Warwickshire News Mine

Adult services director pays MIND to Springfield

It was back to the floor for Graeme Betts, strategic director of adult services with Warwickshire County Council, as he visited Springfield MIND and had a sample of everyday life at the centre.

Graeme was met by Kate Morrison, chief executive of Springfield MIND and Ron Boulton, a service user who is now a member of the Customer First Steering Group ensuring that users’ views are represented.

The purpose of the visit was for Graeme Betts to acquire some insight into the daily workings of the centre which provides support seven days a week for people suffering and recovering from emotional distress m is one of two centres operated by MIND in the Stratford district.

Springfield MIND operates various daytime drop-in programmes for people suffering from mental health traumas who are referred typically by hospitals, social workers or community psychiatric nurses.  These range from counselling to social activities and encourage clients to work towards integrating themselves back into the community.  The centre, which generates a good deal of its own finance, also receives a good deal of funding from Warwickshire County Council.

Ron Boulton is ideally placed to give Graeme the ‘inside track’.  First diagnosed with mental health problems at the age of 21 when a student, Ron has been in and out of hospitals over the last 45 years, coming to Springfield over ten years ago as a service user and is now putting that wealth of experience into good use with Customer First.

Ron is full of praise for Springfield.  He says it has a forward thinking approach to mental health care that focuses on the individual and encourages them to take the necessary steps to help themselves towards better health.  The discussion groups, the art groups and the walking groups are all among the methods that he highlights as having been critical in helping him conquer his own problems and are fields that he is pleased to see flourish at the centre.

As he puts it.  “The emphasis at Springfield MIND is on rehabilitation and development of the individual rather than containment of the mental illness.  Springfield has fostered strong links with community psychiatric nurses who visit patients in and after hospital stays. 

“This means that when they come to Springfield, there is continuity of treatment towards a goal of increased social and personal interaction rather than being content with achieving a basic level of mental health.”

Graeme Betts spent time with Ron discussing how the progress that Ron described could be built upon and spent the remainder of the morning touring the building and adjacent garden with Kate Morrison.

He said:  “I feel it is vital to actually get onto the front line and see what is happening in a workplace.  Today’s was an informal visit which allowed me to see Springfield operating on a normal day.

“I have shared full and open discussions with both Kate, who clearly knows the centre inside out, and Ron who has invaluable experience as a service user and as a volunteer.  I feel that I have come away well informed about the challenges that Springfield MIND faces, along with all the other centres of mental healthcare in the county, and how we can go about addressing them.”

In Stratford district 1,342 people were referred to adult mental health services over the period of August 2005 to July 2006.

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Media contact:  Richard Harkin 01926 414162

Link to WCC