Mental Welfare
Conference on Mental Welfare, November, 1934
The experiment of organising the C.A.M.W. Conference jointly with the Council of the Public Health Congress was most successful. Well attended meetings were held in the Royal Agricultural Hall, Islington, and in British Medical Association House, Tavistock Square; 340 delegates were appointed, and a Luncheon at the Hotel Russell, at which the Association was honoured by the presence of the Minister of Health, was attended by 137 representatives. The excellent exhibition of work done by defectives taught in Centres and in their own homes, under the Middlesex Training Scheme, aroused much interest, and astonishment was expressed by many delegates at the high standard of the work shown.
Visits to institutions, clinics and schools were arranged for some delegates from long distances who seldom had an opportunity of visiting London. In addition to the ordinary sessions of the Conference, an interesting meeting, at which various problems arising in connection with Guardianship and Boarding Out, was held at the C.A.M.W. Offices. On Wednesday even- ing, November 21st the Secretaries of Local Associations met at an informal dinner at the Albemarle Club, as guests of the Association, and after the dinner a presentation of a silver cigarette box, case and match-case was made to Miss Evelyn Fox as a token of affection and a recognition of her services during the past twenty-one years.
A verbatim report of the Conference is being issued and may be obtained from the C.A.M.W. Offices, price 3/6 post free. An order form is enclosed in this issue of Mental Welfare.
An account of the Friday morning session of the Public Health Congress, when ” Voluntary Sterilisation ” was the subject of discussion, may be obtained from the offices of the Joint Committee for Voluntary Sterilisation, 69, Eccleston Square, S.W.i, price i^d. post free, or 1/1 per dozen.
Holiday Homes for Defectives Bognor. In view of the success which attended the arrangements made for holiday parties of defectives in 1934, the C.A.M.W. has again reserved the whole of the accommodation at Franklin House, Bognor, for the period April 12th until October 25th, 1935. Parties of not more than 28 can be received at a time. Young boys attending Occupation Centres are eligible, but otherwise only girls and women can be accommodated.
Last year nearly 300 visitors spent a holiday at Franklin House, most of them staying for a fortnight each. We hope that in 1935 an equally large number of defectives will be able to take advantage of a holiday by the sea. Rhyl.
A demand for a holiday home accessible to patients in Institutions in the northern part of the country led the C.A.M.W. to decide to open a home in North Wales. A most suitable house has been found at Rhyl, and negotia- tions are now proceding with a view to opening the home on April ist, 1935. The house will accommodate 33 visitors and 3 visiting staff. Applications for accommodation should be made as soon as possible, for both Holiday Homes, to the Secretary, C.A.M.W., 24, Buckingham Palace Road, London, S.W.i, from whom details of charges, etc., may be obtained.
Dates of Courses, 1935
1. Course for Medical Officers. May 13th?25th, 1935, at the University of London, South Ken- sington. 2. Courses for Teachers. Nine Weeks Course for Teachers of Retarded Children, May 20th? July 19th, 1935, in London.
Board of Education Short Courses for Teachers of Retarded Children. (a) Elementary Course. August 29th?September 18th, in Leicester. (b) Advanced Course. July 2nd?24th, 1935, in London.
3. Course for Supervisors, Enquiry Officers and Institution Staff. July 6th?27th, 1935, at Notcutt House, Dorset Square, N.W.i. Vacancy for a Teacher of Retarded Children in Southern Rhodesia A trained certificated teacher (woman) is required as soon as possible by the Education Department of Southern Rhodesia for an ” opportunist ” class. The candidate should have special training and experience in classes for feeble-minded children. She should be between the ages of 23 and 35, and physically fit.
Salary will be on the scale ^230-10-270-15-390. Increments to the maxi- mum of four are allowed for each year’s similar service. Passage paid. Three years’ agreement.
Teachers interested arc asked to apply for full particulars to:?Society for the Overseas Settlement of British Women, Caxton House (West), Tothill Street, S.W.i.
The class is for European children some of whom are Dutch.
Handbook for Speakers on Voluntary Sterilisation
The attention of readers is called to an excellent Handbook which has been published by the Joint Committee on Voluntary Stenlisation and may be obtained from their Offices, 69, Eccleston Square, S.W.i, price 1/- net.
The Handbook is intended to be supplementary to the Report of the Department Committee on Sterilisation to which frequent reference is made.
Copies of this Report (minus the appendices) may also be obtained from the same office, price 6d.
The Handbook was designed primarily for the assistance of lecturers in the selection and preparation of their material but anyone interested in the subject will find it a most useful epitome of the history of eugenic sterilisation, the present position, and arguments in favour and against the legalising of voluntary sterilisation.
Association of Mental Health Workers Conference
The Annual Conference of the Association of Mental Health Workers will be held at Newnham College, Cambridge, during the week-end begin- ning Friday, March 22nd. Accommodation in the College is limited to 55 but in addition to this private hospitality can be arranged for a number if desired. Full particulars may be obtained from Miss Eltham, 6b, Florence Road, Ealing, London, W.5.
Burden Mental Research Trust
At a meeting held recently in London the Burden Mental Research Trust Committee of Administration had before them reports of the first year’s working of the Trust, which Mrs. R. G. Burden recently endowed with ,?10,000. The investigations contemplated by the Committee are being car- ried out by Mr. J. A. Fraser Roberts, M.A., D.Sc., F.R.S.E., assisted by Mr. R. M. Norman, M.D., D.P.M., and Miss Ruth Griffiths, M.A., Ph.D. An extensive survey of the mentally normal as well as the mentally abnormal has been initiated, and when the Trust eventually publishes its final report it is hoped and expected that much valuable information will be forthcoming as to the nature of the transmission of mental abilities and disabilities. The Trust has also arranged for the co-operation of other distinguished investiga- tors from different parts of Great Britain, one of whom, Dr Shepherd Dawson of Glasgow, has already complied with the request of the Committee. Mental Health Course (Social Science Department)
An advertisement in this issue invites applications for Commonwealth Fund scholarships for the next session of the Mental Health Course at the London School of Economics and Political Science. This course of training provides a general background in the theory and practice of mental hygiene but allows also for some specialisation in the social aspects of child guidance, mental deficiency and mental disorder. It is, therefore, a useful additional qualification for trained social workers who are anxious to take up case work in connection with child guidance clinics and voluntary associations, or to apply for appointments under the mental deficiency, public health, or mental hospital committees of local authorities. During the past year or two the qualification has been increasingly recognised, particularly by local authorities, who are availing themselves of the new provisions of the Mental Treatment Act, by appointing social workers to the staff of their observation wards and mental hospitals. At the present time the demand for trained psychiatric social workers is rather in excess of the supply.
Admission to this Course is by decision of a Selection Committee, and preference is given to candidates who have had some experience of social work, in addition to their general social science training. The Committee is glad to consider applications from experienced workers who may be already employed by mental deficiency or mental hospital committees, and who could be granted a year’s leave of absence for further training. During the last ten years a great deal of useful knowledge has become available in mental hygiene, and important legal and administrative changes make it particularly desirable that social workers should be given an opportunity of reviewing this knowledge and of studying its implications in terms of practical social service.
Those who are interested are asked to make early enquiries from the Social Science Department, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, W.C.2. The fee for the Course (including Registration Fee) is 31 guineas.
Obituary
It was with much regret that we read of the death of Sir Maurice Craig, C.B.E., M.D., F.R.C.P., who died at his home, East Preston, Sussex, on Sunday, January 6th.
Sir Maurice’s name will be well known to most of our readers as a leading Psychiatrist and as a Consultant whose wisdom and genuine human sympathy caused his opinion to be widely sought. The son of a doctor and proprietor of a home for mental patients, he was early attracted to similar work and shortly after qualifying took a post at Bethlem Royal Hospital (of which he was afterwards Governor) and from that time onwards devoted his whole attention to the study and treatment of mental disorder.
Sir Maurice did valuable work during the war as neurological advisor to the R.A.M.C. and as a member of the War Office Committee on Shell Shock. He has also filled a number of public positions on the governing bodies of Hospitals and Institutions. His recognition of the important part which preventive measures played in mental health work led him to interest himself in the formation of the National Council of Mental Hygiene in this country to which body he has acted as Chairman for many years, he was also a Vice-President of the International Committee. Sir Maurice acted as Chair- man of the Mental After-Care Association and was a Vice-President of our own Association.
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