News and Notes
National Association for Mental Health Autumn Courses Refresher Course for Medical Officers
If the demand is sufficient, it is proposed to hold a Refresher Course for Medical Officers who attended one of the Association’s Courses on Mental Deficiency (run in conjunction with the University of London) before the changes brought about by the Education Act, 1944, and other recent legislation.
The Course will include lectures on the practical application of the sections of the Education Act dealing with educationally subnormal children, the administration of the Mental Health Services as it affects School Medical Officers, certain new provisions for mentally handicapped children, recent developments in child guidance, the problem of children with double defects, and the special problems connected with children under the age of five. It is also hoped to arrange one or two visits of observation.
The dates selected for the Course are from December 1st to 6th, 1947 and the inclusive cost will be ?4 4s. For Superintendents and Matrons of Children’s Homes A Course of Lectures and Discussions on problems relating to the residential care of children deprived of normal home life is being held at 39 Queen Anne Street from Monday, November 3rd, to Friday, November 28th. The Course includes the following subjects: Emotional Development of Children from Birth to Adolescence; Physical Care of Children; Organization of a Children’s Community; Play and Recreational Activities; Work of a Child Guidance Clinic; Juvenile Delinquency; Intellectual Development of Children; Boarding Out, After-Care and Employment; Personal Relationships Inside and Outside the Home.
The lectures are being given by specialists on the various subjects and Informal Group Discussions are arranged by the Tutor of the Course, Miss Clare Britton.
For Health Visitors and Nursery Workers
A Course of Eight Lectures by Miss Ruth Thomas, is being given at 39 Queen Anne Street, on Wednesday evenings.
The Course is exclusively for students who have attended previous Courses organized by the Association, and deals with the normal development of the child from seven to eleven.
. Maurice Craig Memorial Friends and colleagues of the late Sir Maurice Craig, C.B.E., M.D., F.R.C.P., will be glad to learn that by arrangement with the Trustees of the Memorial Fund established some years ago by an independent Appeal I Committee, the present, and any future premises housing the National Association for Mental Health will be named ” Maurice Craig House “, and the funds collected will be utilized for the promotion of the ? Association’s activities.
The original intention of the Appeal Committee was that the sums received, as the result of their appeal, should be entrusted to the National Council for Mental i Hygiene (of which body Sir Maurice Craig was a cofounder with Dr Helen Boyle and was for many years Chairman) for the furtherance of its work and to help to found a ” Maurice Craig House “. It was felt that such a centre would greatly assist in co-ordinating the work of all voluntary bodies in the country dealing with mental health and the prevention of nervous and mental disorders, and also provide a meeting and training centre as well as a headquarters for enquiry and information.
The work of the Feversham Committee (set up by the Central Association for Mental Welfare, the Child’ Guidance Council and the National Council for Mental Hygiene) in regard to its enquiry into the voluntary mental health services of the country, which began not long after Sir Maurice Craig’s death in 1935, decided the Appeal Committee to postpone the transfer of the Fund to the National Council for Mental Hygiene until the Committee’s report and recommendations were made known. This report was published in July, 1939, and, as is generally known, one of its main recommendations was that ” a new central voluntary body be set up for England and Wales to co-ordinate the activities of the voluntary mental health organizations in the country “. Such a development was clearly in line with the aspirations of the Appeal Committee, and as subsequently the Central Association for Mental Health, the Child Guidance Council and the National Council for Mental Hygiene proceeded to implement the recommendation, the Appeal Committee appointed Trustees to hold the Fund in trust until such time as the amalgamation of the three bodies concerned took place. This, as is known, was effected in November, 1946, when the National Association for Mental Health was formed.
A bronze plaque naming the Association’s premises ” Maurice Craig House ” is being placed at 39 Queen Anne Street, W.l. It will, we are sure, give wide satisfaction that notwithstanding the inevitable delays, it has now been possible to found a permanent memorial to a distinguished psychiatrist of international reputation who was a pioneer in the treatment of nervous and mental illnesses and contributed valuable knowledge to their early diagnosis and prevention. He endeared himself to many by his humane outlook and understanding sympathy and his life was one of consistent personal service.
The Problem Girl
This recent report by a Joint Committee of the British Medical Association and the Magistrates Association* should be of great interest to all who are attempting to deal with unstable girls. The recommendations take into account the basic emotional factors which must be considered in the constructive treatment of such cases, and touch also on the preventive and after-care aspects of the problem.
The girls under consideration are mainly those between the ages of 13 and 17 who appear before the court either for stealing or being “-beyond control or who are in moral danger or in need of care and protection. It is interesting to learn that although a very small minority can be said to be mentally defective, quite a large number come into the low average and dull group.
In the words of the report ” existing methods of handling these girls are often likely to exacerbate rather than | * Obtainable from B.M.A.. House, Tavistock Square, W.C.I. Price 3d.
improve their tendency to misconduct.” Usually ” the girl’s misbehaviour is the result of interaction between temperament and environment, but always at the root there is some defect of character structure that is the real cause of her difficulty
The methods of dealing with these girls as recommended in the Report are: (1) a ful’er recognition of the general nature and causes of their misbehaviour and of the objects of treatment; (2) more facilities and skilled staff for investigation and treatment of individual cases; (3) more clinics and institutions for the purpose of treatment and control.
The statement that the psychiatric approach is the only constructive one is undoubtedly true, but it is hoped that this will be interpreted in the broadest sense with particular reference to the emotional needs of the young child, and not merely the provision of psychiatrists to treat girls who have already become delinquent.
After the Curtis Report
Important developments have recently taken place following on the recommendations made in the Curtis Report.
Training Courses
A Central Training Council in Child Care has been appointed by the Home Office to organize Courses and to select candidates for training in work for deprived children. Two Courses have been instituted?for (a) Boarding Out Officers and (b) House Mothers (or equivalent male staff), for which applications were invited in August.
The Boarding Out Officers’ Courses are being held in connection with four Universities?London (School of Economics), Leeds, Liverpool and Cardiff. They will last twelve months and the practical training will include residential experience in Children’s Homes. The satisfactory completion of the Course will be recognized as a qualification for this branch of social service. Candidates should be between 21 and 40, and should be graduates of a University, or holders of a Social Science Health Visitors’ or Teachers’ certificate, and should preferably have experience of work with children or general social work.
The Courses for House Mothers will last 14 months, of which six months will be devoted mainly to theoretical work although the whole period will be spent in selected Children’s Homes. The first two months will be regarded as a test period in which the student’s suitability for the work will be assessed. Candidates should be between the ages of 18 and 35 (in the case of men, 25 to 35), of good education and preferably with experience of work with children. The Courses will be held in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Cardiff. For both these Courses grants are available, designed to cover fees, maintenance, travelling and incidental expenses.
Children’s Committees
In a Home Office Circular issued on September 1st, it is suggested that Local Authorities?in advance of legislation on the subject?should now proceed to consider the appointment of Childrens’ Committees to deal with the care of deprived children in all its branches, consisting of members experienced in the work of Education, Public Health and Public Assistance Committees, with specially selected co-opted members, including representatives of appropriate voluntary organizations concerned with children’s welfare. Authorities are further urged to appoint a Children’s Officer, who should be a person of high professional standing, to act as ” the pivot of the local authority’s organization ” for dealing with deprived children. Under her there should be a staff of Boarding-Out Officers to each of whom a group of children would be allocated.
The speed with which official action has been taken to implement some of the more urgent recommendations of the Curtis Report is eminently satisfactory, and we confidently hope that the mental health aspects of the problem on which stress was there laid, will receive due attention in the measures now decided upon.
Concerning Handicapped Children
We are glad to be able to record that children excluded from school by reason of mental defect who are not attending an Occupation Centre are now entitled to benefit by the ” Milk in Schools ” scheme which allows 7 pints per week. This concession also applies to other types of handicapped children unable to attend school. Particulars may be obtained from Local Food Offices. In a recent statement it was disclosed that during 1946, the number ofVhildren reported by Education Authorities to Mental Deficiency Committees under Section 57 of the Education Act as being incapable of receiving education at school or in need of supervision on leaving school, was 4,209. The comparable figure in 1945 was 3,276.
The Medical Branch of the Ministry of Education is in future to be known as the Special Services Branch. This Branch deals with Special Educational Treatment, the School Health Service and School Meals. Its address continues to be 15 Chesham Place, London, S.W.I.
The recent retirement of Mr. N. D. Bosworth Smith, for so many years in charge of the Medical Branch, is an event which cannot be allowed to pass un-noted by those in the Mental Health field who have been concerned with the welfare of the Special School child. To the Central Association for Mental Welfare, he was a friend whose services and advice could always be enlisted and his deep human concern for handicapped children was far removed from the cold official approach of an impersonal ” Civil Servant”. It is good to know that in his retirement these children will still be his concern, and the fact that he has agreed to represent the Ministry of Education on the British Association for the Welfare of Spastics and to serve as a co-opted member of the Council of the National Association for Mental Health, is an indication of his continuing ability to help in promoting efforts on their behalf. In 1944, the Ministty of Education published the first List of Boarding Special Schools and Homes for Handicapped Pupils issued since 1939. This showed that there were three Boarding Schools recognized for Maladjusted Pupils and seven Boarding Homes. A recent amendment to the List adds two Schools and six Homes. The Ministry confidently expects that the sum total of the Development Plans under preparation by Education Authorities will be such as to ensure adequate boarding school provision for all types of handicapped pupils,* but meanwhile the search for vacancies must continue and the plight of the greater number of maladjusted children?of whose needs Authorities are more acutely aware than at any previous time?must remain unchanged.
Vide ” Education June 27th, 1947. j
Boarding Home for Young Maladjusted Children The Home at Pewsey administered by the National Association for Mental Health since 1942, has recently been transferred to new premises at The Hill, Pilgrims Way, Westerham, Kent. The Home has been approved by the Ministry of Education for 24 maladjusted children between the ages of 2 and 7, but ordinarily children are not admitted over the age of 4?.
Candidates from the Home Counties are given preference in order that good contact may be maintained between the children and their families, and between the families and the National Association’s workers. For application forms, apply to 39 Queen Anne Street, W.l.
An Experiment in Portsmouth
The Portsmouth Mental Treatment Committee is carrying on an interesting experiment in provision for seriously maladjusted children by reserving for them a villa in the grounds of the Mental Hospital (St. James’s) with accommodation for 25 patients. At the end of the year 1946, the Committee’s Report states, there were in this Villa 25 children, of whom two were classified as psychotics, and the rest as maladjusted. All were admitted under Section I of the Mental Treatment Act, but by arrangement with the Chief Education Officer, eight attended ordinary classes at local schools. Measured by the happiness of the children, the experiment is considered to be unexpectedly successful, and it is being extended by the opening of another house, where in-patient treatment can be provided for 20 additional cases.
The National Association’s Holiday Homes
The Old Vicarage, Bognor Regis?this year re-opened by the N.A.M.H. as a Holiday Home for defectives and mental hospital patients?has been full to capacity throughout the whole season. A total number of 520 defectives have been received, 334 for a fortnight and 186 for a week, coming in parties of 30 at a time with their own supervisory staff. The happiness of the guests who have benefited from the facilities offered by the Home, leaves no doubt as to the need that exists, and we are glad to be able to record that in 1948, a second Home?Bod Donwen, Rhyl, North Wales? will be freed for holidays.
Authorities wishing to book vacant dates for next season in either of these Homes, for parties from Mental Hospitals, Mental Deficiency Institutions or Occupation Centres, are invited to apply as soon as possible, to the Hbmes and Hostels Department, National Association for Mental Health.
Psychotherapy in Prison
In recent Reports of the Prisoner Commissioners,* some interesting information is given as to the arrangements made for psychological treatment of prisoners during the serving of their sentences.
In February, 1943, the Psychiatric Unit at Wormwood Scrubbs, closed during the War, was re-opened under the direction of Dr H. T. P. Young, Dr H. K. Snell and Dr J. C. Mackworth (part-time). In April, 1944, Dr Jean Durrant was appointed as psychiatrist at Holloway Prison.
To Wormwood Scrubbs are transferred prisoners from other prisons who are considered to be suitable cases for treatment. Further experience has borne out the findings of Dr Norwood East and Dr Hubert published in 1939, as to cases which must be excluded, viz. : (a) those who are certifiable under the Lunacy or Mental Deficiency Acts; (b) those with an intelligence too low to enable them to co-operate (e.g. below an I.Q. of 85); (c) those suffering from permanent organic cerebral changes ; (d) chronic psychopaths or early psychotics ; (e) those showing excessive resentment or undue resignation at their conviction or sentence (/) those whose attitude suggests ulterior motives in seeking treatment. In addition to these reasons it has been found inadvisable to attempt to treat prisoners serving sentences of less than six months or who are above 35 years of age.
In 1945, 58 cases were reported for psychiatric investigation of which 5 were considered unsuitable for treatment. In addition, 13 others were undergoing treatment begun during the previous year. Of these 66 patients, 7 were still being treated at the time of reporting, 22 had been discharged as improved or relieved, and the remaining 37 had been found to be unsuitable for treatment. A number of cases were examined by electro-encephalography by arrangement with Sutton Emergency Hospital and the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases, and the importance of this means of investigation has become increasingly apparent.
At the 1945 Conference of Prison Medical Officers, the subject of Psychotherapy was given the most prominent place on the agenda. The result of the discussion showed the urgent need for a separate establishment for the study and treatment of psychologically abnormal prisoners, but unfortunately no hope exists that such a project can be carried out under present conditions.
New Agricultural Hostels for Defectives
In October the National Association opened two more Agricultural Hostels at the request of the East Riding (Yorks) Agricultural Executive Committee? one at Keyingham the other at Patrington, both near Hull. The Hostels will provide much needed labour for a wheat growing area, and between them will accommodate 55 men.
Application forms may be obtained from the offices of the National Association, 39 Queen Anne Street, W.l.
The Cinema and Mental Health
Few would dispute that the cinema is becoming one of the most important influences in the modern world. Within the past year or two, it has been noticeable that stories with a psychological basis have proved to be among some of the most popular with film-goers. With this in mind, the National Association for Mental Health has recently formed a Film Visiting Committee whose function it is to view and report on films with a predominantly psychological approach, to consider the effect of these on children and adults and the mental health aspects of films for children and adults. It is felt that a Committee of this kind could give valuable technical guidance and help in relation to producing, and also in avoiding inaccurate presentations which would tend to vulgarize psychology and give the public a false idea of its possibilities.
Reports of Commissioners of Prisons and Directors of Convict Prisons for the years 1942-4 and for the year 1945. H.M. Stationery Office, 2s. 6d. and 2s. The work of this Committee is as yet in a very exploratory stage, and its membership is being extended in order to bring in, as far as possible, all the interests involved.
On the recommendation of the Committee we are starting a Film Review column in Mental Health which we feel will be of interest to our readers and stimulate discussion. Comments on two recent films which have now been generally released, have been provided by one of the members of the Film Visiting Committee and will be found on page 55 of this issue.
Family Relations Group
This Group recently established under the chairmanship of Lord Horder, with Mr. Cyril Bibby, as Hon. Secretary, is holding a Conference on ” Education for Family Life ” to take place at King’s College, London, on January 5th and 6th, 1948. The following subjects will be dealt with : ” The Home Influence ” ; ” The Formal Education System ” ; ” Informal Education ” and ” General Community Influences “. Particulars may be obtained from the offices of the Group, 69 Eccleston Square, London, S.W.I.
As an outcome of the International Congress on the Family and on Population held in Paris in June, the decision was made to set up an International Union of Family Organizations and a provisional committee, with a Swiss delegate as provisional president, was appointed. This move, whether or not it is ultimately successful, marks a world wide interest in problems of family life and a world wide conviction of the basic importance of the family in the education of the individual.
Art in a Mental Hospital
During the summer, there was held at St. Albans (Herts) an Exhibition of Paintings by patients under treatment at Hill End Mental Hospital, which attracted a considerable amount of public interest, and won high praise from Mr. Adrian Hill who is a pioneer in the introduction of art classes into hospitals and sanatoria. At the opening of the Exhibition, Dr W. J. T. Kimber, Medical Superintendent of the Hospital, explained that the classes had been started in order to provide creative work which would help the patients towards recovery by giving them a new insight into the beauty of life around them, and the experiment had abundantly justified itself. Astonishing results have been achieved by patients (most of them only under treatment for a few months) who had no idea they could paint, and who will now leave hospital permanently enriched by the discovery.
It should be noted that the paintings are not looked upon by the hospital medical staff as providing material for psychological analysis. The approach is essentially from the point of view of creative art and care is taken to ensure that this is realised by the patients concerned.
Adult Education for Mental Hospital Patients
The Mental Hospitals Committee of the London County Council in conjunction with the British Institute for Adult Education are appointing an Organizer to institute for Mental Hospital patients, cultural activities such as talks and discussion groups, groups for music, drama and art, and other enterprises designed to help in intellectual rehabilitation.
This is a development of a tentative experiment at St. Ebba’s Hospital, Epsom, shortly before the war, to test possibilities, and it is as an experiment that the work will be re-introduced, being limited, in the first instance, to the Council’s Hospitals at Epsom, Banstead and Cane Hill.
The Organizer appointed will be directly employed by the British Institute for Adult Education for the purpose of the experimental period, while the L.C.C. will bear the major share of the expense involved.
Convalescent Home for Epileptics
The National Association’s projected Home at Fairwarp, Sussex, will not be available, owing to unavoidable delays, for the reception of convalescent epileptics, until the spring of 1948. A Matron has, however, already been appointed who will take up her duties in January to make the necessary preparations.
Meanwhile, arrangements are being made to accommodate a few selected cases at The Old Vicarage, Bognor Regis, during the winter months. Applications can now be received by the National Association, 39 Queen Anne Street, W.l.
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