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In this month's edition...
World Autism Awareness week
This week is World Autism Awareness Week, which aims to increase awareness and understanding of the challenges faced by people with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). ASD is a lifelong condition which affects how a person communicates and makes sense of the world around them. People in the criminal justice system are more likely to have a disability such as ASD than the general population; and the condition can make it more difficult for people to cope with the demands of the criminal justice system. Better awareness of individuals’ needs and simple adjustments can help to support people and improve outcomes. Find out more here
Care for people at risk of suicide and self-harm
The Reducing Reoffending Third Sector Advisory Group (RR3) special interest group on effective care and support for people at risk of suicide and self-harm in prison has published its recommendations for change. In recent years, the rates of both suicide and incidents of self-harm in our prisons have risen significantly. Effective care and support for people at risk of suicide and self-harm in prison requires a whole-prison approach, developing a culture of compassion so that every relationship becomes an opportunity to support vulnerable prisoners. This RR3 special interest group explored the role and contribution of the voluntary sector in providing care, and the challenges and barriers to effective care and support. The paper presents nine recommendations for change. Download the paper here
Pregnant women with mental health needs
The International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics have conducted a survey into pregnant women's mental health needs. Titled, ‘Maternal Mental Health - Women’s Voices’, it found only seven per cent of women with mental health problems during and after pregnancy in the UK were referred to specialist care. It also found that it took over four weeks for 38 per cent of those women to be seen. The survey, of over 2,300 women who had given birth in the last five years, revealed the impact of low rates of specialist referral, long waits and the lack of consensus over medication and little support for their partners. It goes on to explore their experiences of perinatal mental health problems, engagement with healthcare professionals and the quality of care they received. Read more here
Prison staff perspective on suicide
‘Preventing prison suicide: Staff perspectives’ is a report which forms part of a series by The Howard League and the Centre for Mental Health aimed at preventing suicide in prison. Based on examples given by prison staff of positive approaches in their workplaces, the report identifies four key steps to address prison suicide: engaging the whole prison estate in collaborative working towards ‘stepped care’ – supporting people with the lowest appropriate service in the first instance and ‘stepping up’ as clinically required; recognising the role of key partners such as peer mentors, gym staff and chaplains in preventing the escalation of problems; investing in staff training and support; and developing robust assessments for identifying issues. Read more here
Tackling multiple disadvantage
The Making Every Adult Matter Coalition along with other partners, including Clinks, is running its second national summit on tackling multiple disadvantage [8th-9th May, Milton Keynes, from £75]. Many of Clinks' members work with people facing multiple disadvantage. Over two days a series of workshops will be led and shaped by delegates under four key themes: drawing expertise from people with lived experience, achieving systems change, understanding and responding to diversity and fostering partnership and collaborations to achieve change. Find out more and book here
Mental health of children
Action for Prisoners’ and Offenders Families has published a guide for professionals and organisations working with children and young people to raise awareness of the impact on child mental health of the imprisonment of a parent, carer or close family member. 'The impact of parental imprisonment on the mental health of children and young people' explores the impact of parental imprisonment on a child, such as having to care for younger siblings, experiencing family break up and dealing with stigma. It highlights a number of key issues relating to mental health including a sense of loss and grief, low self-esteem and inability to concentrate on schoolwork. Read more here
Mental health services
NHS England has published their ‘one year on’ report on progress in delivering the Five Year Forward View for mental health. It highlights the progress made in the first year of the programme, and takes a look at the achievements we need to build upon to deliver next year and beyond. The health and justice section discusses the continued roll-out of liaison and diversion services across the country and links to the new NHS England Health and Justice strategy. Read the report here
Public health working with the voluntary sector
The Local Government Association has published a report in conjunction with Volunteering Matters highlighting where public health is successfully working with the voluntary sector across the country. The report champions the need for supporting local voluntary sector infrastructure, stating they are 'central to the voluntary sector relationship with public health' and contribute 'massively to an extended role in service delivery'. Read the report here
Mothers and babies
The Griffins Society has published a report on the current procedures for admitting women prisoners to mother and baby units. It discusses whether the process is fair, the existing treatment of pregnant women who have broken the law, and the key challenges for these women. It includes first hand reports from women who have experienced pregnancy and childbirth whilst in custody. The report finds that the process can be unclear and difficult to understand for women prisoners. Read more here
Hepatitis C
Public Health England has published the 2017 report on Hepatitis C in the UK. The most recent national estimates suggest that around 214,000 individuals are chronically infected with hepatitis C virus in the UK; 160,000 of these are in England. Those in the criminal justice system are a key risk group for Hepatitis C. The report discusses testing, awareness raising and harm reduction in the criminal justice context. Read more here
Improving lives with sport
Sport England will be accepting applications from April for the second round of a £3 million Tackling Inactivity and Economic Disadvantage fund. The fund will be available for projects which use sport and physical activity to improve lives and communities. It will support inactive people who have little income and are therefore economically disadvantaged. This group make up a third of the population in England aged 16 to 74. Applications will be accepted from a wide range of community organisations, including non-sport organisations. The deadline for applications is not yet released. Read more and apply here
Improving health with the arts
Createquity has produced a summary of how arts participation can improve lives. The summary includes how participatory arts activities can help to maintain the health and quality of life of older adults, how the arts can contribute to positive clinical outcomes, such as reduction in anxiety, stress and pain for patients, how arts participation in early childhood can promote social and emotional development, and how student participation in structured arts activities can enhance cognitive abilities and social skills that support learning. Click here to read the summary
Reducing health inequalities
Public Health England has launched 'Wider Determinants of Health', a tool to help improve population health and reduce health inequalities. This tool brings together local indicators and resources about the wider determinants of health. It is designed to draw attention to the broad range of individual, social and environmental factors which influence our health. It will provide the public health system with intelligence regarding the wider determinants of health to help improve population health and reduce health inequalities. The resource includes figures for criminogenic factors, including first time entrants to the criminal justice system and reoffending rates. Read more here
Substance misuse services
Lifeline has produced an infographic looking at the changing models/drivers for substance misuse services since the 1980s. The way drug and alcohol treatment services have been funded and what is expected of them has changed considerably with various cultural and political shifts over the last 30 years. The infographic shows how issues such as austerity have changed the service landscape. Read more here
Healthcare in the justice system
In this blog Hazel Alcraft, Development Officer for Health and Justice at Clinks, discusses what's next for healthcare in the justice system. Health and care for people in the criminal justice system is influenced by a wide spectrum of different policy areas and developments. Hazel discusses the future of healthcare in the context of prison reform, and the importance of listening to the voices of people with lived experience. She discusses a recent event she attended based around this theme at which twelve speakers raised a range of issues which add to the challenges for health in the justice system. Read more here
Charities working with the NHS
Fiona Wallace from NFPSynergy discusses five tips for charities who work with NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in this blog. These groups are responsible for designing and commissioning local health services in England. The commissioners who lead the groups are GPs and other clinicians that work in the local area. Tips include best ways to communicate and how to engage with sceptical MPs. Read the blog here
Psychologically Informed Environments
In this blog, Robin Johnson from Homeless Link discusses Psychologically Informed Environments and how they can provide support for people with multiple needs including mental and physical health problems and homelessness. Read more here
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About Clinks Offender Health Bulletin
This regular bulletin provides Clinks members with the latest news for voluntary sector organisations involved in the health and care of offenders. It currently has 3,305 subscribers.
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Designed, composed and circulated by Rhiannedd Mclean, Clinks.