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Tricks and Tools

Michael Brown / August 18, 2017 at 3:47 PM 27 views

By working in a role that takes me around the country, I get to see the various differences that exist between police areas – and I don’t just mean the 43 police forces of England and Wales, but even more…

Mental Health Expert

Michael Brown / August 15, 2017 at 9:37 PM 106 views

Today, I was invited to do something because I’ve been identified as “an expert in emergency mental health care.” I did wonder whether this was one of those mistakes made by someone who wasn’t reading closely enough, as when a…

The Coroner’s Courtroom

Michael Brown / August 11, 2017 at 11:29 AM 53 views

For the first time in my career, I gave so-called 'expert' evidence to a Coroner's Court around a mental health incident. It all centred on the response to a vulnerable man in his own home and I will blog more…

Endemic Abuse

Michael Brown / August 7, 2017 at 9:34 AM 231 views

This morning’s headline in The Times is a complete stunner – NHS abuse of mental patients ‘endemic’ (£).  Already, early on the day of publication, we have various commentators running off down various routes, from Professor Louis Appleby bemoaning a ‘harmful…

Anxiety Therapist making legal threats

Phil Dore / August 6, 2017 at 6:22 PM 65 views

Here’s something interesting. An individual by the name of Charles Linden is promoting what he calls the Linden Method as “the cure for all anxiety disorders”. According to his website he makes no claim to be a mental health professional,…

Re X (a child) No 3 (2017)

Michael Brown / August 3, 2017 at 4:09 PM 92 views

Today, the head of the Family Division has handed down a judgment containing some of the most extraordinary language I’ve ever known a senior judge to use, questioning whether the issues before him mean we can lay claim to being…

Body Worn Video and Mental Health

Michael Brown / July 29, 2017 at 7:11 AM 105 views

The police have been rolling out body worn video (BWV) for many years now.  You will notice, if you look at 999 response officers on patrol, many of them have two devices hanging from the upper portion of their protective…

Admissions on Admissions

Michael Brown / July 23, 2017 at 7:54 AM 102 views

You may have noticed the Care Quality Commission published a report this week on the State of Mental Health Care.  Or maybe you were getting on with your life or your job, but I’ve given it as much time as…

Police Leadership

Michael Brown / October 25, 2016 at 9:10 PM 518 views

I heard the Health Secretary Jeremy HUNT deliver a speech at today’s Crisis Care Concordat Summit in London, the first major speech he’s delivered on mental health, we were told. Almost the first thing he did was praise the police…

AWOL from Scotland

Michael Brown / October 21, 2016 at 7:03 PM 509 views

It seems that it’s been the week for Scottish mental health patients to journey to England, in a variety of legal situations that have subsequently confused the life out of police and mental health professionals alike.  So we had the…

Conflating Beds

Michael Brown / October 19, 2016 at 6:50 PM 453 views

We hear this word ‘Beds’ a lot when we hear discussion of mental health services and it can get very confusing because the word is used to mean different things, not all of them literal. It happened earlier today during…

Individual Experience

Michael Brown / October 11, 2016 at 6:14 PM 377 views

What value do we place on personal experience, especially where it comes down to individual opinion? I’ve been struck recently by the number of attempts we make to infer from individual opinions and experiences, lessons which might influence our overall…

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