Annual reports to Council
2012 /
Ctrl +Click on a link to go directly to that report
Adolescent Forensic
Gay & Lesbian
Mental Health Informatics
Philosophy
Private & Independent Practice
Psychopharmacology
Spirituality
Transcultural
Volunteering and International
Women and Mental Health
ADOLESCENT FORENSIC PSYCHIATRY SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP (AFPSIG)
2012 ANNUAL REPORT TO COUNCIL
The last year has seen continuing development within the Adolescent Forensic SIG.
Our meetings at both Child and Adolescent and Forensic Faculty residential conferences have been well attended.
We have linked up with the BPS and Adolescent Forensic Network to contribute to the first adolescent forensic conference in Manchester in May 2012. This was well attended.
The SIG made active efforts to attend and contribute presentations to the European Forensic Child and Adolescent Forensic conference in Berlin in March 2012.
We are working on ensuring the reinvigoration of dual training in child and adolescent forensic psychiatry and have linked with the dean and produced a position paper on the background to the need for this to continue.
We continue to build links with colleagues in other disciplines and their professional bodies
We have been involved in a range of national consultations in the area of youth justice, mental health and safeguarding.
We have arranged a SIG conference for October 2012 in London on the minimum age of criminal responsibility and have received acceptance form a range of high profile speakers.
We have supported and been actively involved in recent moves to develop more coherent commissioning arrangements for FCAMHS.
We continue to have an active, enthusiastic executive and a large membership and look forward to further progress in 2013.
Nick Hindley, Chair, AFSIG
8th August 2012
Back to top
LESBIAN & GAY SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP
ROYAL COLLEGE OF PSYCHIATRISTS
Annual Report 2011-2012
ACTIVITIES OVER THE LAST YEAR
1. Business Meetings
Besides the AGM, the SIG executive meets approximately three times a year to review current initiatives, plan meetings and review the SIG’s finances. Executive meetings this year were held on 21st August 2011, 21st December 2011 and 25th May 2012.
The SIG’s Annual Business Meeting was not held in 2011 as a planned SIG event in May 2011, at which it was planned to take place (‘Transgender: Time To Change’), was cancelled (see 2011 annual report and 2012 SIG review).
An Annual Business Meeting was held on Friday 13th July 2012 at the College’s Annual Meeting in Liverpool. Marlene Kelbrick (who had contributed to the SIG Exec Committee as an observer) and Mike Attar were elected as committee members. No Executive Committee members stood down. The aims of the SIG were reviewed and the previous 12 months work was discussed: 1) sessions for next year’s International Congress (a session on sexual relationships between patients, and a seminar to discuss a position statement that will be derived from an invited event in the Spring on the subject of diversity). 2) Diversity training – Marlene agreed to check the College’s curriculum with respect to diversity competencies covering LGB issues.
2. Academic Contributions
i) College’s Annual CongressBrighton2011:
Suicide Prevention in vulnerable groups
This session attracted around 200 delegates:
S8 Suicide prevention in vulnerable groups
Chair: Dr Shawn Mitchell, St Andrew’s Healthcare, Northampton
Suicide in vulnerable groups
Dr Mohammad S Rahman, National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness (NCISH), University of Manchester
Suicide in young men
Dr Margaret Murphy, Brookside Clinic, Cambridge
Suicide and deliberate self-harm in gay, lesbian and bisexual people
Dr Helen Killaspy, University College Medical School, London
ii) Equality in the work place
The SIG promotes equality and dignity for LGB people in the workplace, through its training package but also in broad areas of equality. For example, members of the SIG Executive led on a recent seminar (20th February 2012) at UCL on “How to be an inclusive employer” that focused on LGBT equality issues in recruitment and employment. It was open to management staff at all London universities. Another, larger meeting is planned for this autumn when we will open it up to London Deanery trainees.
iii) Marriage equality
The UK Government has recently sought opinion on its plans to legislate to enable gay men and lesbians equality in marriage. The SIG Exec prepared a detailed evidence-based statement for the College to use in making a submission as well as entering the public debate. This was submitted in June 2012 and is available on:
iv) College Annual Meeting Liverpool 2012: Fri 13th July 11.30-12.45pm
Self disclosure in the therapeutic relationship
Chair: Dr Sandra Evans, Consultant psychiatrist and Associate Dean for Psychiatry, East London Foundation NHS Trust
Helpful and unhelpful aspects of self-disclosure in the therapeutic relationship
Dr Trudie Rossouw, North East London NHS Foundation Trust.
Self disclosure in relation to spiritual beliefs and religion
Dr Sarah Eagger, Consultant psychiatrist older adults and honorary senior lecturer, Central and NW London NHS FT and Imperial College, London
Self disclosure in relation to mental illness
Dr Mike Shooter, Past President, Royal College of Psychiatrists
This seminar was particularly well attended, drawing over 300 conference delegates
3. Training package on the needs of GLB Service Users
This remains available to organisations wanting to use this as part of their diversity training. Training can be delivered by some members of the SIG. The SIG are continuing to pursue opportunities to adapt the training package as a CPD online module hosted by the College.
4. Website
The layout of the website is kept up to date by Gian Galeazzi. The SIG Executive Committee is of the opinion the website also serves a public information function.
5. Future of the SIG
At the SIG Executive meeting in August 2011, the aims and work of the group was debated and its vision reviewed. The following were suggested as reasons justifying the ongoing need for the SIG:
- Providing a vehicle for senior psychiatrists to be willing to stand up and be open about their sexuality, as demonstrated by the strong response to a presentation Sandra gave on the needs for older gay and lesbian service users at a recent meeting in Stratford.
- Playing a prominent role in the debates over issues such as sexuality and service users in secure services/ long term accommodation.
- Challenging attitudes of mental health professionals
- Focus on the needs of gay, lesbian and bisexual psychiatrists, which the SIG has possibly neglected, assuming that there is less need. Evidence from Northern Ireland suggests LGB psychiatrists there continue to encounter prejudice.
- Focusing on the needs of gay, lesbian and bisexual service users
- Academic activities - such as writing and publishing in psychiatric journals, as well as journals outside of mental health, and other forms of publication.
- Ongoing need for contributing to diversity training.
- Acting as an expert voice on LGB issues for the College
6. Finances
Current balance: approximately £800. The only income source is academic meetings and the training package.
Executive Committee
Michael King is Chair of the SIG. Other members of the executive committee are Sandra Evans (finance officer), Shawn Mitchell (secretary), Mike Attar, Helen Killaspy, Gian Galeazzi, and Marlene Kelbrick.
Michael King, 23rd August 2012
Back to top
2011 -2012 Report of the
Mental Health Informatics Special Interest Group (MHISIG)
to the Council of the Royal College of Psychiatrists
The MHISIG has been focusing on two areas during the period 2010-2011.
Firstly the group co-organised a conference on Mental Health Informatics with several other bodies including the Informatics Committee and the Mental Health Informatics Taskforce. This is scheduled for September 2011 and will develop a strategy for the development of Mental Health Informatics in the UK.
Secondly the MHISIG amalgamated with the Informatics Committee.
The following is the committee structure:
Chair – Dr Justin Marley
Treasurer – Dr Omer Moghraby
Publications – Dr Himanshu Tiyagi,
Website – Dr Himanshu Tiyagi
Imm.Past Chair -Dr Zia Nadeem
The MHISIG AGM is to be held at the College Annual meeting in Brighton.
Finances (for the period 1/1/10 to 30/04/11):
Opening balance 01/01/10£4082.70
Closing balance £3580.80 (transferred to the Informatics Committee)
Approval for spending for the catering was agreed. Agreement was also made for transfer of the finances to the amalgamated Informatics Committee and MHISIG.
Conference Report:The conference was organised with the Department of Health and the Information Centre.
Workshops Report:A workshop was suggested by Dr Himanshu Tiyagi and accepted by Dr Richardson after the amalgamation of the group.
Publications Report:The newsletter has been quiescent.
Discussion List/Forum:Discussions continued in the new forum of the Informatics Committee.
Future Directions:The MHISIG has amalgamated with the Informatics Committee
Dr Justin Marley
Chair
MHISIG Committee
06 June 2011
Back to top
RoyalCollege of Psychiatrists
Philosophy Special Interest Group
Annual Report to Council: August 2012
The Philosophy Special Interest Group (SIG) remains active on several fronts, including conferences, training, education, research and publication. Our most recent annual committee meeting took place in the College on Friday April 27th 2012.
Our finances remain in good order, but we have no identified income stream. We are keen to utilize any funding we do have to further our academic and educational goals in bringing philosophy to bear practical fruit for psychiatry. Current plans under review include funding junior philosophers and psychiatrists to attend academic meetings in the UK, generating CPD resources, and supporting research where philosophy interacts in a meaningful way with clinical and empirical research in psychiatry. However, to do this in a sustainable manner requires us to identify a financially safe means of doing this, and the committee is currently working with the College in the development of a business plan. Regional philosophy and psychiatry groups have continued to thrive. First, the Scottish Group has succeeded in mounting an annual conference for the whole of Scotland with great success. There are also more frequent local meetings. The group has been led by Dr John Callender. Secondly, the Maudsley Philosophy Group also remains very active. It is now a charitable trust with an income; and has been able to attract an array of acclaimed speakers including Raymond Tallis, Roger Scruton, Tim Crane, John Gray, and Mary Warnock at their monthly meetings. The group additionally has a research focus and some of its members haveco-edited ‘The Maudsley Reader in Phenomenological Psychiatry’, for publication with CUP in November 2012, After publication, the group intend to follow up with a conference in 2013 to celebrate the centenary of the publication of Jaspers’ General Psychopathology,this meeting will be in collaboration with the College and in addition either the Institute of Psychiatry or the Royal Society of Medicine. Further, the group intends to submit a session proposal for consideration by the College on the relevance of phenomenological psychiatry to contemporary practice for the 2013 College International Meeting. The SIG has also have submitted a workshop proposal on Personality Disorder and Moral Responsibility to the Forensic Faculty conference which will be held in Copenhagen in February 2013. Additionally, groups in Birmingham, Nottingham, King’s College London, Durham and the North East, Belfast, and Coventry and Warwickshire remain active and hold regular meetings. Although not a UK group, we have continued our links with an emerging similar group in Bulgaria. Dr Drozdstoj Stoyanov has introduced us to the Balkan Association of History and Philosophy of Medicine, which we have been able to encourage, and Dr Stoyanov has enthusiastically set up links with the SIG. We are fortunate to have Dr Stoyanov as part of the SIG committee.
The Philosophy SIG continues to arrange and support a variety of symposia, meetings and conferences. We support the Annual RD Laing conference and are supporting the forthcoming INPP conference in New Zealandand several of our members are invited speakers. Further plans for the SIG include organizing meetings on topics such as psychoanalysis and philosophy, a joint meeting with the Faculty of Forensic Psychiatry, and a one-day conference on Psychiatry and the Medical Humanities.
Importantly, together with the Maudsley Philosophy Group, members of the SIG committee are involved in the IoP summer school in psychiatry for medical students and members elsewhere have integrated with local undergraduate psychiatry societies at medical schools, for example at Warwick. Theseare important initiatives by the College that the SIG supports wholeheartedly and are aimed at interesting medical students in psychiatry and giving them some understanding of the academic and research activity that goes on within the speciality. We hope that members of the SIG in the West Midlands will be able to support a similar initiative by the School of Psychiatry there for a summer school for medical students. Members of the SIG committee have continued to contribute to developments in the curriculum and as mentioned above, we are currently working on developing CPD on-line materials, as well as CASC questions for the exam. Additionally, several of the members of the committee are involved in practical teaching innovations with both undergraduates and postgraduates. In addition to developments in the teaching of psychiatry, SIG members are actively involved in teaching on the Master’s in philosophy and psychiatry at King’s College London, Warwick, and the University of Central Lancashire and act as PhD supervisors and examiners nationally and internationally.
We are also planning to carry out some research into how much philosophy and ethics are being taught in both undergraduate and MRCPsych curricula: data collection is currently underway. We continue to publish a newsletter of the SIG’s activities, edited by Dr Steve Ramplin and Dr Abdi Sanati, and have been able to send this to SIG members bi-annually, and have an active and updated website, maintained by Dr Dieneke Hubbeling, and linked to several national and international associations. The SIG continues to maintain its links with the international journal Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology. Similarly, a number of members of the SIG have contributed to the enormously successful Oxford University Press series International Perspectives in Philosophy and Psychiatry. In terms of future plans, Professor Fulford and Dr Broome are currently working on an ‘Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Psychiatry’. Professor Fulford has recently completed a book on ‘Values-based Medicine’ for CUP. Two members of the committee, Dr. Steve Ramplin and Professor Julian Hughes jointly contributed two chapters to a new book, Reconceiving Medical Ethics, edited by Christopher Cowley and published by Continuum in 2012. One chapter considered a case of mental illness in the light of Heidegger’s philosophy and values-based medicine; the other compared the notions of clinical and ethical judgement.
In September 2011, Professor Hughes spoke in a debate on suffering and euthanasia held in The Hague as part of the Congress of the International Psychogeriatric Association. Later in the month, he spoke on values and the assessment of mental capacity in the annual meeting of the Anglo-German Medical Society, which was held at DurhamUniversity.The Royal College Scottish SIG has an annual one day conference. The 2012 conference will be held in Edinburgh on 5 October. There will be two sessions with a paper in each presented by a philosopher and a psychiatrist. There are also local groups, such as the one in Aberdeen,which offer seminars in philosophy and psychiatry. Further, the SIG, together the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland, held a very successful and well attended conference in Aberdeen in October, 2011. Our collaboration with Durham Philosophy Department and Professor Matthew Ratcliffe continues to develop: Dr. Ben Smith, a member of the SIG,is a Research Fellow at Durham involved in the current AHRC/DFG fundedproject 'Emotional Experience in Depression: A Philosophical Study', ledby Prof. Matthew Ratcliffe. As part of this project, Dr. Smith andcolleagues have been in close collaboration with SANE in order to helpdevelop training materials for SANE's services staff and volunteers. This collaboration has led to publications by Ratcliffe and Broome as well as an application for funding for research. Collaborations with Oxford include work by Professor Fulford in developing young academics in philosophy and psychiatry, as well as instituting a philosophy of psychiatry summer school at the university. Dr Pickard, also at Oxford, is working with the Department of Health and Ministry of Justice to develop training for prison officers around responsibility and blame in personality disorders, and in addition to editing two special issues of journals, recently did a Philosophy Bites podcast on responsibility and blame and personality disorder that's just out ( In addition to collaborations with Professor Ratcliffe and the Maudsley Philosophy Group, Dr Broome works with Dr Lisa Bortolotti in Birmingham and Dr Matteo Mameli at King’s College London. Together, they have secured funding from the Wellcome Trust for a workshop on the topic of ‘Moral Responsibility and Mental Illness’, to be held at BirminghamUniversity in March 2013. This meeting brings together lawyers, policy makers, philosophers and ethicists with psychiatrists and mental health clinicians. Broome is running an inter-disciplinary cross-campus undergraduate module at the University of Warwick. Together with colleagues from Warwick, Birkbeck, and Reading, Broome was part of a successful funding application to the AHRC that has supported three workshops around ‘Beckett and Neuroscience’, the third of which is happening at Warwick with support from the Medical School and the Institute of Advanced Studies and will focus on the role of the humanities in teaching medical students about psychiatry and neuroscience.
Dr Gareth Owen continues to do research on decision-making capacity and related areas at the Institute of Psychiatry in collaboration with philosophers on the AHRC funded Essex autonomy project and lawyers at King’s College London School of Law. Clinical epidemiological and idiographic research methods are being used to advance understanding of real world decision-making capacity in depression, schizophrenia and frontal brain injury. This collaborative work has recently been strengthened with a Wellcome Trust University Award with a project to inquire into fluctuating capacity and advanced decision-making to run between 2013 and 2018.