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move has been towards shared male and female living and dining accommodation under the same medical and
nursing staff. This policy went hand in hand with that of an area programme which will eventually provide
two divisions for the practically exclusive use of Brent patients; and a third division for Harrow patients only.
The coming year should practically see the completion of this large re-orientation programme. From the
community's point of view this arrangement will be very welcome as it facilitates contact with relevant medical
and social worker staff. Brent patients are fortunate to have an excellent and attractive hospital—run on
modern lines and offering widest treatment facilities.
There is unfortunately one black spot and that is with regard to facilities for the elderly mentally ill.
Shenley Hospital has nothing to be ashamed of when compared with other psychiatric hospitals, yet the care
of this group of patients is far from ideal. Certainly cases with minor mental deterioration are being accepted
in Brent residential homes but there would appear a need for a different kind of establishment within the
community where more disturbed elderly patients could be admitted. Shenley wards for the elderly are still
very overcrowded and it is a great tribute to the nursing staff how well these patients are being looked after.
Voluntary Societies—The Brent Samaritans
This newly formed organisation began to function on 23rd January, 1967. The Harlesden Methodist
Church generously allocated two rooms for the sole use of the Samaritan organisation, one for the telephone
duty volunteer and the other for the conduct of confidential interviews. The quarters are cramped and at the
beginning were poorly heated, but it speaks highly for the morale of the volunteers that there were very few
withdrawals. The disappointment of volunteers, keyed up to help those in distress and on the brink of suicide,
when nothing ever happens and the emergency telephone never rings can well be appreciated. It cannot have
been easy to sit for four hours at a stretch from 7—11 p.m. on uncomfortable chairs keeping a listening brief
with nothing to listen to. However, referrals of clients via other, longer established, branches soon flowed in
and by the end of the year practically all volunteers have had the experience of dealing with that part of the
public which the official agencies have not been able to help. The problems facing these volunteers are various,
although a certain pattern soon becomes evident. There are, for instance, numerous requests for help to obtain
suitable housing not itself a function of this organisation. However a number of these requests cover sometimes
a very deepseated problem of a more personal nature, perhaps involving family relationships and in
these cases the Samaritan can often step in, providing the one uninvolved yet friendly outsider to whom the
client can turn. In this sort of example, what presented as a straight-forward social need turned out to be concerned
with problems on quite a different, emotional plane. For that reason every client will be listened to
patiently and each interview should lead towards some diminishing at least of the feeling of distress and
despair.
Many contacts of course are made that overtly express suicidal intention and in those cases Samaritan
volunteers are backed by professional helpers. The consultant psychiatrist of Central Middlesex Hospital has
shown great interest and helped in a number of cases, accepting direct referrals. Two general practitioners have
become closely associated with the Samaritans and officers of the Mental Health Division have been readily
available to help and guide volunteers with difficult clients.
There is every indication that the service is badly needed in Brent but whether the very poor socioeconomic
groups in the south of the Borough because of lack of knowledge and communication will be able to
make proper use of this organisation remains to be seen.
Drug Abuse and Dependence
During a comparatively short span of time this subject has attracted increasing publicity in the
national, and latterly, local press, due to the steep rise in the number of known addicts during the last year
or two. Efforts had been made for some time within this local authority to get an idea of the size of the problem
in Brent but figures have tended to be elusive. "Everybody" knew that teenagers were the age group most
involved and suspected that this included a substantial number of older school boys and girls. Headteachers
of senior schools mostly denied all knowledge of such youngsters among their pupils and in the light of later
information this would appear to be a correct assessment. Those coming under the spell of drugs must needs
have money, even the cheapest kind of pill or capsule of the amphetamine type costs 9d—l/6d and as quite
a few are usually consumed during the course of an evening's jollification, this may amount to a substantial
sum. Other drugs are even dearer. Hashish, a drug not used medically and therefore not stocked by chemists
and thus not readily stolen, costs even more and most expensive of all are the opium derivatives and cocaine—
the so-called "hard", killing drugs. It is therefore not surprising that the school boy or girl is unlikely to be a
drug abuser. However, as soon as the young person has attained the status of wage earner the picture changes.
For the first time ample funds are available to be frittered away on fun of any kind and so the inquisitive,
"with-it", or perhaps unstable teenager will very possibly be introduced to illegal drug taking.
The problem is a very real one in this Borough. This is borne out by the disproportionately high
number of convictions for drug offences at the Willesden Magistrates Court, which are the highest for all the
Middlesex Session areas. Perhaps this does not come as a surprise when it is recalled that the south of Brent
contains a high proportion of people of the lowest socio-economic strata, a shifting, immigrant population,
living often in miserable, overcrowded conditions where young people particularly have little to look forward
to by way of distraction. In an attempt to deal with this problem, two measures have been adopted during the
year under review. A counselling clinic for drug abusers on a Thursday evening is held in a room with a
separate entrance at Monks Park Clinic, Wembley. This is as anonymous a place as can be devised in the
circumstances, bearing in mind the strong reluctance of drug abusers to approach anybody for help even if help
is required. The fear of prosecution is high and addicts are forever suspicious that the wellmeaning social
worker or doctor may inform the police. The clinic was well publicised by articles in the local press but has
up to now shown little success—very few people have approached the Chief Mental Health Social Worker who
is in attendance.