'My shared pathway': the experience of users of a low secure service

Adoption of the recovery approach has proved contentious in forensic services, which has traditionally been dominated by the medical model and concepts of security and risk; nevertheless, there is currently a focus on embedding recovery principles in forensic services (Drennan & Alred, 2012). One advancement has been the development of ‘My Shared Pathway’, which was introduced to forensic services in 2011 (Esan, Pittaway, Nyamande, & Graham, 2012) with the aim of increasing transparency, promoting recovery and reducing admission times. The first part of this thesis is a systematic review and narrative synthesis of forensic mental health patients’ perceptions of recovery. Relevant databases were searched and a total of 11 studies that fit the inclusion criteria were identified. There was significant overlap of themes across the studies, these were subsequently organised into seven categories/superordinate themes: Connectedness, Treatment, Sense of Self, Past Experiences, Freedom, Hope and Health.Two superordinate themes were particularly prevalent in 9/11 of the studies: Connectedness and a Sense of Self. It is argued that a focus on increasing opportunities for forensic mental health patients to develop a sense of self and connectedness could help improve recovery. The second part of this thesis is an empirical paper describing a study that explored the lived experience of ‘My Shared Pathway’ for six male patients who were detained in a low secure service. Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to capture the subjective meanings that patients ascribed to this process. Five superordinate themes were identified: It’s a Journey, We’re Vulnerable in Here, Relationships with Staff, Loss and Hope. These findings are consistent with those seen in the forensic recovery literature and suggest that ‘My Shared Pathway’ helps promote recovery in a number of ways. Clinical implications and suggestions for further research are given

Writings between: taking time: part one of a series of correspondences between Caroline Gausden and Jen Clarke on the politics of hosting and hospitality.

In Spring, Caroline and Jen planned to produce and publish a short dialogue for an exhibition by artists Juliane Foronda, Kirsty Russell and Tako Taal, A Spoon is the Safest Vessel, hosted by the Look Again Project space in Aberdeen. Working with Caroline, a Development worker for Programming and Curating at Glasgow Women’s Library (GWL), the artists had made new work in response to GWL’s archive, and the Domestic Science School in the Art and Heritage collection at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen; taking into consideration the hosting practices of both GWL and Look Again. In response to COVID 19 and the lockdown, the work changed form, finding a place online. The dialogue with Jen, a lecturer at Gray’s School of Art, became an expanded series of letters, that cross formal and informal borders, ‘writings between’ us, and things, marking a moment that has forced us to rethink what it means to be ‘at home’ with one another and in the world

Gendered practices in veterinary organisations

As a result of scandals concerning sexual harassment in Hollywood and in the media, as well as questions regarding the size of the gender pay gap, considerable attention has recently been paid to questions of gender diversity and discrimination in organisations. Gender issues would appear particularly salient within the veterinary profession, not least because women are beginning to outnumber men as practitioners. While this research on veterinary surgeons was not initially focused on gender, as the study progressed gender became an issue of such importance that it could not be ignored. Although ‘feminized in numerical terms’, the veterinary profession and ‘its professional structure and culture remains gendered masculine’. Translated into practice, this means that although 76 per cent of vet school graduates are currently female, disproportionately few have risen or are rising through the hierarchy. On the surface it is easy to rationalise this away partly by simply stating how many female vets appear to sacrifice career for family, but the authors’ aim is to go beyond merely repeating and reinforcing the common sense view of female reproduction and parenting as the sole explanation for gender inequality within this and other professions

Writings between: bodies of knowledge: part two of a series of correspondences between Caroline Gausden and Jen Clarke on the politics of hosting and hospitality.

This is the second article in the Writings Between series of correspondence between Caroline Gausden and Jen Clarke. These letters cross formal and informal borders, ‘writings between’ us, and things, marking a moment that has forced us to rethink what it means to be ‘at home’ with one another and in the world

Writings between: vulnerability and resistance: the third and final part of a series of correspondences between Caroline Gausden and Jen Clarke on the politics of hosting and hospitality.

This is the third and final article in the Writings Between series of correspondence between Caroline Gausden and Jen Clarke. These letters cross formal and informal borders, ‘writings between’ us, and things, marking a moment that has forced us to rethink what it means to be ‘at home’ with one another and in the world

The Killing Fields of Identity Politics

The obsession with securing recognition through identity pervades organisational, institutional, political and everyday life. As academics, our culpability in promulgating this fascination, or idée fixee is indisputable, for as a collective body we are responsible for a proliferation of articles, books and conference streams on identity. However, apart from a few exceptions, the majority of texts fail to interrogate the concept to uncover its dangers, but instead reproduce the everyday common-sense fascination, indeed addictive, preoccupation with seeking order, stability and security through identity. In this chapter, we expose this neglect within the organization studies literature and argue that it contributes to, rather than challenges, some of the major social ills surrounding identity – discrimination and prejudice, aggressive masculine competition, conquest and control and the growing identity politics of nationalist, if not xenophobic and racist, constructions of boundaries and borders

Living on the edge? Professional anxieties at work in academia and veterinary practice

Through empirical research on academics and veterinary surgeons, this article focuses on identity and how it is reflected in, and reproduced by, anxiety and insecurity at work. Three analytical themes – perfection, performativity and commodified service – each of which generates anxiety indicates a loss of autonomy as academics and vets are subjected to competitive market forces as well as an intensification of masculine managerial controls of assessment, audit and accountability. We see these pressures and their effects as reflecting a commodification of service provision where the consumer (student or client) begins to redefine the relationship between those offering some expertise and those who are its recipients, partly achieved through the performative gaze of constant and visible rating mechanisms. Our empirical research also identifies sources of anxiety concerns in their attempts to achieve perfection against this background of uncertain knowledge and precarious contexts of the performative nature of professional expertise

European Shark Fisheries: A Preliminary Investigation into Fisheries, Conversion Factors, Trade Products, Markets and Management Measures

Recommends new regulations to prevent shark finning -- an illegal practice in which a shark's fins are removed and its carcass dumped at sea -- and stresses the urgent need for effective shark conservation measures