Shift Update - February 2010
Shift
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 emplo...@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