Mutuality and movement: an exploration of self-help/mutual aid groups and their relationship to social policy

Since the 1970s all of the available literature suggested that the UK, in common with Europe, North America and Scandinavia, had seen significant growth of single issue self-help/mutual aid groups related to health and social care issues. Yet in the UK there appeared to be no real body of academic interest nor any sustained national policy initiatives. The aim of the study was therefore to enhance an understanding of the relationship of these self-help/mutual aid groups to UK social policy. The study was constructed in two parts. Part One, a historical study critically appraised the way in which the state appeared to have viewed and responded to various manifestations of self help/mutual aid, both pre- and post- the welfare state. Part Two, a case-study of two UK grassroots self-help/mutual aid groups explored members' viewpoints, their reasons for joining, benefits derived and the impact they felt it has had on their lives and their relations with professionals and wider `political' forums. The result of the study suggests a fundamental reframing of the relationship between self-help/mutual aid and the state is required at both a conceptual and practical level by UK policy makers and academics. This would acknowledge: that contemporary self-help/mutual aid groups are part of the broader tradition of voluntary action in the third sector, self-help/mutual aid's unique contribution in terms of social relations, process and knowledge; its difference from philanthropy/formal voluntary sector and therefore distinct characteristics and relations with the-state; and contemporary health and social care groups' potential dual identity with communities of interest and geographic communities and their relationship to and distinction from the contemporary service user and carer movements. 116, findings have implications for policy related to participation (citizen and health), social capital and citizenship

Editorial: Social inclusion

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Making Involvement Matter in Essex

This report presents an evaluation of the three-year Making Involvement Matter in Essex (MIME project, commissioned by heath and social care mental health commissioners in Essex). The report describes the background to the project and the evaluation, assesses the quality and value of the work carried out, and reflects on the progress made

Review of employment support services in North Essex: report on service user consultations

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Evaluation of the Essex mental health personal budgets pilot: interim report

The original aim of the pilot was to allocate a personal budget to 90 people in North Essex and 90 in South Essex over a nine to 12 month period. However, progress has been condiderably slower than hoped, although take up of personal budgets is now increasing. MIME has therefore been asked to produce this interim report based on the evaluation data it has been possible to collect so far in order to inform decisions about the direction of the evaluation and related work

North Essex community services review: service user and carer focus groups and final report

The consultations, which are the subject of this report, were designed to meet the need for more information on the views of individuals who were eligle to use the services already commissioned but had not done so. The satisfaction questionaires concentrated on providing information from a user perspective on contract performance. The consultations however, were designed to provide additional information on service user awareness of the support available, the priority given to employment support by professionals working in recovery based services, barriers to employment and any potential gaps in service provision

Report from consultations with service users and carers

The brief was to assess how day services have been implemented since the review that informed the modernisation initiative. The aim was to assist commissioners to assess how services are performing against their service specifications and to make a judgement on whether the service specification and subsequent delivery has met their expectations around impact and outcomes

Impact of changes to day services commissioned by Essex County Council in North Essex, Wickford, Rochford & Castlepoint: web survey report

The questions were developed initially from the day service specification documents and the length of the questionaire was aimed at enabling useful information to be collected whilst not creating a questionaire that was too long or unwieldy to complete. The first question acted as a filter and utilised 'skip logic' to direct informants to the appropriate set of questions, depending on their pattern of service use. Respondents who were currently receiving a service were very positive about their services, with some perceiving the help and approach as ‘life changing’. Alongside these positive views, some of those who used the ‘old style’ services were concerned about the loss of valued social support and self-help together with perceived reductions in levels of service, which was thought to have caused considerable distress for some people. The current services are clearly working very well for some people but others may be 'falling through the net'

'Big conversation': report on consultations across Essex, Southend and Thurrock

A request from the Essex health and social care mental health commissioners for a series of broad consultations to seek the views of service users and carers emerged as a response to the potential need for service redesign engendered by a new mental health policy framework (New Horizons 2009) for mental health and the continuing development of the personalisation agenda in a challenging economic climate. The ‘Big Conversation’ consultation was carried out by the MIME (Making Involvement Matter in Essex) during 2010. A total of seven events were held, attended by 122 mental health service users and cares and interested members of the general public. Participants were asked to address the following questions in small groups: 1) What do you do to keep yourself well? 2) We want you to dream – if you were designing a mental health service, what would it look like, what staff would work in it, what skills/knowledge would they have, what services would be provided? With the exception of one group, all the groups were facilitated by service user members of MIME. The main themes of the discussions revolved around 12 issues: 1) The importance of peer support; 2) The need for all service staff to have good listening skills; 3) A preference for services delivered in local generic centres close to home; 4) Improved provision of information conditions, treatment options and services; 5) Better inter-agency communication; 6) Increased employment of an increased number of people with personal experience of mental ill health in provider organisations; 7) Increased access to talking therapies including for people with complex needs who may need longer-term therapy; 8) The further development of service user and carer involvement in commissioning; 9) Greater prominence for social models of service delivery; 10) Service user involvement in risk management; 11) Development of cultural awareness in provider organisations; 12) Problems experienced by service users and carers when services are re-tendered and the provider changes

Evaluation of the Mid Essex GP consortium pilot project

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