Shift Update: February 2010
03 February 2010
Shift is an initiative to tackle stigma and
discrimination surrounding mental health issues in
England. Our aim is to create a society where people
who experience mental health problems enjoy the same
rights and opportunities as other people. Shift
will run until March 31st 2011.
++ Media ++
A six-month research project into TV representations of mental illness, commissioned by Shift, is underway. The findings will be used to engage TV producers and script-writers in a dialogue around how they represent mental illness. They will be presented at a BBC event attended by leading TV figures this autumn, inspiring the industry to portray people with mental health problems in an innovative, fresh and creatively exciting new way, challenging tired, old stereotypes.
We are also lobbying the Press Complaints Commission to ban the offensive term 'schizo' in stories about people with schizophrenia. We are planning to hold a seminar for national newspapers in conjunction with the PCC about media reporting of mental illness.
We spoke to hundreds of journalists at the NUJ conference and the Society of Editors conference, providing them with our guidance on reporting mental illness. To find out more about What's the Story, visit:
http://www.shift.org.uk/mediahandbook
We are continuing to deliver our popular workshops on reporting mental illness and suicide to trainee journalists at postgraduate and vocational journalism colleges and universities.
The charity Ok2b has been commissioned by Shift to run a web-based 'Stigma Watch' system called Words Matter, which will enable people to praise and complain about media coverage. It will be marketed to service users and relevant mental health related organisations and will be up and running later this year.
Later this year, Shift will be publishing a package of research about the media which will include 'Mind over Matter III', our annual analysis of media coverage. This report will analyse coverage from March and October 2008. It will be compared against reports from the previous three years to see if there have been any improvements. The research will also include the findings of focus groups, held to examine the role of the media in the shaping public fears of people with mental health problems, as well as a survey of how well newspaper readers think their paper covers mental health. It will also include the findings of research into how the mental health of Black and Minority Ethnic groups are reported in Black and Minority Ethnic and mainstream press.
To download a copy of the last Mind Over Matter report, visit:
http://snipurl.com/mindovermatter2
Shift is continuing to operate its Speakers Bureau, a bank of 50 people with mental health problems and carers who talk to the media. 10 more speakers from across England are being recruited to the bureau.
To find out more about the Shift Speakers' Bureau, visit:
http://www.shift.org.uk/speakersbureau
Links to selected recent media appearances by members of the bureau can be found here:
http://shift.org.uk/work/media/speakersbureau/news
++ Black and Minority Ethnic Communities ++
Shift and the Mental Health Equalities Programme (MHEP) have selected successful bids by Community Development Workers to run regional events to showcase the Breaking Through Barriers (BtB) package which uses video as a means of raising awareness and tackling stigma and discrimination. The on-line video library for CDWs, which includes the film 'Open Secrets' should be available from February 2010.
The Newcastle and Gateshead Art Studio 'Black and White' photographic exhibition has been produced by members of a community group in Newcastle. The photographs have been exhibited in North East England. The photos are available via the Shift website:
http://shift.org.uk/work/bme/blackwhite
Summaries of the two media research projects looking at mental health coverage in Asian and African-Caribbean media are being placed on the Shift website in February. Their findings will be considered as part of Shift's legacy with the Mental Health Equalities programme.
++ Employment ++Over 50,000 copies of the Shift Line Manager's Resource have been distributed to employers across England, focusing on the public sector. The resource is a practical guide to managing and supporting people with mental health problems in the workplace. A new revised edition was launched on World Mental Health Day. Shift is promoting the resources at a wide range of national events. For free copies of the guidance, email employment@nmhdu.org.uk or go to http://shift.org.uk/employers
An independent expert panel, The Shift Review Panel, was set up last year to review guidance on mental health and employment to help employers access the most appropriate resources for their organisation. The panel, hosted by the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health, includes experts from academia, business and the public sector. These 'quality checked' materials are now available via the Shift website:
http://shift.org.uk/reviewpanel
Three short films called 'Life in the Office' have been produced to raise awareness of mental health problems at work to help reach out to employers and staff who have not yet engaged with the issue. The films, which can be viewed by employers and staff on the Internet, can be used as part of training or promotional activity and are now being disseminated with a package of awareness raising and educational tools. The Life in the Office Film trailers are being shown at Shift exhibition stands at National Conferences in England. The films and the training package are now available on the Shift website at www.shift.org.uk. The films are also available on DVD which you can also order for Free
To find out more about our employment work, visit:
http://www.shift.org.uk/work/employment
A further set of employment films will be launched later in 2010 that will act as an educational tool and a 'how to' guide based on what has worked taken from real life examples.
++ Sport ++
There are still plans to hold a second national conference and tournament event later this year in partnership with the FA, PFA and Time to Change.
A handbook for Professional Footballers about mental health is currently being drafted with the PFA and will hopefully be published this spring.
For more information about our previous work with football, including photos and video, visit:http://shift.org.uk/madaboutfootball
Shift, in partnership with 'Time to Change' the England and Wales Cricket Board and Berkshire Healthcare held a mini-tournament and workshop for cricket organisations in October 2009. A meeting is being arranged to look at how this partnership can be taken forward.
++ Shift on the Web ++
Shift's videocasts are a series of short videos that feature people talking about their experience of stigma and discrimination.
Find out more here:http://shift.org.uk/aboutus/podcast
Visit Shift website here: http://www.shift.org.uk
Facebook members can follow our work here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Shift/18052500287
See our bookmarks on Delicious here: http://delicious.com/shiftstigma
Follow our Twitter feed here: http://twitter.com/shiftstigma
Find out about the other social networks that we use: http://shift.org.uk/getinvolved/files/socialnetworks.html
++ Get Involved ++The Shift website lists a number of ways in which you can help us with the work that we do. To find out more, please visit:http://www.shift.org.uk/getinvolved
++ Media ++
A six-month research project into TV representations of mental illness, commissioned by Shift, is underway. The findings will be used to engage TV producers and script-writers in a dialogue around how they represent mental illness. They will be presented at a BBC event attended by leading TV figures this autumn, inspiring the industry to portray people with mental health problems in an innovative, fresh and creatively exciting new way, challenging tired, old stereotypes.
We are also lobbying the Press Complaints Commission to ban the offensive term 'schizo' in stories about people with schizophrenia. We are planning to hold a seminar for national newspapers in conjunction with the PCC about media reporting of mental illness.
We spoke to hundreds of journalists at the NUJ conference and the Society of Editors conference, providing them with our guidance on reporting mental illness. To find out more about What's the Story, visit:
http://www.shift.org.uk/mediahandbook
We are continuing to deliver our popular workshops on reporting mental illness and suicide to trainee journalists at postgraduate and vocational journalism colleges and universities.
The charity Ok2b has been commissioned by Shift to run a web-based 'Stigma Watch' system called Words Matter, which will enable people to praise and complain about media coverage. It will be marketed to service users and relevant mental health related organisations and will be up and running later this year.
Later this year, Shift will be publishing a package of research about the media which will include 'Mind over Matter III', our annual analysis of media coverage. This report will analyse coverage from March and October 2008. It will be compared against reports from the previous three years to see if there have been any improvements. The research will also include the findings of focus groups, held to examine the role of the media in the shaping public fears of people with mental health problems, as well as a survey of how well newspaper readers think their paper covers mental health. It will also include the findings of research into how the mental health of Black and Minority Ethnic groups are reported in Black and Minority Ethnic and mainstream press.
To download a copy of the last Mind Over Matter report, visit:
http://snipurl.com/mindovermatter2
Shift is continuing to operate its Speakers Bureau, a bank of 50 people with mental health problems and carers who talk to the media. 10 more speakers from across England are being recruited to the bureau.
To find out more about the Shift Speakers' Bureau, visit:
http://www.shift.org.uk/speakersbureau
Links to selected recent media appearances by members of the bureau can be found here:
http://shift.org.uk/work/media/speakersbureau/news
++ Black and Minority Ethnic Communities ++
Shift and the Mental Health Equalities Programme (MHEP) have selected successful bids by Community Development Workers to run regional events to showcase the Breaking Through Barriers (BtB) package which uses video as a means of raising awareness and tackling stigma and discrimination. The on-line video library for CDWs, which includes the film 'Open Secrets' should be available from February 2010.
The Newcastle and Gateshead Art Studio 'Black and White' photographic exhibition has been produced by members of a community group in Newcastle. The photographs have been exhibited in North East England. The photos are available via the Shift website:
http://shift.org.uk/work/bme/blackwhite
Summaries of the two media research projects looking at mental health coverage in Asian and African-Caribbean media are being placed on the Shift website in February. Their findings will be considered as part of Shift's legacy with the Mental Health Equalities programme.
++ Employment ++Over 50,000 copies of the Shift Line Manager's Resource have been distributed to employers across England, focusing on the public sector. The resource is a practical guide to managing and supporting people with mental health problems in the workplace. A new revised edition was launched on World Mental Health Day. Shift is promoting the resources at a wide range of national events. For free copies of the guidance, email employment@nmhdu.org.uk or go to http://shift.org.uk/employers
An independent expert panel, The Shift Review Panel, was set up last year to review guidance on mental health and employment to help employers access the most appropriate resources for their organisation. The panel, hosted by the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health, includes experts from academia, business and the public sector. These 'quality checked' materials are now available via the Shift website:
http://shift.org.uk/reviewpanel
Three short films called 'Life in the Office' have been produced to raise awareness of mental health problems at work to help reach out to employers and staff who have not yet engaged with the issue. The films, which can be viewed by employers and staff on the Internet, can be used as part of training or promotional activity and are now being disseminated with a package of awareness raising and educational tools. The Life in the Office Film trailers are being shown at Shift exhibition stands at National Conferences in England. The films and the training package are now available on the Shift website at www.shift.org.uk. The films are also available on DVD which you can also order for Free
To find out more about our employment work, visit:
http://www.shift.org.uk/work/employment
A further set of employment films will be launched later in 2010 that will act as an educational tool and a 'how to' guide based on what has worked taken from real life examples.
++ Sport ++
There are still plans to hold a second national conference and tournament event later this year in partnership with the FA, PFA and Time to Change.
A handbook for Professional Footballers about mental health is currently being drafted with the PFA and will hopefully be published this spring.
For more information about our previous work with football, including photos and video, visit:http://shift.org.uk/madaboutfootball
Shift, in partnership with 'Time to Change' the England and Wales Cricket Board and Berkshire Healthcare held a mini-tournament and workshop for cricket organisations in October 2009. A meeting is being arranged to look at how this partnership can be taken forward.
++ Shift on the Web ++
Shift's videocasts are a series of short videos that feature people talking about their experience of stigma and discrimination.
Find out more here:http://shift.org.uk/aboutus/podcast
Visit Shift website here: http://www.shift.org.uk
Facebook members can follow our work here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Shift/18052500287
See our bookmarks on Delicious here: http://delicious.com/shiftstigma
Follow our Twitter feed here: http://twitter.com/shiftstigma
Find out about the other social networks that we use: http://shift.org.uk/getinvolved/files/socialnetworks.html
++ Get Involved ++The Shift website lists a number of ways in which you can help us with the work that we do. To find out more, please visit:http://www.shift.org.uk/getinvolved
