taking photographs

was thinking of language used when taking photos:

• shoot
• capture
• expose
• crop/cut
• edit
• focus
• photobombing
• flash
• selfie
• zoom 
• snap
• burst

how I took up photography more seriously after my son was abused in Stratheden Hospital IPCU locked seclusion room February 2012 and I was getting brushed off by NHS Fife Managers when meeting with them to complain.

I particularly remember a meeting at Stratheden with the General Manager where I felt disempowered and marginalised while he just sat there, doing nothing to help me get justice for human rights abuses against my son, because he didn't have to.  And so I decided to start capturing the hospital grounds environment outside, since I couldn't do anything about the inside, and put photos in a new blog, taking back the power:
 
Stratheden Hospital blog first post Saturday 28 July 2012: photos taken 16 July 2012

Having a camera on mobile device has helped me to be empowered and to take back the power.  I've got used to taking lots of selfies and tweeting them, in effect saying I woz here!  I also do wee videos on the move, recording my thoughts in action.  It's liberating, I find, to have the technology on hand to shoot and capture what's in front of me, or behind.  Good practice should I ever have to advocate for family members again in a psychiatric ward and witness patients at risk of exploitation.

Six years ago my son was mentally, physically and sexually abused by psychiatric Nurses and they got away with it.  I won't be letting it happen again to any of my family.  If Nurses dare to bully, intimidate and surround me in numbers then I shall capture their image and broadcast it to the world, there and then.   And if they lay a hand on me then I shall report them to the Police, for assault.

Being a practised mobile phone snapper gives me the power to expose bullies should the occasion arise when my space is invaded.  I do many shots on the move, walking, even jogging, from place to place, on buses and trains, in streets and buildings.  It's a skill that I'm glad to have gained and is useful when tweeting and writing blog posts.   

A selection of photos from last week's travels:

 

from Aberdour Castle

Pictish stone Meigle Museum

Broughty Ferry with bike

Dundee's new rail station entrance

#ActiveMinds Glasgow: Safe Houses for Psychosis presentation 18July2018

Yesterday I did a 5min presentation at the Active Minds workshop in the Queen Elizabeth Teaching & Learning Centre, Glasgow, as part of the Panel talks.  

 
Here are the slides on my website with hyperlinks:
http://www.chrysm-associates.co.uk/images/active%20minds%20chrys%20muirhead%20safe%20houses%2018Jul18.pdf

and slide images:

--------------------------

Website hyperlinks

Slide 1:

my main blog Chrys Muirhead Writes

my twitter account @ChrysMuirhead

my son Daniel Muirhead's Flickr account 

Slide 2:

'HOSPITAL HORRORS: Patient locked in cell with no toilet, food or water' front page piece in Scottish Sunday Express, 5 October 201, about my son's sub-human treatment in the locked seclusion room of Stratheden Hospital, Fife

Jeff Hawke: Overlord; 2008 republication by Titan Books of my Dad Willie Patterson's scripted sci-fi comic strip stories originally written for the Daily Express, Fleet St, London 1956-69

Slide 3:

my knitting page on blog 

my cycling page on blog

Slide 5:

my Safe Houses for Psychosis blog

a selection of my son Ed (Edwin) Muirhead's websites:

Face the Music therapy
Dundee Piano teaching, learning
Ed Muirhead songwriter, piano player, drummer, singer

my SoundCloud recordings singing with guitar eg

 

the biggest ARSE (at risk state experience)

I've just noticed a tweet about setting up an ARMS (at risk mental states) service and felt compelled to respond:

the ARMS stuff bothers me, TBH; speaking personally as someone who experiences psychosis & have 3 sons who came through psychosis after leaving home for university in big city; psychiatric treatment was the biggest At Risk State Experience (ARSE) https://t.co/EvfXgx3Fzs

— Chrys Muirhead (@ChrysMuirhead) July 17, 2018

must right a blog post on ARSE - At Risk State Experience when entering psychiatric ward voluntarily in psychosis; a very risky thing to do; resisting toxic chemicals will result in force, coercion, then more risk form exploitative people in mental hospital https://t.co/qmc6359abU

— Chrys Muirhead (@ChrysMuirhead) July 17, 2018

just writing a blog post with strapline: the biggest ARSE (at risk state experience); about going voluntarily into psychiatric wards as a patient coming through psychosis; I've done it 3 times; hope to never do it again; it's a right arse

— Chrys Muirhead (@ChrysMuirhead) July 17, 2018

a play on words but very apt; in 1978 & 1984 I got jagged in the backside with Chlorpromazine as voluntary inpatient; why? because I didn't want to swallow the toxic chemicals; I knew they were bad for me; my Mother was Dx'd "schizophrenic" & went through many abusive treatments

— Chrys Muirhead (@ChrysMuirhead) July 17, 2018

And it's got worse over the years, not better, I think because of the emphasis on biological psychiatry, big pharma profiteering, mental health law justifying coercive treatment and the safeguards not being safe, to name but a few.  It was easier to recover in 1978.

knitting Betsy Bunny; a travel companion 😊

Facebook album of knitting Betsy Bunny

Some photos:

 

first outing in Stagecoach 16Jul18 🐰

then to Cupar Tearoom:
 

Finished!
Wis a struggle eatin choccy traybake but I forced it in 😏
Betsy's waitin patiently 🐰 pic.twitter.com/2FYUX0jAWW

— Chrys Muirhead (@ChrysMuirhead) July 16, 2018

remember to be grateful #EmpowerProject Schizophrenia volunteers [guinea pigs]

This is an exhortation to the people with lived experience of Schizophrenia taking part voluntarily in the Empower Project led by Chief Investigator Professor Gumley (on a salary scale at University of Glasgow of up to £110K/annum), to show their appreciation for being involved, for receiving remuneration and/or expenses.  

In my experience it doesn't pay to voice discontent or to challenge poor quality sandwiches or tea in coffee flasks, to gripe about travel expenses which are incorrect or given in small change.  The expectation is that mental health service users/survivors and carers will put up with marginalisation just for the privilege of being invited.  And don't dare criticise the academic writings of the Professor or you may be in deep water.

[Staying Well After Psychosis which in my opinion is cobbled together with very little original thought, I really should consider writing a book in response but there are so many other more interesting activities in life which are grabbing my attention these days]

leaving DClinPsy Gartnavel 4Jul17

I dared to be myself at DClinPsy Glasgow meetings, eventually, after years of trying to fit in, putting up with constraints and marginalisation, although in my defence I was fighting complaints against NHS Fife for abusing my son February 2012 in a locked seclusion room with no toilet, water or light.  I did hope that my qualifications and experience of being a community educator and facilitator of learning would eventually result in paid teaching/lecturing opportunities.  But there were no level playing fields and I wasn't really welcome.  It had to be faced, I didn't meet the criteria, wasn't grateful enough.

I'm still very annoyed at the manipulation and undermining by the senior male DClinPsy academics I've engaged with in Scotland, at Glasgow, Edinburgh and Napier Universities.   I took a bit of a bruising and battering, and bear the scars of the battle, in my quest to be respected as a survivor Mother and campaigning whistleblower.  It wasn't to be.  They seem to prefer victims.

FOI request: Empower Project funding; updated with response received from University 11Jul18

Email sent just now, 14 June 2018, to Empower Project Chief Investigator Professor Andy Gumley:

"Dear Professor Gumley

I am writing to you as Chief Investigator on the Empower Project with an FOI request about the funding.  I think this was £1.5million in total?  Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I cannot see any details on the website about the funding application, breakdown of costs, salaries, expenses, monies paid to mental health service user groups, carers, family members, others linked to Empower project.

https://empowerstudy.net/

I would like a copy of the funding application, a budget, income and expenditure, timescales, any other financial information which would help me understand where the money has gone, is going.  I am interested in knowing if the academics involved in Empower project received monies in addition to their university salaries.  If so, how much?

I am particularly interested in the remuneration awarded to mental health service users, carers, family members who were recruited for the research.  How are/were they reimbursed for the time they spent doing tasks for the Empower project? 

Can you please confirm receipt of this FOI request?  Thank you.

Regards, Chrys"

cc Prof Pell; Simon Bradstreet

Chrys Muirhead
Safe Houses for Psychosis
writer, researcher, activist; cyclist, photographer, gardener, swimmer

BA Admin Management (best student); Postgrad Dip Community Education; Postgrad Cert TQFE (care subjects, 2008 Stirling University)​

ChrysMuirheadWrites.blogspot.co.uk

ChrysMuirheadSafeHouse.blogspot.co.uk

@ChrysMuirhead

--------------------- 

Link to FOI response received 11 July 2018 from University of Glasgow 

I am writing to you as Chief Investigator on the Empower Project with an FOI request about the funding. I think this was £1.5million in total? Please correct me if I'm wrong.
No, the project has received a total of £838,170 from NIHR (National Institute for Health Research). Please see the following link:
https://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/programmes/hta/1315404#/

I did not receive a copy of the funding application, as requested, this was withheld, an "absolute exemption".

I did not receive information about the budget, income and expenditure, that was also withheld.

"However, you can find details of the project and protocol at the following link:
https://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/programmes/hta/1315404#/

3. Timescales: Currently, the study is funded until February 2019.

4. Any other financial information which would help me understand where the money has gone, is going.
There are a range of partner organisations in the UK and Australia. Only UK organisations are supported by the NIHR funding. These partners are listed on the web-pages at:
https://empowerstudy.net/partners-people-2/

I am interested in knowing if the academics involved in Empower project received monies in addition to their university salaries. If so, how much?
No payments in addition to salaries are being made. 

I am particularly interested in the remuneration awarded to mental health service users, carers, family members who were recruited for the research. How are/were they reimbursed for the time they spent doing tasks for the Empower project?
Participants are reimbursed for completion of each assessment in line with ethics approval.
Details are within the Participant Information Sheet at:
https://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/programmes/hta/1315404#/

closing ranks

Paul Hutton (now Associate Professor at Napier University) in his series of Emails to me in May 2017, regarding the bullying culture in Edinburgh University Clinical Psychology (CP) department and the behaviour of Matthias Schwannauer mentioned the phrase "closing ranks" after he raised a complaint.  This rung a bell, thinking of what I'd been through with both psychiatry and DClinPsy programmes at Edinburgh and Glasgow Universities, after raising complaints.

At the end of December 2014 I'd been bullied off the Glasgow user/carer CUSP group facilitated by Andrew Gumley when he wasn't there.  Other members took the opportunity to gang up on me, the topic of ECT, I'd recently written a blog post for Mad in America [Spearheading Doctors and the Re-introduction of Electroconvulsive Therapy for Children] on the resurgence of children getting shock treatment.  I had made an FOI request to Scottish ECT Accreditation Network to find out if any children in Scotland were receiving ECT.  The CUSP members said it would be only one or two which angered me, their attitude.  We were not on the same page regarding the treatment of children and so I left, complaining to DClinPsy programme director Hamish McLeod, now a Professor.

Around the same time I also left the Edinburgh DClinPsy programme as my voice was being marginalised and others with lived experience were seen as research fodder.  This came out at an event in the Playfair Library Hall, Edinburgh, when a CP academic from Edinburgh gave that reason for MH Service Users being invited.  I think she forgot that I used to be a service user!  Which is one of the reasons they won't want survivor voices in DClinPsy programmes.  We are independently minded and don't appreciate being research guinea pigs.

handknitted Donegal Aran Tweed socks for Andrew & wife

From around September 2015 when coming through another psychosis I engaged virtually with Andrew Gumley, befriended him, sent him and his wife craftwork gifts, sharing family photos and stories, he reciprocated, to some extent, and it was after this that I considered returning to DClinPsy programmes, giving it another go, also embarking on a PhD with Matthias Schwannauer as supervisor which he agreed to, Andrew Gumley offering to be an academic mentor.  It was attending the "Innovation" event hosted by Hamish McLeod that spurred me on to do the PhD.  

The PhD supervision soon broke down, mainly because of Schwannauer's behaviour and attitude.  I felt that he raised expectations then dashed them, was arrogant at a joint meeting in Feb17 with Gumley (said Life isn't fair and questioned my ability to write a 10K word essay), and then manipulated my other supervisor at what was to be our final meeting. My complaint was not upheld.  I want to be fair about what transpired and believe that it was Schwannauer who scuppered my PhD into safe haven crisis houses, and then McLeod who banished me from Glasgow DClinPsy programme, for no good reason, it could have been a peace process.  However Gumley could have improved the situation and didn't, on 4 July 2017 in his office, making out that I was "less than" then raising a complaint which he said was about his own facilitation but it resulted in my exclusion.  All of them closed ranks.  I raised complaints about Gumley and McLeod which came to nothing, unaccountable for their actions towards an unwaged Carer activist, whistleblowing campaigner.

A misuse and abuse of power, similar to what goes on in psychiatric settings.  They can do what they like because of their unassailable position.  The irony of Clinical Psychologist Lucy Johnstone and cohort pushing out their Power Threat Meaning Framework when her own profession is up to its neck in coercive treatment.  What difference formulation to diagnosis when those in power are not accountable, unanswerable to criticism?  And Johnstone with Watson is giving a platform to Schwannauer in Edinburgh on my 66th birthday, another slap on the face to a survivor Mother.