. The research

of today can become the solutions of tomorrow.

epi

CAN OUR RESPONSES TO STRESS BE SHAPED IN THE WOMB?

words: Ian StewartImage: Anthony

Summer/ Issue 38EQUILIBRIUM Summer/ Issue 38

ANGELAI have been a mental health service user for a long time. I

have not been admitted to the mental hospital for 13 years.

My medication has changed at the beginning of this time

and has contributed to my well being.

I find keeping busy and always being in company with

family and friends beneficial. I would not take an overdose

in front of other people. I like exercising. I do one aerobic

class a week, 2 hours walking a week in the morning ( I

like to hear the birds singing) and I swim twice week. I eat

healthily, ie meat and two veg, and five a day, and I keep

alcohol down to a minimum. I did Cognitive Behavioural

Therapy in 2006 which is a form of counselling. I found it

helped me to stop procrastinating and it helped me to

carry out my responsibilities.

I have been with Equilibrium Magazine since 2005. I find it

stimulating and interesting. I get work satisfaction for writing

for this magazine. I find doing the housework therapeutic.

Cleanliness is next to godliness.

I used to have a very stressful life, which put me in a nega-

tive mode and made me focus on negative things all

the time. I became pessimistic. To change this pattern I

approached life in a more balanced way. If I spoke to a

friend about a problem, I made the decision to talk about

the problem also when it was sorted out. When something

good happened I would make the effort to call her about

something good aswell. I found this useful and I see life a

more positive way.

OLIVE FROSTCompletely recovered, medication free for 25 years from

severe psychosis. Things that have helped: love of my chil-

dren and partner,stability in home life / relationship etc,

more or less alcohol free and giving up smoking 20 years

ago, employment, lots of relaxation, long baths, listening to

music, getting to the country, long walks, swimming in the

sea, reading and craft.

MARCO LANZAROTESome kind of structure to the day e.g Equilibrium, contact

with friends, taking medication regularly on time, family

support/contact, GP support/contact, reading/Writing/

meditation

TIZZYEver since I came out of hospital, I take myself out at least

once a day for about 5 minutes. This is so I connect to the

rest of society.

NIGEL PRESTATYNMy most obvious coping strategy is Transcendental

Meditation, which I’ve been doing for a couple of years now.

When feeling stressed, I can take 20 minutes out, meditate,

and find myself in a far better place. Sometimes it works

better than other times. I try to exercise away tension by

taking a brisk walk each day, for 30 minutes or so, and usually

first thing after the school run. Instead of driving to my studio, I

now walk the 45 minutes through woodlands, which is refresh-

ing and far more enjoyable than negotiating traffic. I also go

to the gym once a week, where I do a little strength work,

and listen to the latest whacky podcasts

PAMELA KAYLevel of care away from clinical, being treated as a person,

and individual not a number – yet another case, eliciting

what matters to PEOPLE – as suppose to statistics, future

planning i.e control in one’s life, not being imposed on by

outside influences, learning to be appreciative, look for

positive rather than negatives e.g you stub a toe: pain

worse, would be a broken limb! Minimum medication.

MICHAELI believe constructive activities are the best way to achieve

a mental balance. To focus on something positive helps to

keep away the negative thoughts, anything from reading,

walking, talking, swimming, or any other sport that makes

you happy. Being happy is the best oping strategy of all :-)

EQUILIBRIUM 14

IN MENTAL HEALTH

Mental Health is treated with medication, occupational therapy and counselling. However people from the mental health system have some of their own coping strategies with this complex illness.

Here are some accounts from different people with mental health issues.

COPING STRATEGIES

Summer/ Issue 38Summer/ Issue 38 www.haringey.gov.uk/equilibrium EQUILIBRIUMEQUILIBRIUM 15

The woman that thought too much

by Joanne Limburg

Reviewed: Siham Beleh

Very honest memoir of one woman’s

life as a sufferer of Obsessive-Compul-

sive Disorder. Joanne Limburg suffers

from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder:

she thinks things she doesn’t want to

think, and she does things she doesn’t

want to do.

As a small child, she would chew

her hair all day; a few years later,

when she should have been doing

her homework, she was pacing her

bedroom, worrying about the unfair-

ness of life as a woman, and the short-

ness of her legs.

By the time she was an adult, obses-

sive thoughts and compulsive behav-

iours had come to control her life.

She knew that something was wrong

with her, but it would take many years

before she understood what that

something was.

“The Woman Who Thought Too

Much” follows Limburg’s quest to

understand her predicament and to

manage her symptoms, taking the

reader with her on a long, twisted

journey through consulting rooms,

libraries and internet sites, as she seeks

to discover all she can about rumina-

tion, scrupulosity, avoidance, thought-

action fusion, fixed-action patterns,

anal fixations, schemas, basal ganglia,

tics and synapses.On the way, she

encounters competing interpreta-

tions of her condition, as offered by

psychoanalysts, neuropsychiatrists and

cognitive psychologists, and does her

best to come to terms with an illness

which turns out to be both common,

and even - sometimes - treatable. This

honest, moving and beautifully written

memoir is a sometimes shocking, often

sad, and yet also humorous revelation

of what it is like to live with so debilitat-

ing a condition. It is also an exploration

of the inner world of a poet and an

intense evocation of the persistence

and courage of the human spirit in the

face of mental illness.

Hector and the search for happiness

by Francois Lelord

Reviewed: Siham Beleh

François Lelord is a French psychia-

trist, feeling depressed that he cannot

make his patients happy; he embarks

on a journey around the world to

find the secret of true happiness. His

encounters include conversations with

distinguished professors and fascinating

Chinese students. He travels to Africa

and China then to the United States.

Hector’s lessons for life make sure to be

good to your friends, be loved for who

you are, take holidays in the sun and

many more. Hector and the Search for

Happiness is an account of a young

psychiatrist who finds he’s dissatisfied

because, while he can help many of

his patients, he finds he can’t make

people happy. His small adventures

and experiences teach him a thing or

two about human happiness.

When Hector starts off heading to

China He’d never been there before,

and it seemed to him like a good

place to think about happiness he

brings along a little notebook and starts

recording the lessons he learns:

Lesson no. 1: Making comparisons can

spoil your happiness.

Lesson no. 3: Many people see happi-

ness only in their future.

Lesson no.12: Its harder to be happy in

a country run by bad people.

He adds to them as he goes along

and he repeats them as he goes

along, listing the same ones repeat-

edly. Hector asks various people about

happiness, and observes them finding

that even when material comfort is

given, happiness is not assured.

Although he has a girlfriend he also

falls in love with an escort his friend sets

him up with in China. The adventures

are relatively minor: he visits a monk,

faces his Chinese lovers’ employer,

meets a drug dealer in Africa, gets

kidnapped, has his brain scanned to

see how it lights up under different

conditions. Along the way he continu-

ously reassesses what ‘happiness’

means, realising how very different it

can be in different circumstances.

The book is easy to read and can

be amusing. It has been a success and

has so far sold over two million copies!

In addition, the author has a new book

in the series “Hector & the Secrets of

Love”.

reviews

BOOKS

EQUILIBRIUM 10

THIS IS HIS FIRST EVER TRIP TO EUROPE,

and he is excited with anticipation.

The room number is no longer known

(records don’t go back to 1951), but

the hotel is Regents Palace. It’s a

pleasant hotel, very unassuming, and

he is sure he is going to be comfort-

able here. The purpose of the visit is to

discover new business opportunities.

He is successful. But before returning

to the Gold Coast, there are social

matters that need dealing with. He

has never slept with a white girl before,

and it would be almost unthinkable to

return home and report that he had

unsuccessful in that department. So he

surveys the game.

It is May 30th 1952. A male child is

born. He was successful. The boy is

named Thomas by his mother, and for

the moment at least she gives the boy

her surname. He is a handsome boy,

and he soon gets used to being spoilt.

I’m sure his mother would have spoilt

him also, but in these early days of his

young life it is other women who spoil

him. For Mum is a working mother, and

she soon realizes that looking after

young Thomas whilst working and also

supporting her ageing parents is a

task for the gods, not for her. So she

hands him over to a Catholic charity,

and from there he is fostered out to

an English couple in Essex. He spends

many happy years there, but his life

doesn’t really begin until he is seven-

teen. Dad is back on the scene.

The year is 1968. My father has written

to me and invited my mother and I to

meet him in his home in Golders Green.

We both arrive and my father is the

one to open the door to us. I am meet-

ing him for the first time ever, and my

mother is meeting him again for the first

time in sixteen years.

My foster mother believed that I was

my fathers only child, so it came as a

shock to discover I had six brothers and

two sisters living in North London alone.

My father asked me if there was

anything he could do for me. I said yes

– please get me out of my foster home.

He agreed and set me up with a bank

account, which I used to rent digs in

Southend-on Sea where I was studying

‘O’ levels.

A revolution comes before family. So

my last three years working for my

dad were difficult. But he still trusted

me and gave me responsibility after

responsibility. Office Manager, Estate

Manager, Retail Manager, Export

Manager. I felt good, and delivered

good on all my portfolios.

I’ve been a single man since my

divorce. I’ve been in many relation-

ships since 1987, but none of them

First person account

First Person

From Thomas to JesusThe story starts at a hotel in Piccadilly Circus, London W1A. The year is 1951, and a middle thirtyish man from the former Gold Coast has just booked in to the hotel ...

EQUILIBRIUM 16

EQUILIBRIUM 11

have resulted in a second marriage. I

am not used to the single life now, and

I am as sure as any man can be that I

will not change my single status.

In October 1979 I had a revelation

that I am Jesus. I was very excited,

and immediately I told members

of my family and fellow managers.

They informed my father who in turn

arranged for me to see a good friend

of his, who happened to be a psychia-

trist.

I was admitted to Legon teaching

hospital, a very pleasant hospital

outside the city of Accra, Ghana. The

usual injection and tablets, and I was

discharged in two weeks.

I remember wanting to travel to South-

end-on Sea in Essex to visit my foster

mother who was dying of cancer. I was

anxious about this. But once my father

realized how important the journey

was to me he released the funds and

I saw my foster mother for the last time

in March 1980. I told a friend after my

return to Ghana that I couldn’t have

lived in peace, and my foster mother

couldn’t have died in peace unless we

had seen each other one last time.

My illness is called hypomania. It is a

condition whereby the mind is over

stimulated. I can’t sleep, I have a lot of

energy, and I can come into conflict

with the police. I have been admitted

to psychiatric hospitals several times

since 1985 in England. But I am glad I

had my illness. It has made my life very

exciting. I don’t even mind my stays in

hospital. My experience of the mentally

ill is that on the whole they are very

nice people. I’ve had friends out of

hospital. I read a book once on ‘spir-

itual unfoldment’, where the authors

argued that what psychiatrists call

psychosis can sometimes be instead

a profound spiritual awakening. The

symptoms can be very similar. The

difference between ‘spiritual untold-

ment’ and mental illness is that with

the former, people eventually return

to normal, and can lead fulfilling lives,

integrated once again with society.

I believe that is what happened to me.

After discovering that I am Jesus my

life was never going to be the same.

But thirty one years on I am well, and I

haven’t been admitted to hospital in

exactly ten years.

My name was made legal twenty years

later on 8th October 1999. It is one of

the most important decisions I have

ever taken. The journey to this point

has been long and difficult. But I don’t

regret the journey at all.

Image: Anthony

EQUILIBRIUM 17

Summer/ Issue 38EQUILIBRIUM Summer/ Issue 38

the treatment period. There are

no placebo-controlled studies

evaluating the hypothesis that ECT

prevents suicide, and no robust

evidence from other kinds of studies

to support the hypothesis.”

“Given the strong evidence of

persistent and, for some, perma-

nent brain dysfunction, primarily

evidenced in the form of retro-

grade and anterograde amnesia,

and the evidence of a slight but

significant increased risk of death,

the cost-benefit analysis for ECT is so

poor that its use cannot be scientifi-

cally justified”.

The authors of the review, which

cites 112 previous studies, are Dr

John Read, Psychology Dept., the

University of Auckland and Profes-

sor Richard Bentall, University of

Bangor, Wales.

Dr Read: “The findings of this

review suggest that campaigns by

ECT recipients all over the world to

ban ECT are supported by the lack

of scientific evidence that it is safe

or effective. Certainly the fears of

memory loss, so often dismissed as

‘subjective memory loss’ by ECT

proponents are, according to the

research, well-founded in fact.”

“The dwindling number of psychi-

atrists who still use this procedure,

which sends 150 volts through brain

cells equipped to deal with tiny

fractions of one volt are, no doubt,

well-intentioned, but the research

just does not support them.”

“If we took a rational, evidence-

based approach to the controversy

about ECT it would be abandoned,

as have other treatments once

thought to be effective, such as

rotating chairs, surprise baths and

lobotomies.”

Professor Bentall: “The very

short- term benefit gained by a

small minority cannot justify the

risks to which all ECT recipients are

exposed. The use of ECT therefore

represents a failure to introduce the

ideals of evidence-based medicine

into psychiatry. It seems there is

resistance to the research data in

the ECT community, and perhaps in

psychiatry in general.”

Professor Peter Kinderman, chair

of the British Psychological Society

Division of Clinical Psychology said:

“This review of the ineffectiveness

of ECT is a very welcome focus on

a rather worrying aspect of mental

health care. The British Psychology

has, for a long time, expressed seri-

ous reservations about the use of

ECT, and this paper supports that

position. People have a funda-

mental right to be protected from

inhuman or degrading treatment.

This paper is, therefore, yet more

support for an alternative rights-

based, evidence-based, humane

psychosocial approach to mental

health care.”

Full article available by emailing equilibriumteam@hotmail.co.uk

image: karen oliver

ECT latest

Research review finds Electro-Shock Therapy ‘cannot be scientifically justified’. A review of ‘The Effectiveness of

Electroconvulsive Therapy’ in the

December edition of the international

scientific journal Epidemiologia e

Psychiatria Sociale has found that:

“Placebo controlled studies show

minimal support for effectiveness with

either depression or schizophrenia

during the course of treatment (i.e.

only for some patients, on some meas-

ures, sometimes perceived only by

psychiatrists and not by other raters),

and no evidence, for either diagnos-

tic group, of any benefits beyond

EQUILIBRIUM 18

Summer/ Issue 38Summer/ Issue 38 www.haringey.gov.uk/equilibrium EQUILIBRIUM

I saw this harrowing embroidered cloth in the V and A

museum, South Kensington, just as their textile depart-

ment was about to close and relocate for a while.

Along with Agnes’ jacket ( see Equilibriums passim) and

Artur Bispo de Rosario’s life story coat (Equilibrium 2007 –

Fabric of Myth exhibition), this small 19th century square

cloth concentrates her life and the horrors within, and yet

again illustrates the need to tell one’s own story.

This sampler by Elizabeth Parker reveals much more than

her embroidery skills. It tells the story of the young woman

who made it. She draws us in from the start. ‘As I cannot

write I put this down simply and freely as I might speak to a

person...I can fully ...trust...’. She tells us she was born in 1813

and lived with her parents and her ten brothers and sisters

until the age of 13. She then left home to enter service as

a nurserymaid. She describes how her employers treated

her ‘with cruelty too horrible to mention’, and how she was

tempted to kill herself. As the text continues her despera-

tion increases, ‘...which way can I turn... wretch that I am …

what will become of me...’.

The despair of her words is heightened by the way she

has formed them, using tiny red cross stitches on a plain

ground. She breaks off in mid-sentence ‘what will become

of my soul’. Polly

V&AElizabeth Parker’s Square Cloth

“then I went to Fairlight housemaid to Lieut G but there cruel

usage soon made me curse my Disobedience to my parents

wishing I had taken there advice and never left the Worthy

Family of P but then alas to late they treated me with cruelty

too horrible to mention for trying to avoid the wicked design

of my master I was thrown down stairs but I very soon left

them and came to my friends but being young and foolish I

never told my friends what had happened to me they think-

ing I had a good place and good usage because I never

told them to the contrary they blamed my temper. Then I

went to live with Col P Catsfield kitchenmaid where I was

well of but there my memory failed me and my reason was

taken from me but the worthy Lady my Mistress took great

care of me and placed me in the care of my parents ……’

From Elizabeth Parker’s sampler – born 1813. Died in an almshouse in Sussex having brought up her sister’s child.

EQUILIBRIUM 19

EQUILIBRIUM 20

Mahalia AmarteyImage: Anthony

When I am not aching, when the pain won’t come backWhen I am sure that my safety, is solid won’t crackIt won’t be a memory, but a new thing for (just) meA new thing, a good thing that they can not seeNo one will be angry because they will not knowBut I plan for that also I won’t fight I’ll let go

No one will catch me I’ll soar or I’ll diveWhat ever the end point I know I’ll surviveSurvival as always but never a lifeAwake, and its endless, night after nightI cry but in silence and vomit the painI want it,I need it, just don’t know its name

I’ll smile with my whole face, my eyes and my teethI’ll give it away and not make them a theifI’ll be paid in my own coins that’s always the priceBe a good girl, the best girlI am always so nice

They come when I’m weary too tired to sleepAs much as I want to the pain runs too deepI know they won’t chase me if I run awaySo I wait and I watch for them day after day

Lie down in the darkness and pretend that its lostPretend that its okay no matter the costIll plan for a new day tomorrow will comeThe sun keeps on rising what ever I’ve done

I will build on foundations of water and sandDesign my new future, built with my bare handsI know as I’m building it’s not mine to keepAlways in earnest but I am too weak

I will watch as my future is carried awayAnd wait for tomorrow another new dayMy heart like thunder my tears like rainI send a silent message I can’t do it again

Will someone just help me to get to my feet?This time will be different I will not retreatIf someone just helps me to stake my own claimI will stand on my own, this time I will gain

If they come back , fight , no giving in My words restored, maybe I’ll winAs usual there’s violence followed by bloodIts always just mine and flows like a flood

But where is my ruler and where is my pen?I will measure their hatred and then that is whenI will write down the evidence and show to my GodThese people keep coming they steal and they rob

But who is the victim, who did the crime?How did it happen time after time?I know the answers, that fill me with dreadThe truth of the matter has never been said.

I am the lair and I am the thiefBut still search for refuge where I can just weepI stretch out my fingers and point out the blameI only seek justice and should feel no shame

But why can’t I look at you or meet your eyeBecause I know the truth which I can not denyAnd if you were to ask me I would have to tellThat I am the source of my own living hell.

POEM

EQUILIBRIUM 21

A.C.Grayling and Dr Gwen Adshead,

‘Gwen Adshead has devoted

most of her working life to consid-

ering evil. How does one general-

ise. Is a Nazi commander equiva-

lent ot a Broadmoor inmate?

Unlikely to be the same.

About remembering, she had

a less ambivalent take:’People

leave moral traces. You have to

reorganise identity round those

losses.’

KK : the ‘compassionate acuity of her approach.’ She

describes her patients actions as ‘frightening’ = an unjudg-

mental adjective. She explained how her patients resemble

the survivors of a disaster they need to overcome.

It is essential for all human beings to belong. Broadmoor

emerged as a living contradiction: a ‘community of the

excluded’.’

Exchanges at the Frontier

Polly was at the talk at Broadmoor

Her style is word painterly and full of frequent literary allu-

sions. She quoted Marcus Aurelius: ‘any of us can be

dangerous under certain circumstances’.

She stated that the risks of violence are raised by features

of mental states: alcohol or drugs, a paranoid state of mind

and a profoundly antisocial attitude. Rates of stranger

homicide are low: ‘you are most at risk from people you are

sleeping with’.

There is a huge need to tell one’s story – we are ‘homo

narrans’. There is a duty to explain as well as contain. We

desperately need to make meaning out of our experience.

She described those clients she worked with as ‘survivors

of a disaster’ – they are the disaster. They have survived

great traumas in their early life.;they are exploring tragic

narratives. They are briefly monstrous.

Childhood histories are profoundly important; early child-

hood has a huge effect, both interpersonally and how the

brain works.

She spoke of the rehabilitative structures , including

improving literacy, and the regulation of emotions, which is

treatable. There is a restorative aspect.

A.C.Grayling with an audience of Londoners went to Broadmoor High Security Psychiatric Hospital where he talked to psychiatrist and forensic psychotherapist Dr Gwen Adshead.

POEM She spoke of violence – Can you treat for violence? What

do people who kill make of themselves as someone who

has killed? There is a huge complexity around the subject.

It was a searing and profoundly moving exchange; both

ACGrayling’s questions, which were extremely considered,

and Gwen Adshead’s responses, illuminating, full of mean-

ing , careful and nonjudgmental.

Huge philosophical imponderables emerged: on the self ,

on recovery, ‘cure’, society and acceptability, fear, choice,

control and compassion. ‘How do we treat the least of our

brothers?’

Her language is eloquent, full of imagery and metaphor

and literary allusion; maybe necessarily ‘laundered’ at times

to create a kind of ‘distance’ or rendering of things that are

very hard to speak of.

As a coda she added that clients spend 8 years on aver-

age in Broadmoor, the length of secondary school. Perhaps

a time where they can grow up?

She quoted Shakespeare’s King Lear: man as a ‘ruined

piece of nature’. I could have listened for hours more.

I was very privileged to be at this event.’

For BBC World Service

From a review by Kate Kellaway: The Guardian

©D

on

ald

Ma

cle

llan

Dr Gwen Adshead

Summer/ Issue 38EQUILIBRIUM Summer/ Issue 38

i Prescriptions

Prescriptions for anti-psychotic drugs

have more than doubled in the US

over the past fifteen years, often given

for conditions for which there is scant

evidence they work. Expensive antispy-

chotics were originally approved to

treat schizophrenia. They are now pre-

scribed for anxiety disorders, dementia

and other conditions, even thought he

Food and Drug administration has not

approved these off-label uses. The side

effects can include diabetes, weight

gain and an increased risk of heart dis-

ease.

Prescriptions went from 6.2 million in

1995 to 16.7 million in 2006, then fell to

14.3 million in 2008.Off-label prescrip-

tions doubled in this time.

Ways to combat the trend would in-

clude reducing heavy drug marketing

and raising awareness of off-label pre-

scribing.

i Mental Health Media Awards

The mental health charity Mind is

pleased to announce the winners of

this year’s Mind Mental Health Media

Awards. Marcus Trescothick and the

BBC Headroom campaign won “Mak-ing a Difference” awards, and the

“Speaking Out” Award went to Danny

Claricoates for Sky 1’s War Torn Warriors.

DocumentaryWinner: Sectioned (BBC Four)Sectioned follows the experiences of

Andrew, Richard and Anthony on their

journey through the mental health sys-

tem.

DramaWinner: Shameless: Series 7 (Channel 4)Manchester based comedy drama

Shameless explores bipolar disorder as

character Karen tries to deal with the

death of her best friend Mandy.

New MediaWinner: BBC HeadroomBBC Headroom is a multi-platform

campaign which aims to raise aware-

ness of the importance of good men-

tal health and de-stigmatise mental

health problems.

News and Current Affairs programmes including the 6 o’clock news.Winner: Global Mental Health Series (BBC World Service)BBC World Service news explores the

impact, extent and outlook for mental

health problems across the globe from

the first ever Global Mental Health

Summit in Athens.

SoapsWinner: EastEnders (BBC One)The ongoing storyline focusing on the

Slater family’s experience of bipolar

disorder sees Stacey stop taking her

medication and becoming very un-

well and her mother faced with the

heartbreaking decision of having her

sectioned

Speech RadioWinner: Anatomy of a Mental Illness (BBC Radio 4)This programme follows the story of An-

gela Barnes, who was detained under

the Mental Health Act after a psychot-

ic episode in 2005.

i Art Spot: Mary Barnes

Popped into Space Gallery in Hack-

ney before Xmas to see an exhibition

about Mary Barnes – a woman who

was made famous by RDLaing and

Joseph Berke, pioneers of the 60s ver-

sion of radical psychiatry. RD Laing an

alcoholic Scot who had trained as a

psychiatrist in the days of insulin shock,

lobotomy, administering ECT and the

‘pads’ (padded cells) naturally took

a very different path. Not necessar-

ily highly commendable always, but

broke from the status quo and got

society thinking about those on the

margins.

Mary Barnes was very disturbed,

and ‘treated’ in a therapeutic com-

munity setting with observation, talk

and art. Her art is the work of a very

dislocated religious woman – not nec-

essarily skilful, but urgent and desper-

ate. Outsider art looking in. Titles such

as The Fall of Man and Ascension

draw heavily on her obsessions, and

with her work Spider she claimed she

was exorcising her mother and their

troubled relationship. ‘Mary thought

as long as the spider was outside her,

it couldn’t be inside her’ said Joseph

Berke, who coauthored a book with

her.

The exhibition was laced with foot-

age of those who lived in the thera-

peutic communities – cooking, eating,

sleeping, hanging out and talking,

often in rather grim surroundings. And

footage of Laing himself, who from this

distance seems a bit like a rather con-

trolling fallen idol. Mary Barnes for him

and Berke was essentially one of their

experiments and I felt for her.

Polly

news

EQUILIBRIUM 22

Summer/ Issue 38Summer/ Issue 38 www.haringey.gov.uk/equilibrium EQUILIBRIUM

Nicholas Philibert interacts with the pa-

tients in a very friendly approach. Also,

when speaking to the actor a patient

calls him “Colas“. When interviewed,

one of the patients explains that he

first came to “La Borde” in 1969 to 1971

and that he performed in various plays

such as” Moliere” and many more,

although his favourite one was “the

silk Drum” by Fujima because he says

”I killed myself and came back as a

ghost”.

An amazing and quite moving docu-

mentary! The film reflects on the access

of truth about life in a French institution

and looking at what is normal and ab-

normal.

i A Little, AloudA new anthology of prose and poetry for reading aloud to someone you care for. Edited by Angela Macmillan.

We remember it

from childhood. The

unique comfort of

being read to – at

bedtime, when we

were ill, as a salve for

the bumps and bruis-

es of life. We knew it,

we felt it. And now, science is showing

it to be true.

We are on the cusp of a reading

revolution. Increasingly, research is

uncovering an intimate connection

between reading and wellbeing. The

seemingly simple act of being read to

brings remarkable health and happi-

ness benefits. It stimulates thought and

memory, encourages the sharing of

ideas and feelings, hopes and fears. It

enriches our lives and minds.

This unique book offers a selection

of prose and poetry especially suit-

able for reading aloud – to your hus-

band or wife, a sick parent or child,

an elderly relative. It puts great books

in the hands. More details from: www.

thereader.org.uk

i Fish Tank Review by Tizzy McKenzie

15 year old Mia lives on a council es-

tate. She has fallen with her friends

and aspires to be a dancer although

she seems to dropped out of school.

Her family are her mother and sister

and have to fight for what they want

– there is anger in the family home. In

Mia’s world it is normal to be hostile to

everyone. One day her mother brings

home a new boyfriend which alters the

family dynamics. The boyfriend has a

caring side and Mia doesn’t know how

to react.

It is a film which takes risks. It doesn’t

cover up violence or hide that children

aged 10 are smoking and drinking

these days, but shocks at every turn. It

also doesn’t glamourise Mia, but she

is very real and excellently acted by a

novice (Katie Jarvis).

Fish Tank is beautifully filmed. It is arty

but with a strong narrative. It is set dur-

ing an English summer with contrasts

between the gritty urban estate and

beautiful countryside. Some of the

story is shot by a remote section of the

Thames in Essex. A summer so hot the

grass has turned to hay. Even the eve-

nings are sweltering and sweaty.

The film is also about Mia going

through a rite of passage, her trans-

formation from an innocent teenager

to a fully developed, poised young

woman.

i Every Little ThingFilm by Nicholas Philibert Review by Siham Beleh

Nicholas Philibert is a French film direc-

tor and actor. He has directed nine

films since 1978. His film “Être et avoir”

was hugely acclaimed. The French Di-

rector received a number of awards in

festivals and is the winner of a BAFTA.

“Every little thing” is an incredible

documentary about one of the

world’s most highly regarded psychiat-

ric institutions, where patients and staff

live and work together. It was made

in 1988 and it is set in the countryside.

The protagonists are the patients and

staff at “La Borde” psychiatric clinic in

France. Each summer they perform a

play on a stage set in the grounds of

the castle. The film follows the rehears-

als for the play “Operette,” by Witold

Gombrowicz.

At the beginning of the film, a wom-

an speaks of her loss and sorrow by

singing in the surroundings of the for-

est, perhaps a sense of freedom...She

is a member of staff at the institution.

Life in “La Borde” engages patients

by taking responsibilities in running the

place; they take part in different tasks;

from answering the phone to doing

some gardening. During the filming

EQUILIBRIUM 23

news

Summer/ Issue 38EQUILIBRIUM Summer/ Issue 38EQUILIBRIUM 24

QUITTING SMOKING IS ONE OF THOSE things that are bound to bring with it

the benefits that the health authori-

ties are always telling us about. From

the warnings on cigarette packs

to the health professional at your

surgery the appeal of becoming a

non-smoker increases as the social

pressure against it becomes more

overwhelming. The only advertising

left – on the packets themselves –

looks like it will be the next for the

chop as the powers that be discuss

“plain packets”, which as a recent

convert to the no-smoking cause,

seems a good idea, even if it is only

directed at youngsters.

Putting all the propaganda to one

side, it is also easier to give up smok-

ing nowadays. There are health

professionals in the surgeries who

now attach an importance to quit-

ting that wasn’t there before. Obvi-

ously the cost to the NHS of smoking

related diseases is enormous and a

big factor, but also the health of the

individual is a more pressing concern

for them.

I noticed that the patches had

become stronger, so the initial couple

of weeks when the desire to smoke is

at its strongest was not so bad when

coupled with the inhalators (known

as NRT or nicotine replacement

therapy). The gradual reduction in

strength of the patches worked well and

although I am still using the inhalators I

have completed the patch programme

and haven’t touched a cigarette since

my quit date.

Your health professional will tell you

more if you go to see him/her at your

GP’s surgery and the benefits you feel,

particularly in my case my breathing, is

well worth it.

Where the patches and the inhalator

used together were particularly effec-

tive was when I was with people in a

social context who smoked and the

thought of not being able to join in

caused me to continually put off my

“Quit Smoking Day” again and again.

When I did finally give up however, the

fact that I had been able to have a

cup in the morning without a cigarette

stood me in good stead and my look-

ing forward to being able to blow into

the CO2 reader at the surgery and

register a low level in my bloodstream

was also great.

Some tips I picked up on the way: See

the health professional at your local

surgery/medical centre and set a Quit

Day. Eat fresh fruit and and notice how

your taste buds feel. Ask your friends

not to smoke in your home. Keep it

smoke–free. Good luck and don’t give

up trying to give up.

health

Summer/ Issue 38Summer/ Issue 38 www.haringey.gov.uk/equilibrium EQUILIBRIUM ha

bit

EQUILIBRIUM 25

KILLING THEWords: Ian Stewart

health

Summer/ Issue 38EQUILIBRIUM

Mo

ng

olia

www.haringey.gov.uk/equilibrium EQUILIBRIUM 17

i

EQUILIBRIUM 26

arts

Pho

tos

of M

ong

olia

By

Will

Wo

od

an

d R

ub

y H

oo

pe

r

Summer/ Issue 38

MOOD MAPPINGLIZ MILLER , PATRON OF EQUILIBRIUM

Liz Miller , patron of Equilibrium and author of Moodmap-

ping is running workshops on how to manage moods

successfully using techniques described in her book.

19th March, Saturday –

Procrastination and MOODMAPPING™2nd April, Saturday –

Bipolar and MOODMAPPING™12th April, Tuesday – Teaching and MOODMAPPING™16th of April, Saturday –

Anxiety and MOODMAPPING™7th May, Saturday – Creativity and MOODMAPPING™10th May, Tuesday –

Team and MOODMAPPING™21st May, Saturday – Procrastination and MOODMAPPING™

Venue 38 HarwooR, Fulham London SW6 4PH Times 10.00 am - 4.30 pm details:lizzie.miller@btinternet.com Cost £20 Saturday courses £30 Tuesday courses Concessions available

Summer/ Issue 38EQUILIBRIUM Summer Autumn Issue 38EQUILIBRIUM 18 EQUILIBRIUM 27

HIGH SOCIETY WELLCOME COLLECTION EXHIBITION

I found this fairly specious as an exhibition; bit too much

‘ooh ah’ old hippy about it. Slightly pointless psychedelic

rooms of hazy fourwalled films, old paraphernalia for smok-

ing, injecting, inhaling etc, black and white clips of doctors

experimenting with LSD, and shocking footage of emaci-

ated girls in a crack den, it felt rather trumped up.

The claim in the brochure is ‘the impulse to use drugs is a

universal one…A substance accepted as a religious sacra

ment in one culture

can be seen as a

public health problem

in another’.

My confidence in the

exhibition plummeted

when I saw that one

of the guides was

one Lady Amanda

Feilding , who self

trepanned in her youth with an electric drill.

The history and implications of the British involvement

with the corrupt opium trade (one result of which was the

ceding of Hong Kong to the British in 1842) was all valid, and

there were some extraordinary paintings on display, includ-

ing ‘the Drug Bazaar, Constantinople’ which came from

the Wellcome Library, and’An Opium Den in the East End of

London’ by Gustave Dore. The statistics on the walls at the

end of the exhibition made for stark reading too.

It threw up many questions, though, is the drug problem

‘ a sin, a crime, a vice or a disease’? We seemingly socially

accept alcohol, yet it is the most damaging to society and

the self of all the classified drugs, according to Professor

David Nutt. What would legalization of street drugs bring?

Far less crime for one thing.

There was nothing about prescribed mind and mood

altering drugs and their effects and many dangers, often

remarkably similar to that of street drugs.

Polly

Poem by C SuttleThe days I have hadare a momentsspark of lifeand then they go toa blur and fadeaway.As with the light of day

regulars

Summer/ Issue 38EQUILIBRIUM Summer/ Issue 38www.haringey.gov.uk/equilibrium EQUILIBRIUM 15EQUILIBRIUM 28

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BIG SOCIETY – What Do You Think?

The government has announced the selected partner who

will deliver and train up to 5,000 Community Organisers.

Locality - a new nationwide network of community led

organisations, formed through the merger of the Devel-

opment Trusts Association (DTA) and bassac - has been

chosen to carry out a range of work including developing

a training framework, Code of Conduct for Community

Organisers, and an Institute for Community Organising.

Community Organisers will be well-trained and committed

individuals who will play a major role in delivering the Big

Society. They will work closely with communities to identify

local leaders, projects and opportunities, and empower the

local community to improve their local area.

Up to five hundred senior Community Organisers will be

trained and given bursaries of £20,000 for their first year,

along with a further 4500 part-time and voluntary organisers

who will support them.

The Community Organisers programme is about catalys-

ing community action at a neighbourhood level – ‘igniting

the impulse to act’. They will help their communities to take

advantage of other key Big Society initiatives such as ‘Right

to Buy’ community assets, and the ‘Right to Bid’ to run

public services.

TIme To Talk!

Having been on a waiting list for 9 months I really think

its time to talk. My name was put forward by my consult-

ant for cognitive behavioural therapy (C.B.T.) and at the

time of writing I have heard nothing back. I want to have

therapy so I can have better relationship with other people

and have a more balanced out look on life i.e. to put in a

better perspective such as not taking things that my self

and other people do and say so seriously when there is no

need to. Taking to someone who is not involved in your day

to day life is much better then a person you know as they

have no agenda and can give a more honest appraisal on

issues that you dwell on. Cognitive therapy works on the link

between our thoughts and our moods and aims to change

the way we think about things i.e. negative thoughts that

affect the way we act such as nobody likes you or you have

said something that may have unset someone and you

worry about the consequences of your actions. This may will

lead to anger and depression and can result in the need for

more medication or a spell in hospital. I therefore would like

to say to Haringey mental health less pill popping and more

taking. It is definitely time to talk.

Michael

Food Hygiene

Food hygiene is important to all groups of people young,

old, rich or poor. It is also important in all locations restau-

rants, schools, hospitals, hotels and at home.

An employment agency called Reed in Partnership

organises their own training courses in a variety of subjects,

including food hygiene. I attended a food hygiene course

at their Tower Hamlets branch.

All of the students were women and the majority has small

children. They were interested in working as dinner ladies in

schools because the hours suited them with taking their chil-

dren to and from school.

Lot of catering organisations for example restaurants

and hotels are now demanding food hygiene certificates,

even if only part of your role is in catering for example care

worker or nurse. The knowledge gained on the course can

also be used at home, or when entertaining if there is a lot

of food to be prepared.

This was a one day training course with a short film. We

learned about temperature control, cross contamination for

example not preparing cooked and raw meat in the same

place. We discussed personal hygiene for example keeping

wounds clean and covered with a blue plaster. We looked

at infestations like rats and cockroaches.

The unborn child can be killed if the pregnant mother gets

faeces into her mouth so it is very important for everybody

to wash their hands with soap and water after going to the

toilet. Sell-by-dates are also important.

At the end of the course we all had to sit a multiple

choice exam. And I passed!

Angela

Summer/ Issue 38Summer/ Issue 38 www.haringey.gov.uk/equilibrium EQUILIBRIUMSummer/ Issue 38EQUILIBRIUM EQUILIBRIUM 29

Children to be offered talking

therapies in mental health review

Mental health strategy to pledge

£400m to extend therapies to adults

across England and help prevent chil-

dren developing illnesses.

Children and teenagers who show

signs of anxiety and depression are to

be offered talking therapies in a major

overhaul of mental healthcare for

young people that will aim to stop them

developing lifetime illnesses.

Introduction of cognitive behavioural

therapy (CBT) and other psychological

therapies for children will be announced

tomorrow in a new mental health strat-

egy for England being published by the

coalition government.

The move follows a five-year invest-

ment programme that has seen short-

term psychological therapies developed

for adults across 60% of the country.

More than 70,000 people are said to

have “recovered” from illness and 14,000

have moved off sick pay and benefits.

The new strategy will earmark £400m

for extending the adult programme

across England by 2015 and for devel-

oping an equivalent treatment model

for children.

“It makes a very clear statement

that mental health is not about ‘them

and us’; it’s about us,” says Burstow,

pointing out that one in four people

will suffer a mental health problem of

some sort.

Good news addendum:

The 6 months sectioning rule has also

been removed (MPs who have been

sectioned).

therapy

Early intervention can prevent young people developing lifetime mental illnesses.

Children Offered Talking TherapiesNew Mental Health Review

EQUILIBRIUM 30

What a

Creative Writing by: Mario Petrucci

‘The Cafe in the Woods’. 7pm (start time), no one there. 8pm - 25 people crushed

into the proverbial sardine can. All Highgate types (brown shorts and sandals, blue

shirts): amiable; peculiar gaits; either snatched from painting their houses or having

just collected daughters from uni. An MC who thought that having a bald head, a

multicoloured shirt and a funny moustache would do the trick (actually he wasn’t half bad). The

maitre d’ bumbling around like a recently-sated bumblebee.

The poetry was a little unpromising - rhymed performance, jokey. Highgate concerns: fantasy

sex in buses, ageing dads, first teenage fumbles, ‘having a go’ at (and within) a villanelle, etc.

One guy on the subject of his child daughter, though, had a few gorgeous moments (‘she asks:

is my skeleton alive inside me’)? Something like a slightly overweight, happier Michael Caine with

peculiarnight

EQUILIBRIUM 31

ima

ge

: vo

ide

d3

an

Irish

accent

and a

multicoloured

shirt. Liked him.

The music: relatively

competent, but mostly

not particularly inspiring.

Decent instrumentalists, but lack-

ing punch vocally - too many slightly

wanky, thin voices. One old pony-tailed

exhippie, though, did a very funny cover of the Chum-

bawamba song about Facebook, ‘Add Me’.

Then, just before the interval, a clean-cut guy on

slide guitar doing deep south stuff a cut above the

rest. Slick, well-oiled, ultra-cool; but with a touch of

emotive brilliance. I could see him filling one-off slots

in classy bars in hot, hot towns night after night for 60

bucks a go, with one precise drop of sweat running

down past his ear.

So, they put me on after the interval (during which,

as usual, a few of the poets who’d performed in the

first half left - grrr - one of the most obnoxious habits at

these things) and I offered love poems from i tulips plus

a brace of heavier pieces from Heavy Water: a poem

for Chernobyl. You could have heard an angel tap-

dancing on the head of her pin. The

audience was wonderfully

attentive and generous. If I was

in any remaining doubt, it was

dispelled (and sometimes we

go to these things for reasons

that aren’t apparent to us until

afterwards) - I’m definitely onto

something with i tulips... This was a

crowd who’d admire the Roman-

tics (well, Blake and Wordsworth at

least) and would defer to the Armit-

ages and Sophie Hannahs of our day -

they’d probably adore Wendy Cope, as

an adoptee ‘one of their own’, perhaps.

Among themselves, I sensed, poetry is

more or less a fun night out with a few serious

moments they’re certainly not closed to. Putting

it a little unkindly: a posh poems and pints. They

do recognise quality, inasfar as they recognise it;

and would be polite about something they didn’t

like, and simply not comment or react. And yet, on the

back of Olson, Creeley and (they’d just about heard

of this guy ...) Ginsberg, they were taken to an entirely

new space.

I could tell in their faces they hadn’t much been

there before; but, to their credit, they were willing to go

- if only for a while. The prolonged applause at the end

wasn’t polite. Far from it. The event reminded me that,

if we can tap into universal energies when we write, we

can get most people on board - if not openly on deck,

then at least into some less visible berth. I always doubt

that hope, and am almost always proved wrong. In

fact, it sometimes seems that those who turn their faces

most steadfastly away from challenging poetry are

often poets who’ve read widely but only to reject with

‘authority’ anything that isn’t what they themselves

safely do.

If the above account sounds a bit self-regarding, it’s

not meant to be! It comes from a place of detachment,

I think. And I say it into this space to encourage all the

fragmenters and re-inventors who may or may not over-

hear it (okay then, I say it to myself) that the game (let’s

call it a game rather than a battle) isn’t over. Not quite.

Actually - not at all.

From Survivors Poetry’s Magazine, Poetry Express, Issue 34.

www.survivorspoetry.com.