EleMental International Centre for Principles and Values of Recovery and Thriving
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Marion Aslan (Executive Director)Marion is a director of crazydiamond training, and has worked internationally for the past sixteen years in mental health statutory and non-statutory organisations, developing Recovery-focused services and also as a motivational conference speaker and trainer. She has authored a number of books on Recovery and Thriving, and is vocal in her assertion that people fare best in Recovery when supported by the mental health system, family, and friends to make sense of their experiences of mental distress - an impossibility for most, within current psychiatric systems."I qualified as a teacher in the 1970s and worked in the learning disabilities sector for many years, then went into the business arena until 1994 when I had some difficult life experiences for which I sought assistance. Being described as seriously mentally ill was not only a surprise but also quite an unhelpful concept and one that I totally refuted. I recognised that I had problems and struggled to deal with them in my own way, but became very frustrated that no one else was talking my language! This fueled my passion to work with individuals and learn more about how people recovery. I charted my own pathway to recovery and since that time have worked within mental health services as a recovery activist, training staff and clients in developing more helpful concepts and ways of supporting people. I have repeatedly seen how people diagnosed as mentally ill are unheard, dismissed and often have their human rights stripped away wrongfully and unlawfully. The general public is easily persuaded by psychiatric deception which convinces society at large that this chemical imbalance is to be contained, controlled and managed. This is often in the format of drug regimes which are disabling, lethal and most often prevent recovery, taking the person further away from reclaiming their lives. People may be viewed as crazy when it is their life events and the actions of other people who are in fact crazy. I find the resistance to accept that people have become distressed by life events an immoral act which I seek within EleMental to address. I firmly believe mental distress to be a human condition which has been medicalised by professionals who create within society a sense of other and disenfranchise often vulnerable, distressed people" Contact Marion marionaslan_aol.com
Paula Pettit (Director)EleMental Lead, WalesPaula has worked in mental health for ten years in a variety of roles. She was appointed co-ordinator of a mental health recovery project, Krysalis in Coventry and spent several years developing the project which involved supporting individuals on their path to achieving their recovery using an holistic approach. Paula then moved to South Wales and worked with the organisation Keepwell training in mental health awareness around the UK and in America. At the same time she was also involved in a voluntary capacity in a community project in Newport, South Wales feeding the homeless and supporting their various needs.Paula was then employed as Black and Ethnic Minority development officer based in Newport. Part of her role was to identify isolated ethnic minority groups within the local area in need of support to establish their own voluntary organisations addressing their cultural needs.Currently Paula is working closely with women and men involved in prostitution and with women who are suspected of being trafficked into the U.K within the area of Newport. Through liaising closely with the local Police, health authority and voluntary organisations to help meet the needs of this client group who may have substance misuse issues, Paula is able to ensure that their mental health needs are met. The overall aim of the project is to offer individuals an exit strategy out of the commercial sex trade into legitimate employment and this is proving successful. Paula is an associate trainer with crazydiamond and trains in a number of mental health subjects relating to violence and abuse issues and works on a consultancy basis with organisations wishing to develop awareness of prostitution and trafficking. Contact Paula paulaavinia_hotmail.com
Dr Mike Smith ( Director )Dr Mike Smith RMN. B.Sc. MA Ph.D is a mental health professional with 30 years international experience. Mike was Director of Nursing in North Birmingham from 1997 until- 2001 when he left to become an independent freelance trainer / consultant. He has been a champion of recovery since his early days of working as a psychiatric nurse, with a special interest and breadth of knowledge in the areas of self harm and voice hearing. He continues to work voluntarily with young people in these areas and has gained international respect for his innovative and alternative advancements to recovery and thriving. Mike has an expertise in risk and crisis management and oversees training in these key areas in many parts of the UK.In 2007, Mike published The THRIVE Approach to mental wellness co-written with his colleague, Marion Aslan, and this fresh concept is currently challenging psychiatric services to re-evaluate recovery and what lies beyond. Many of Mikes articles have been published in nursing magazines and journals worldwide and he has authored a number of other books, including Working with Self Harm, and First Aid in Psychosis. He is also a frequent guest speaker on radio and television. A former UK Nurse of the Year 1997 for his work and research in developing new practical approaches to self-harm, voice hearing and psychic distress, Mike was also awarded the Bethlem & Maudsley 750th Anniversary Award for the advancement of mental health care. Mikes current work reflects his passion around recovery and thriving and encouraging people to reclaim their lives; his training is noted for his humour and challenge of the traditional psychiatric orthodoxy, coupled with guidance and practical tools for values based practice. Contact Mike mikesvoice_aol.com
Rowland Urey (Director)Elemental Lead UKRowland has been a campaigner, mental health activist and proponent of Recovery for twenty years. He is Chair of Oldham Open User Forum in Oldham, England. In 1993 he won a national award for his work in helping people, and in recent years produced the first ever guidelines for NICE on Obsessive Compulsive Disorders. He currently works with EleMental and crazydiamond to change people’s presumptions and prejudices and society’s perceptions of mental distress.
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