Central Association for Mental Welfare
News and Notes
dcal Officers’ Course. The annual Course on cn ? deficiency organized by the Association ?operation with the University of London Tutorial passes Council, was held at the London School ot “ygiene from April 18th to May 1st. Practical testing rk was carried out in schools in Acton by kind Permission of the Local Education Authority, and other att Ca!10nal visits were paid. Forty-five medical officers tended, from all parts of the country.
Teachers’ Courses. At the request of the Nottingham tducation Committee, a Course for Teachers in the area fm n? 0rganized to take place in August. Teachers allowed6 County would be admitted a,so’ vacancies u&”caJ!onaI Psychologists. Miss Gibbs and Mrs. iripm f have been working in Staffordshire, givi g SSf? ~ests in the schools. Mrs. Highfield has also ?ujd Ramsgate to carry out some investigation into e incidence of educational retardation found on the i :?Pening of the schools. Lectures have been given in ondon by Miss Gibbs and by Miss Ruth Thomas, ” nS!i services continue to be extensively used by the Under Fives ” Sub-Committee of the Mental Health emergency Committee. Two additional psychologists r;Miss M. Proctor and Mr. G. Whitehead-have been PPointed temporarily to the Association’s staff to carry sPecific pieces of work.
u!??sfels for Agriculturhl Workers. In addition to the of ft1-at Hatherley Court, Gloucestershire, the opening u ,lc-h was recorded in our last issue, two further Cnci bave been opened?one at Denmead, near CnJ)a? (under the Hampshire War Agricultural MaSmitee) and a second one in Gloucestershire (Red Cniirft ? satisfactory are the results that both the s > ty Committees concerned are anxious that the me should be extended and further developments under consideration.
m^ence has shown that the success of these experi- u al Hostels is largely due to the fact that before any accepted he is seen personally at the Institution m the application comes, by the. Association s guardianship Officer, and a full report oh his conduct to ,CaPacities is obtained. So far, admission is limited Institutfo W^? bave already received training in an as^We for difficult Children under Five. It is hoped, 0 ?n as the necessary premises can be acquired, to Drnv ?ne or m?re Homes for children under five who are ReJi”8 .to? difficult to fit into ordinary billets or unHn,eutlal Nurseries. Some of these children will defers dly be found, after observation, to be “^tally unSTe 0r dull> but the majority will probably be of the Such ; ‘ ? maladJusted type. A great need exists for to py P?frlalized provision and every effort is being made 0 exPedite the scheme.
hlld Guidance Council
ChiurLSe.rvices. Current Loan Services provided by the Guidance Council have, for the time being, ceased. The appointment of Miss Bavin as full-time Psychiatric Social Worker at the Oldham and Rochdale Clinic was confirmed at the beginning of March, and Mrs. Hard- castle’s services were transferred to the Mental Health Emergency Committee as from April 1st. The Council are particularly grateful to Mrs. Hardcastle for the excellent work she did as liaison officer with the Mental Health Emergency Committee during the past two years. Fellowships. Two new Fellowships in Psychiatry have been awarded, and the recipients started work in March, Dr Joyce Marshal at the Tavistock Clinic and Dr. Barbara Shorting at the Maudsley Hospital. It is hoped to provide further Fellowships, both in Psychiatry and Psychology, during the ensuing year. In the past year, four Fellowships in Psychiatry were given, and?in conjunction with the Central Association for Mental Welfare?four in Psychology.
Clinics. The establishment of Clinics continues to grow, and the following have recently been started: Middlesex (Harrow), Surrey and Berkshire, while Great Ormond Street Hospital Clinic has re-opened. The following areas are actively interested in the formation of Clinics: Preston, Lincoln, Bedford, North Riding and Brighton. It will be seen that there is a distinct move to provide for rural communities and the smaller country towns, mainly reception areas, and it is hoped that this will form a precedent for such services after the war. Most of the Authorities are alive to the desirability of a complete team in their clinics, and the Council appreciates the efforts of the individual workers in emphasizing the importance of this principle.
It is very gratifying that Her Majesty the Queen has allocated from the ” Bundles for Britain ” Fund, not only the ?2,000 recorded in the Mental Health Emergency Committee’s notes above, but also ?2,000 to the Children’s Hospital, Belfast, for the formation of a Child Guidance Clinic, and ?1.000 to Great Ormond Street Hospital for the future development of their own Child Guidance Clinic.
Training of Workers. Through a Special Committee, the Council .is actively engaged in discussing the future training, status and function of workers in Clinics, and it is hoped that a Conference of Psychiatrists, Psycho- logists and Psychiatric Social Workers, will be called in July, to exchange ideas and crystalize schemes to this end.
New Pamphlet. The pamphlet prepared for Teachers and Nurses in Orthopaedic Hospitals has now been published under the title, ” The Mind of the Cripple and is obtainable from the Council Offices, 23 Queen Square, Bath, price Is. 6d.
National Council for Mental Hygiene
Annual Meeting. Owing to the change in the date of the Council’s financial year, will members please note that the Annual Meeting this year will be held on Tuesday, September 29th. It is hoped to have as usual a public meeting afterwards, at which an address on a mental health subject will be given. A notice of the meeting and full particulars will be circulated in due course. i? ?
Lectures for Civil Defence Personnel. There has been an increasing demand for the Council’s lectures for members of the various categories of the Civil Defence services and many applications for repeat visits have been received. A number of meetings of Rest Centre workers in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire have been addressed and a further tour by one of the Council’s speakers is shortly to be undertaken. Lectures have also been given at First Aid Posts in parts of Yorkshire, and other places visited include districts in Lancashire, Cheshire, Buckinghamshire and Westmorland, and also Bourne- mouth, Poole, Plymouth and Weston-super-Mare.
Mental Health lectures have also been included in some courses arranged for Information Officers. At all the meetings the discussion has been keen, and reports received indicate that the problems discussed have been of real practical value to those concerned and have given them a valuable insight into the psychological aspect of human problems of wartime.
Army Education Scheme. As a result of approaches made to the Central Advisory Council for Adult Educa- tion in H.M. Forces, applications for lectures on mental health subjects are now being received from the Army Education Authorities. The talks offered aim at creating a balanced understanding of the individual’s own attitude towards life, and of his responsibilities as a citizen and in relation to parenthood, etc. The Council welcomes this new contact which it is felt should have valuable repercussions in the years of reconstruction that are to follow.
Rural Mental Health Education
A preliminary report is now available on the progress of this scheme, to which previous reference has been made, and which is undertaken jointly by the Central Association for Mental Welfare, Child Guidance Council, and the National Council for Mental Hygiene, and was made possible by a prize award of ?250 from the Central Council for Health Education. The scheme provides a series of four talks, entitled ” Understanding Ourselves and Our Children “, which is offered to local organiza- tions in rural and small urban districts where services of the kind are not available.
The campaign has been mainly concentrated in Civil Defence Region 6 (Berks, Bucks, Hants, Oxfordshire) where, as a result of contacts made by the regional representative of the Mental Health Emergency Com- mittee, a total of 47 talks has so far been arranged. These have been given to Women’s Institutes, Schools, Clubs, Maternity and Child Welfare Centres, local groups of workers, and other bodies. The comparative in- accessibility of the places selected, with their difficulties of transport, has imposed a heavy task on the speakers who have visited them, but the venture has proved well worth while as the lectures have not only been generally welcomed but have aroused interest in the mental health aspect of problems of everyday life which it is hoped will be further stimulated by the setting up of local discussion groups. Parents with adolescents were particularly keen to have advice, and many requests for repeat visits have been received. The need for inviting fathers to the lectures has been stressed, a point which will be con- stantly borne in mind but which on the whole has not been practicable so far owing to the difficulty of holding evening meetings.
Owing to the conditions prevailing at Maternity and Child Welfare Centres, a talk of the length of 30 to 40 minutes is generally impossible, and the suggestion has been made that periodic visits by a selected 1 ocal speaker, who could talk with the mothers individually’ would be of special value.
Part of the grant received has been set aside f?r preliminary talks in other Regions, and the series of four talks is at present being given at Harrogate, where the regional representative of the Mental Health Emergency Committee has assembled an interested group from the surrounding rural areas consisting of Billeting Officer5 and their assistants, Welfare Officers, Health Visitors’ voluntary helpers at the Infant Welfare Clinics, School Teachers, W.V.S. and Club workers, Youth Organizers* and also members of the local voluntary organizations- This is to be followed later by a course at Wakefield which will also bring in people from outlying districts. In Civil Defence Region 7, arrangements are in progress for holding lectures at Tiverton and Cullompton 10 Devonshire, and at Wotton-under-Edge, in Gloucester- shire.
In all the arrangements, the joint Committee of the three societies, which is carrying out the work, has beefl greatly helped by the valuable co-operation of the Medici Officers of Health and Education officials.
Owing to the limits of the grant it has not been possible to accept all requests for talks, but the campaign is so obviously meeting a public need that it is hoped further funds will be forthcoming for its continuance, and consideration is at present being given to this question by the Committee concerned.
Mental Health Emergency Committee
Training Courses. A Week-end Course on the Mentaj Health Services, for Welfare Workers employed by Loca’ Authorities for work amongst evacuees or in Rest Centres and Air Raid Shelters, was held in London frofl1 February 13th to 16th. The Course was attended W 48 students from all parts of the country, and proved to be very helpful to them.
A second Course for Matrons of Hostels for Difficult Children was held at Gypsy Hill Training College in it* evacuation quarters at Bingley (Yorks), from April 10th to 17th, and was attended by 27 students from Hostel5 in the northern Regions.
Children under Five. The advisory work in connection with War Nurseries continues to increase and there now six workers engaged in it.
A Joint Committee consisting of representatives of the National Society of Children’s Nurseries, the Nursery Schools Association and the Mental Health Emergency Committee has been formed to organize and administer this service, which is available both for Local Authorities and for individual Nurseries. Applications should be sent to the Secretary, Miss Ruth Thomas, 24 Buckingham Palace Road, S.W.I.
Gift from H.M. The Queen. The Committee have
great pleasure in recording the reception of a munificent gift of ?2,000, allocated to them by H.M. The Queeij from a sum of money generously placed at her disposa’ by the U.S.A. ” Bundles for Britain ” organization- This splendid help will enable some constructive work to be carried out for children coming within the Com’ mittee’s province, and a detailed scheme is bein? considered as we go to press.
Regional Work. The Committee now has Regiona’ Representatives in 6 Civil Defence Regions, and the# AHnvis more and more widely appreciated, ^aditional appointments have recently been made n th? urther Regions (9 and 12) and only 3 areas will the* be left uncovered.
Joint Register of Foster-Homes The Joim Register of Foster-Homes and Schools for aifc ??US’ Difficult and Retarded Children (under the Co,f’C-n of the C.A.M.W. and the Child Gulda”^ En?,rCAhas received a generous gift of money from kinri Pea^ing Union, made available through ndness of a Canadian benefactor, Mrs. Sholto Smith.
This welcome gift will enable a beginning to be made oblr Settin8 aside of certain foster-homes where skilled Clfn and psychiatric treatment at a Child Guidance of e can be provided for children presenting problems in J?ecial difficulty. This is a much needed development u JfWork of the Register and will greatly add to its usefulness.
defectives and Military Service 0lSe article on this subject by Dr Esher, published in Dolt r lssue- ?an now be obtained as a reprint price 6d. BurV- ,e- APPly to the Secretary, C.A.M.W., ucklngham Palace Road, S.W.I.
Staffordshire Study Week
AIJe Annual Study Week arranged by the Staffordshire fr! ?ciati?n for Mental Welfare will be held in Stafford m July 20th to 24th, 1942.
anlh? Course is designed for those employed in training Cent aching defectives in Institutions, Occupa centres, Special Schools, etc., and the curriculum will include lectures on various aspects of mental deficiency with practical classes in physical work, handicrafts and speech therapy.
Further information can be obtained from the Organizer of Centres, Crabbery Chambers, Crabbery Street, Stafford.
Association of Mental Health Workers
The Annual Conference of the Association was held at Wadham College, Oxford, from April 10th to’13th, 1942, and was attended by 54 members.
Addresses were given by Dr J. Christopher Penton, on ” The Possibilities of Implementing the Recommenda- tions of the Feversham Report after the Warby Dr C. J. Earl on “The Institutional Treatment of Defectives in the New Order and by Dr Kathleen Todd on “The Effects of Evacuation on Neurotic ChildrenIn addition, a talk was given by Miss Isabel Laird on the planning of simple occupations under present conditions, and a discussion took place on the question of whether Supervisors of Occupation Centres should be certificated teachers. Visits were arranged to Littlemore Mental Hospital, the local Hostel for Difficult Children, and the Occupation Centre, and Dr Plewa, of the Oxford Child Guidance Centre, gave a talk on some cases treated during the year.
To the lecturers and to those through whose kindness it was possible to arrange the visits of observation, the thanks of the Association are gratefully given. At the Annual Meeting held during the Conference, the following officers were elected: Chairman, Miss F. H. Tosh; Vice-Chairman, Mrs. Lucy Beach; Hon. Secretary, Miss St. Clair Townsend; Hon. Treasurers, Miss J. M. Mackenzie and Miss M. de Caux.
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