Dear Doctor, I have a list . . .

It seems reasonable to suggest that my trips to see the GP as a child:

"What's the problem Mrs Jones?"

"It's Peter, he's not eating!"

"Well, does he seem ill? ... Is he lying down all the time?"

"No, he's running around all day"

"Well he sounds OK but let's check" ... ... ...

"Say arr!"

 (That's to me - not you reader!)

"Argh!"

"Mmm.. ok, ok. ... What does he eat?"

"Tomato soup, chips, chicken, beans on toast, raw carrot, boiled egg."

"Oh! And jam butties!"

"Well he's of slim build, no doubt underweight, but he's fine. Keep the jam butties rolling, and I suspect he'll keep running around."

- were in the days pre-one-problem-per-visit to the surgery. Even now I wonder is this an urban (rural) myth. But then it rears itself with a comment by family, or overheard. The 1960s and 1970s were a different time, a different age. We always saw the same doctor. Continuity mattered then. Thankfully, I was not a regular 'visitor', or the more derogatory term frequent flyer.

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group

Ever since starting in the NHS as a nursing assistant, you became aware of the anxiety provoked by many patients when it is their turn to see the doctor. Being asked to bring the patient and any relative(s) through. It often entailed a walk.

I remember one instance their being 12 professionals. Learners can soon increase numbers and restrictions were imposed. Voices were raised. Patients did see the doctor separately. Back in 1980s, I became a CMHN (CPN) in 1985, I used to encourage patient's to prepare, to make notes of points - questions they wanted to ask. I framed it as their time, their opportunity. A learning opportunity too. Of course, humour always needs to be used carefully, but on occasion we would joke about walking into the meeting with a list.*

In case of long-term mental illness families are also greatly involved. Sometimes a case review would take place in the patient's home. If it's care in the community, delivered by the community team then surely the administration can be organised in support?

At times, I would offer to assist and the team were always responsive. This role of advocacy has changed, transformed over the decades, but it is still there. As a nurse you listen for the voice: but have to be ready to 'pick this up' on another's behalf. Ready

*Lists: Long a tool for safety and situational awareness.

Book: "The Empty Space"

The Empty Space, Peter Brook

 In July I caught up with Mr Brian Hodges who created Hodges' model. Having met previously in November 2013 we agreed not to leave it as long next time and so I returned on 7th October.

One question I had was whether in addition to Hughes there were any other influences that led Brian to the model overall?

Brian could not recall a specific reference, but mentioned the theatre being an influence. I, in turn had picked up a second-hand book on one of several recent trips to London, but the title evaded me. Once home I checked and the book is "The Empty Space" by Peter Brook. A Gower Street bargain at £4.99. Brian also checked and emailed to confirm this is the book on his shelf too.

While in London (and elsewhere) I try to visit the theatre and  now look for performances of Ibsen's plays. Whatever I do see, A Doll's House this month, before the performance starts the set design is always intriguing. I've posted on this before, Hodges' model providing a 'stage set', one that should the play require can include the operating theatre.

As a mental health nurse the themes of Ibsen's plays still resonate today. From the performances I have attended the public finds ongoing relevance in: The Master Builder, Ghosts, The Lady from the Sea, Rosmersholm, Hedda Gabler and An Enemy of the People. This is true of the work by others. The drama of life and death that Hodges' model can also stage.

Brian emailed me about a situation that stood out for him in the book, so I will revisit this. What caught my eye is the cover of Brook's book (and yes, the graphic first). Without even opening the book, the 'scene' is (possibly?) set on the book's cover "A Book About the Theatre: Deadly, Holy, Rough, Immediate" ...

 individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group - population

Holy	Immediate
Rough	Deadly

Hughes, E. (1958) Men and their work. New York: Free Press. (Hughes was used by Brian to define ‘health career’ the idea of life chances.)

Threshold Concepts: TCS discussion list and CATCH

TCS discussion list JISC

This list is a forum for continuing discussion on threshold concepts and builds on the many fruitful and engaging conversations started by colleagues across the globe at the bi-annual threshold concepts conferences and other events.

CATCH

(Collaborating around Threshold Concepts in Health) Special Interest Group

- set up by Hilary Neve (Plymouth) and Linda Martindale (Dundee). CATCH have a website/e-mail list, blog, and focused meetings. https://healththresholds.wordpress.com/

Thanks to Julie Rattray & Sarah Meek.

See also:

Inaugural Scottish Threshold Concepts Conference: TCs in Action [i]
Inaugural Scottish Threshold Concepts Conference: TCs in Action [ii]
Inaugural Scottish Threshold Concepts Conference: TCs in Action [iii]
Threshold Concepts: Reflection on chaos, complexity and AI

Talk @PHPNW Manchester 2nd April 7pm

Responding to a couple of tweets by @phpnw I am now (happily) tasked with giving a talk on Tuesday evening:

Concepts, Spaces and Thresholds and why they matter

57 Thomas Street

Northern Quarter

Manchester

M4 1NA

Within the Drupal community and online I've heard frequent mention of imposter syndrome as reflected here. I'm no 'programmer', as much as I might wish and after stepping in to help with a quick editorial I'm also conscious of the risks of self-plagiarism - repeating myself yet again.

On Tuesday I'm pulling together threshold concepts, conceptual spaces and #h2cm in that order. I still believe there is a very worthy project here. Even if only having a sense that all the jig-saw pieces are present even if not quite 'correct'?

Recognising the expertise and professionalism of the audience I'm trying to make it relevant with an exercise too. I'm very grateful for the faith of the organisers as I fill a gap of sorts.

Thank goodness the talk is not a day earlier- which might be quite apt in respect of the 'new' site.

With changes in my full-time work status there will be more time.

Always good to see an excuse bite the dust...

Papers, possible post-grad studies, conferences and a visit to Brian Hodges

This coming Monday and Wednesday I'm investigating post graduate study options with visits to Sheffield and Lancaster Universities.

Heading to Sheffield on Monday I'm also looking forward to catching up with Brian Hodges the creator of Hodges' model in the 1980s. It has been a long time since Brian and I met. I'll see if there is anything I can feedback here.

There is one conference abstract submitted for a presentation next year and another abstract almost completed. This for a workshop which I'm structuring such that it might also inform possible future studies. With these two abstracts for UK based events, I'm also looking at conferences abroad in the latter half of 2014 and 2015. So if anyone has any suggestions please let me know.

The paper on recovery in mental health and Hodges' model is not too far from a complete first draft. It runs to 5,000 words now. I had a great start with the help of two people. Twitter can be a great help in garnering assistance and with a quick response.

There is some feedback and contacts to follow up on the service-user research side (see references below). One research project to cite is True Colours an online self-management system. The advice over the past few weeks is also quite illuminating in evidencing Hodges' model. Another draft paper on case formulation, diagrams and h2cm is well advanced, but on hold at present.

Rose, D., Sweeney, A., Leese, M., Clement, S, Burns, T, Catty, J & Wykes, T. (2009) Developing a user-generated measure of continuity of care: Brief report. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica.: 119: 320–324.

Rose, D. Fleischmann, P and Wykes, P. (2008) What are mental health service users’ priorities for research in the UK? Journal of Mental Health, 17 (3): 520-530.

Eclipse Europa, PHP & Ruby et al.

As planned last night I installed Eclipse Europa and the Ruby Development Tools [RDT]. RDT was missing at first and as I tried to use the same workspace there were complaints. Once RDT was installed using the 'update manager' my test 'hello world' program ran aok. The Eclipse help system includes a 'hello world' example.

I'm completely bowled over by Eclipse(s)...
As the scope, usability, feature set and potential of Eclipse rolls my way -
I'm cold. Frozen solid just thinking about learning this environment,
but the promise, well that really warms you up.

I'm off work on holiday for the next week, so amongst some jobs and trips I plan to check out the PHP options, how Eclipse can support Drupal.

Tortoise CVS is also in place, so now a right-click in folders and on the desktop reveals two CVS options. CVS is provided within Eclipse too, so I'm sure this is the way to go. It's the NW England Drupal meet next week and I plan on having a CVS aware Drupal 6 up and running before then - if that's possible. It's a must-do of course, if I'm to review Mercer's new Drupal 6 book at the end of the month.

Unfortunately Brian and I are not able to meet this week. It is great to know he is busy and we plan to catch up soon.

Just to mention that the Northern England Human Ecology Group look set to meet again in April on a Saturday, theme Well-being, likely venue Rivington, nr Horwich, Bolton - details tbc....

And finally - fantastic job Atlantis!

Photo source adapted from original: by Kyle Carmona - http://www.eclipsetours.com/lresults.html

PJ meeting with Brian Hodges - Spring 2008

Since I approached and met with Brian on 28 May 1997 about creating the original website (1998-2015), I can count the number of times we have met on one hand. Sheffield and Bolton are not that far apart, but you know what it's like....

Brian and I have managed to meet up prior to site updates and we hope to catch up in person in the Spring or possibly sooner (February half-term).

This really helps to focus my efforts as I like to take along ideas, drafted plans and actual pages if possible. By then I should have a clearer idea of not just what I would like to do - including what goes where - but what I can do...

P.S. Other ideas and inputs are also invited!!

h2cmng AT yahoo.co.uk

Drupal + Being and Time

I'm continuing to explore Drupal amid some reading, blocks, menus, content.... Searching for content to practice upon, I checked one of the old (1997-8) introductory pages - Brian's course notes - and found my closing sentences were utter drivel! [Well it was a surprise to me.]

Although the prospect of a winter through spring clean is daunting, it will also prove an exciting completely about-time refresh.

Drupal is forcing me to do things I should have done ages ago:

• Separate the content from styling;
• Separate the static (historic) content from dynamic;
• Review the graphics;
• Thinking about audience(s);
• - and related content and solutions (archive, computer aided learning, prototyping).

Don't panic about the colour scheme in the screen shot below, this one allows authorised users to alter the colour, font size and width (see the very top line). Accessibility is a must this time, plus printer friendly content. The flexibility is quite amazing. There are errors on the page illustrated, the theme is not compatible with the latest Drupal version; but it works. I've gone through my own introductory page and stripped out the FONTS, TABLES and other superfluous HTML tags. What is a real conundrum is the front page.... The A,B,C I mentioned before may come to the rescue as 'this site' will just feature static content at first. So all I need is a menu in the sidebar. Users won't need to register, which may require a multi site config to develop the open source collaborative book.

It's cool to find there is a version of jQuery in Drupal. With a bit of PHP code I can fade text onto the screen - like many other sites and one of many effects to learn (and use sensibly!). Keith's DOM scripting will also finally come in handy through the dark months. I can't wait for the next NW England Drupal meet, it seems ages since the Cornerhouse get together. I'd put the modules and themes in the default directory, oops - that's sorted now. Need to explore content creation, the theme files and templates (CSS!) and the CCK (content construction kit) and views modules. Aarrrgh! Must also dream and think, dream and think, dream:think ....



Have a great week!

Drupal, Northern England CHE group

It's been a busy week...

On Wednesday night the turnout for the 1st NW England Drupal user group was excellent. A great springboard for next month. I've ordered another book! The title reflects an aspirational air. Although search inside helps, there's nothing like having chance to open the book for real and scan. Especially, when you've also been shown (thanks Chris!) some basics of installation and must-have modules. So, if this blog suffers through the Solstice well you know why ;-).

Today, the Yorkshire Sculpture Park proved a great find for me; with Criggy and Andy there were just three of us for the Northern England CHE group meet. It was overcast and drizzled occasionally, but the conversation and exhibits ensured it was really warm and sunny. Walking and bike riding in the 90s around Grizedale Forest I remember Andy Goldsworthy's work: brilliant! Hope to go back before this exhibition ends in January. Strange how I'd seen it featured on the Culture Show - BBC 2 and the programme returned for a new series tonight.

Back very soon... CBT and CMHNs: - Anyone for tennis?

Northern England CHE group - Oct 13 Yorkshire Sculpture Park

There is a change of plans for the 3rd Northern England Centre for Human Ecology group on 13 October.

People are struggling to get over to Rivington, Bolton; so Andy Wynne has suggested we meet at 11.00 at the main entrance of the Yorkshire Sculpture Park to see the Andy Goldsworthy exhibition. I think I saw this featured earlier in the year on the Culture Show BBC 2, it looked great on TV so...

Dressed for wet weather and walking we will decide on how to play it when we meet taking the weather into account.... We won't have a meeting place as such although there is a restaurant and cafe.

Well-being is still a very worthy topic in human ecology, sustainable communities and of course health and social care. With Rivington a major water capture area that is another ecological theme.

Apparently, entrance to the exhibition is free - great value - all day parking needs 4x£1 coins. I'm heading over to Manchester to get a lift with Andy and hope my daughter will come along too.

The idea is to look around for a couple of hours, then have lunch and perhaps those who are so inclined could take the long walk around to the other gallery and the outside intallations followed by coffee/tea in the afternoon. We'll chat informally as we go around and possibly more formally at the breaks.

Before this weekend meet, there's the Drupal NW UK User Group event in Preston 10 October. Not sure how this will pan out with two of us so far attending and seven 'watching'...

Assen NL + Northern England CHE group Oct 13 Rivington Park Arts, Horwich

Sunday 0500 last week arrived home from Assen, Netherlands with Matt and Lawrence my son's friend having attended the Assen cycle Tour. It really was an international field and they really flew. Some unfortunately more than others.... The first race Matt came off!! - scaphoid # so we got to see the Dutch health service at work and very impressive too. Thanks to the staff at Wilhelmina Hospital - great job (I notice the TT circuit also keeps them busy). Closing my eyes while waiting for the Radiographer (like you do) Wilhelmina did not 'sound' like a hospital. Excellent attention to the 'hospital' environment - the colour, some nice curves, the signage was spot on too.

At the close of the holiday-cycle tour the sunset at Calais was beautiful.

Returning to the human ecology thread, I can confirm that the next Northern England CHE group event will be on Saturday 13th October 11-3pm at Rivington Park Arts. The group would like to thank David Ruaux for providing us with a room and facilities.

The theme for the meeting is well-being and I'll post more details nearer the time. Leave a comment or e-mail me h2cmng AT yahoo.co.uk and we will add you to the mail list.

Well I'm getting to know my ready-made case-load. It really does not feel like I've been away some 2.5 years. This is what Hodges' model was born for and it's great to get the therapeutic juices flowing again. I've not yet stabbed anyone (injections!), but that won't be long. Actually, I think a delay here is positive evidence that injections and medications are used much more carefully now; especially with older adults and they are reviewed regularly. A trend that has been in train for many years.

Speaking of trains - wonder if it will be clear tonight and in the early hours...?