The Critical AMHP.
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Welcome to The Critical AMHP
A reflective and critical space where Approved Mental Health Professionals and other interested parties can write and read about any aspect of approved mental health practice in all its guts and glory. The blog invites the sharing of ideas, research and opinion from relational, social and rights-based perspectives with the aim of contributing to a renewed and vibrant focus on practice and service improvement at the interface of the Mental Health Act.
Please send us your contributions (of up to 1500 words) to:
the-critical-amhp@googlegroups.com
Opinion pieces, reflective writing, research summaries, book reviews and letters all welcome.
Disclaimer - The views and ideas expressed in the blogs belong to the author of that blog and do not necessarily represent the views of the Critical AMHP editorial board.
Meet the Editorial Board
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Rob Manchester
Editor
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Kev Stone
Editor and Web-editor
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Jill Hemmington
Editor
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Alan Bristow
Editor
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Louise Blakley
Editor
Why?
Approved mental health practice can have a significant impact on people’s lives, including those who are assessed under the Mental Health Act, their families, and indeed those of us who work in this strange field. For a long time, continuous professional development in the AMHP world has largely focussed on legal literacy, which is, of course, very important. However, AMHP work is, at its very core, relational, values-based and political. AMHPs speak a lot about resources (particularly about a lack of them) but speak a lot less about the most important resource of all in their practice – themselves.
The Critical AMHP creates a forum for us to examine, celebrate and contest what motivates us and what holds us back in the work we do. It is place where we can connect with our professional standards, with new ideas, and with each other in all our humanity and diversity. Its creation is also a recognition that AMHPs and other health and social care professionals rarely get the time or the headspace to critically reflect, to find and read journal articles or to engage with research. The Critical AMHP brings these things into an accessible space with pieces that can be read in small chunks of time (perhaps whilst being on hold to your bed management team or 101…).
The Critical AMHP seeks to capture and learn from multiple, diverse voices.
Who are we?
We are a small group of registered AMHPs employed in practice and/or academic settings right across the UK, all with a strong interest in orienting AMHP practice, AMHP supervision and AMHP professional development towards critical thinking, reflection, and strong social and rights-based models of mental health. If you would like to join the editorial board, please make contact with us.
The blog is supported by the AMHP Leads Network and the AMHP Research Group but remains independent of any organisation.
Contact the team