KINGSTON WELLBEING
Welcome to Kingston Wellbeing
Welcome to Kingston Wellbeing
We can put a price on treatment, but health/ wellbeing is priceless
“Madness is like energy: it is not lost, it is merely transformed.”
N Yoganathan (2019) (after Isaac Newton)
“Madness is like energy: it is not lost, it is merely transformed.”
N Yoganathan (2019) (after Isaac Newton)
Trying to understand mental illnesses, psychological processes, changes in treatments and in the provision of care for the mentally ill over a period of 30+ years, has led me to this understanding. My conclusion is reinforced by the rapid increase in interventions with putatively wonderful outcomes, measurable but usually offering short-term benefits.
Sadly, people with complex and longer-term mental illnesses are being marginalised and inevitably end up in penal institutions such as prisons and forensic units. The staff working in those institutions are increasingly becoming social policemen focussing on safeguarding issues and controlling symptoms, rather than helping people to understand and take responsibility for their personal wellbeing.
Furthermore, the soaring number of prescriptions for psychiatric medications and the number of detentions under the Mental Health Act are a reflection of the madness of society.
Implicitly, these are manifestations of stigma being acted out at small group (family) and large group (society) levels. Our aim is to confront such complex issues and empower all parties so as to optimise recovery and improve personal and social wellbeing for all.
Training & Treatment
for
Mental Health & Wellbeing
Training & Treatment
for
Mental Health & Wellbeing
Feedback from my patients and trainees has made me recognise successful therapy and training is making the inevitable (primal) intentional, no choice becomes choice and, sometimes, it is like shock treatment without electricity and surgery without blades.
Mental Health
Mental Health
Consultancy &
Second opinions in person or on line
Presentations and workshops on latest developments in mental health
Education and training
Mentoring
Wellbeing
Wellbeing
Consultancy for creativity and lifewide learning
Presentations and workshops, health sector, schools, universities
Research
Bespoke Training
Bespoke Training
On line or in person:
Groups to confront stigma and promote empowerment
Enhancing personal wellbeing
PSHE for schools
Surveys
What is Stigma?
What is Stigma?
Follow this conversation between me and Menaca, recorded in October 2021, in which I discuss my ideas on stigma and mental illness.
It is Monday 24 July 1983[1], a day which begins as usual for me in my home city of Colombo, Sri Lanka. There has been tension in the air and rumours of potential ethnic violence, but my brother has gone to work as normal, and I am revising for my final medical examinations. Around 10am, I become conscious of shouting and banging in our street, and a mob appears. My mother’s first instinct is to lock us into our home, but I tell her to collect what little jewellery and money she has: we will go to our Sinhalese neighbours’ house. We leave via a back gate and our neighbours bravely let us. We take refuge in their toilet; from its window, I shortly see black smoke and realise that our house has been set alight. What was going to happen to us? How could we survive the anti-Tamil mob? Would I be able to take my final exams? My world was crashing in. I was confronting a large group turning on the minority group with which it had previously lived in relative peace.
To read more, go to https://groupanalyticsociety.co.uk/contexts/issue-89/event-reports/some-reflections-on-the-gasi-online-large-group-experience-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/
Bucharest presentation 6
Bucharest presentation 6
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Bucharest presentation 5
Bucharest presentation 5
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Bucharest presentation 4
Bucharest presentation 4
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Bucharest presentation 3
Bucharest presentation 3
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Bucharest Presentation 2
Bucharest Presentation 2
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Bucharest Presentation 1
Bucharest Presentation 1
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If you would like a copy of the full presentation, please email
Our Blog
Our Blog
STIGMA AND MENTAL HEALTH
STIGMA AND MENTAL HEALTH
March 15, 2019
Why is there so much stigma associated with mental illness?
Stigma and physical illness
First, we should recognise that there is stigma related to health in general. Historically, the stigma arose from a lack of knowledge and understanding: for instance, fever might be attributed to evil possession or spirits. Science has taught us that illness is a natural response to injury.
Nevertheless, in more recent times, conditions such as cancer and HIV continue to carry stigma, due now to societal moral judgements: cervical cancer may be erroneously seen as an indicator of promiscuity.
Stigma is therefore a social issue, and to bring about change at this level takes times – decades if not centuries – through education and understanding.
Stigma and mental illness
In the 21st century, stigma related to mental illness remains rife, despite campaigns to increase our knowledge and understanding. One problem is that, by their very nature, the symptoms of mental illnesses contribute to stigma at a personal level, we feel ashamed, guilty. This personal stigma in turn contributes to people not accepting their condition and non-compliance with therapeutic interventions, be they medications, therapeutic or social.
Overcoming the stigma
One way of understanding this sense of stigma is to look at symptoms of mental illnesses as inflammatory responses of the mind to a real threat or a perceived threat, just as fever, pain, swelling and loss of function are natural defensive responses of the body. Only then can we truly overcome the personal and societal stigma that lead to empowerment.
What our Trainees think of us
What our Trainees think of us
Excellent topic and excellent talk, encouraged participation/discussion, well paced despite time pressure & good mix of materials for the presentation
Postgraduate GP & Trainee Psychiatrists,
September 2018