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TRAINING
27.8.1 During each of the years 1967 and 1968, 12 social work students from Universities
and Colleges of Technology were attached to the mental health team for casework
training for periods ranging from 2 - 6 months. In addition, 2 students were placed in
1968 for the study of group work. This is a new aspect of student training and we
welcomed the opportunity of participating in it. All these students received weekly
supervision from senior mental health social workers. Two mental health social workers
ran a weekly meeting for 6 of the students and these were particularly successful. The
mental health social workers who supervise these students work closely with the
academic staff of training courses. The demand from the training courses to place
students with the mental health team was heavy and once again we have had to refuse
many. Many students were placed with the team to observe the work but not to participate
directly in it. Their periods of training ranged from one day to two weeks. These were
mainly social work and medical students, the social work students coming from all over
the British Isles and abroad.
27.8.2 The weekly case conference is particularly valuable for the further training of
our staff and students, and of the many visitors who come to it. We have participated
fully in the in-service training scheme of the Health Department and have found the
interchange of staff stimulating.
27.8.3 The staff of the mental health team have given a number of lectures to local
groups and schools, as well as a series of lectures to medical students from one of the
teaching hospitals.
27.8.4 The mental health social workers and staff from our outside establishments
have benefited from the opportunity to attend a variety of courses in all aspects of the
work. Two experienced, untrained staff have been seconded to undertake full-time
training which will lead to a professional qualification.
FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
27.9.1 Approval was given in 1967 to the setting up of a day centre for disturbed
adolescents, and a suitable detached house was found the following year. Plans for
adaptation of the premises and proposals for activities were agreed.
27.9.2 Plans for a 90-place junior training school for mentally subnormal and severely
subnormal children, with a 24-place special care unit for dual-handicapped children,
have gone ahead and a site has been allocated in the Alexandra Road, N.W.8, development
scheme. The premises will be purpose-built, and plans are being prepared by the
Borough Architect to recommended specifications. Also included in the 10-year plan
for health services for the current period is a hostel for the mentally ill. Finding a
suitable house or site for this project has not, so far, proved successful.
27.9.3 The erection of a purpose-built day nursery in the Regent's Park area, with
a special unit for handicapped children, was in hand at the end of the year. The section
of this report dealing with planning gives an indication of the work involved and the
difficulties encountered in bringing such projects to fruition.
27.10 Probably - and not surprisingly - the development of the mental health social
services in the department has been the most rapid, and as community attitudes change
but slowly, this has remained a time of conflict between the policy of helping the
mentally disordered within the community and some public demand for hospitalization.
Especially the less experienced social worker needs a background of support and
security. Apart from the specific appointments described in paragraph 20, and the regular
meeting, each Thursday, of the entire mental health team, the brilliant and confident
leadership of Miss M.Perrott, Principal Mental Health Social Worker, has been a decisive
factor.
FAMILY CASEWORKERS
28.1 During 1967 and 1968 there was again a steady flow of new referrals to family
caseworkers. A high proportion of these were made by health visitors, but a number were
received from general practitioners, and from a social worker attached to one of the
group practices. There were relatively few referrals from hospitals in 1968, however.
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