View report page

86
Social Clubs
The Tooting and Putney social clubs continue to provide a very
valuable service to both mentally ill and mentally handicapped
patients. Very successful parties were held during the year and
the combined annual outing to the coast was attended by a record
number of club members.
A mental health social worker attends the Gateway Club run
by the Wandsworth Society for Mentally Handicapped Children.
This club, which is extremely successful, is now meeting weekly
instead of fortnightly and has a membership of approximately
50 handicapped young people. The Council helps with transport
each week by providing a minibus and driver.
The Society has also organised a swimming club which meets
every Sunday at Crystal Palace. The members are so enthusiastic
that attendance has been very high throughout the winter.
Group for Depressed Mothers and their Husbands
The group, which helps families to adjust to depressive illness
following childbirth, continued to meet fortnightly.
Group for Mothers of Handicapped Children
The Mothers' Group at Tooting, which had met for two years
was finally disbanded when most of the mothers attending felt that
they had been helped over their problems. The Department is
now planning to start another group in a different area.
Group for Mothers of Disturbed Children
One of the mental health social workers was able to take on a
group for mothers of disturbed children run at Roehampton Child
Guidance Clinic when the social worker from the clinic left to take
a new appointment. This is a valuable group which enables
mothers to get together to work out ways in which they can help
their children.
Liaison with Health Visitors
Senior mental health social workers are now attending weekly
sessions at Child Health Clinics, where they can see patients and
their families in an office nearer to their homes. They are also
able to discuss mutual problems with the health visitors and this
provides a most useful contact and co-operation which no doubt
benefits the patients who are known both to health visitors and
mental health social workers.