CLICK HERE to download a copy of the Special Interest Groups submission

CLICK HERE to download a presentations Authorised Officers under the 2001 Mental Health Act, CLICK HERE to download the second presentation.

Dear IASW Members,

Social workers practising in the field of mental health care provision to older persons in Ireland are invited to contact Damien Nolan - committee member of Social Workers in Adult Mental Health (SWAMH) and representative on that committee of a subgroup composed of social workers who practise in the field of mental health care provision to older persons - towards joining this subgroup. 

The subgroup of SWAMH that is composed of social workers practising in the field of mental health care provision to older persons, meets 3 or 4 times per year for the following purposes: 

• peer support
• learning from case study, journal review and receipt of presentations by invited speakers;
• professional development through consideration of policy and practice changes within this field that are of interest and are applicable to us as practitioners and to the client category group we serve;

• identification of ideas and issues within this field that we as a subgroup may seek to progress through engagement with the headquarters of the Irish Association of Social Workers, via SWAMH.

In addition to deriving advantage from meetings of the subgroup, members can and do benefit professionally from liaison with other members during times between meetings. 

Damien Nolan, who would welcome contact from interested social workers in this regard, can be reached by telephone (01-2493304) or by e-mail ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ). 

In connection with this invitation to join the SWAMH subgroup that is composed of social workers who practise in the field of mental health care provision to older persons, please note that the next meeting of this subgroup is planned to take place in St Patrick’s University Hospital, Dublin 8, on Friday, October 7^th 2011 (further details are available from Damien Nolan, Head of Social Work at St Patrick’s University Hospital, who may be contacted through the telephone number or e-mail address provided above).           

Yours sincerely,

Damien Nolan

SWAMH

Dear Sir,

Eilish O' Regan, 3.6.11, makes reference to the Mental Health Commission's concerns regarding the number of applications by Gardaí for involuntary admission to a psychiatric unit rather than by the HSE's Authorised Officer, a trained mental health professional who actively seeks the least restrictive alternative to involuntary admission.

However,  currently under The mental Health Act, this is the only course of action that can be taken in crisis situations where there is an immediate risk to a patient harming themselves or others. Only the Gardaí can speedily act, gaining access to the person's home and taking the person to a place of safety for examination by a medical practitioner.

Other applicants have to await an examination by the person's GP followed by the involvement of the escort team who are psychiatric nurses, to assist in conveying the person to hospital. Due to safety concerns of some psychiatric nurses, a private organisation provides this service in many areas, but  can take up to 12 hours to arrive.

The Mental Health Act is due for review in the coming year and my colleagues are keen that changes are made to facilitate the appropriate assessment and speedy admission to hospital if so required.

Frank Browne

Click on the link to download a copy of the minutes from the SWAMH Special Interest Group Meeting in May 2011

Click on the link to download a copy of the minutes from the SWAMH Special Interest Group Meeting in July 2011

Social Workers Adult Mental Health (SWAMH)

2010 / 11       Chairperson: Damien Nolan           

Secretary:       Anne Duffin  

The Committee:

• As planned, the committee of SWAMH met on 6 occasions. Between those meetings, some members of the committee met separately to work on particular tasks for SWAMH.
• In the summer of 2010 two members of the committee, together with the President of IASW, had a planned meeting with the National Assistant Director of Mental Health Services to share the view of SWAMH regarding particular issues of importance including: the necessary availability of social work supervision towards ensuring the capacity of our discipline to operate to the highest professional standard in the field of adult mental health, and the consequent need to have a line management structure in place in each mental health social work service that will be resourced to be able to provide such supervision; the particular issues commonly dealt with by multidisciplinary mental health care teams that SWAMH would consider that social work can and should take the lead role in processing; the significance of the Team Co-ordinator role within the Community Mental Health Team (as proposed in ‘A Vision for Change’), and the importance of having this role available to be performed by suitably qualified and experienced social workers as well as members of other disciplines.
• In November 2010 SWAMH submitted a report on behalf of IASW to the Independent Monitoring Group for ‘A Vision for Change’ on its assessment of progress in the implementation of this mental health policy.
• In the past 12 months a member of the SWAMH committee, acting as a representative of IASW, has become a member of the National ‘Vision for Change’ Working Group; and another mental health social worker connected to SWAMH has become the IASW representative of the National ‘Mental Health Recovery’ Working Group.
• Within the past year the SWAMH committee has also assisted a representative of the Mental Health Commission to conduct a survey evaluating the impact of regulatory standards on mental health services in Ireland.
• Also within the past year, Frank Browne of the SWAMH committee, together with Professor Wes Shera (of the faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto, Canada), contributed an article to the Irish Social Worker journal titled ‘Mental Health Reform in Ireland: Social Workers’ Perceptions of Progress.’

 Continuous Professional Development Programmes:

• SWAMH provided a CPD day programme on November 26^th 2010 in St Patrick’s University Hospital, Dublin 8, which had as its theme the subject of ‘Working effectively with Carers’ and at which three sets of speakers presented. Nora Mannion (Principal Social Worker) and Mary Kelleher (Senior Social Worker), both of the ‘Cluain Mhuire’ Mental Health Service in Co Dublin, presentation was on working effectively with the carers of service users with Borderline Personality Disorder. Patrick Egan (Principal Social Worker) and Kevin Madigan (Clinical Research Fellow), both of DETECT, an early psychosis intervention team operating in Co Dublin, spoke on the subject of effective intervention with carers of those experiencing psychosis for the first time; and  Pauline Gill (Principal Social Worker) and Donal O’Malley (Senior Social Worker), both of the Central Mental Hospital, delivered a presentation on the subject of ‘working with carers who are victims’ and on the subject of ‘assessment tools for use in assessing carer needs.’
• SWAMH provided a CPD day programme on the same date as its AGM, March 25^th 2011, this event also took place in St Patrick’s University Hospital. There were two CPD presentations: Bernadette Casey and Kristen Murphy (HSE Senior Social Workers practising in the field of Protection of Older Persons) gave a presentation entitled ‘What is Elder Abuse? How to Respond?’ and then Bridget Harney (Senior Occupational Therapist with PROTECT, an early intervention service for persons with psychosis based in Co Wicklow) gave a presentation entitled ‘The Mental Health Recovery Star – Measuring, Mapping and Supporting the Recovery Process.’

SWAMH elected a new committee for 2011/2012, the executive officers are:

Chair Frank Browne

Hon. Sec. Claire O Regan

Treasurer Aideen Mc Donnel

Friday 25th of March 2011 at St Patrick’s Hospital, Dublin 8

Theme: 1. Protecting Vulnerable Adults at Risk and 2. A recovery orientated assessment tool

COST: €10.00 Non Member - €5.00 IASW Member - Student Social Workers Free. 

VENUE: Lecture Theatre, St Patrick’s Hospital, Dublin 8 (Short walk from Heuston Station behind Dr Steevens Hospital) 

BOOKING: Email Anne Duffin This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Hon Sec. to confirm your place

By Frank Browne and & Wes Shera.

Introduction

Social workers who practice in the field of adult mental health in Ireland are a distinct group of practitioners.  They are directly involved in both the successes and failures in the constantly changing environment of mental health policy and services.  With recent efforts to reform mental health care in Ireland, using a recovery paradigm, social workers have been the focus of many of the expectations for change.  This article refers to surveys done in 2002 and 2003 as a baseline and then presents the results of a recent survey June 2010 of adult mental health social workers to determine what they perceive as specific improvements in the system of mental health care and what they perceive as areas for further improvement. Click here to download the rest of the article..

Click here to download the Group Protocol for the SWAMH Special Interest Group