Allan Pinches homepage: Mental Health and Our Community

Issues covered here will include: consumer participation, rights and advocacy; effective methods and strategies for psychiatric disability support and clincical services; consumer consultancy; spirituality, personal growth and journeys toward recovery; and commentaries on sociological issues impinging on people's mental health. Allan believes the mental health field offers a unique window on where problems are occurring in our society -- what's broken --and potentially enriching and informing processes of seeking solutions -- how to fix it. Could the experiences, hard-won learnings and insights of mental health consumers/ survivors/ ex-patients help point the way to a better, fairer, and more caring society and a more sustainable social order?

Allan currently works as a Consumer Consultant with a variety of Mental Health Services, in facilitating communication between service providers and consumers. He is a regular public speaker, contributor to mental health journals and an advisor to a number of organisations. A selection of his articles appear below...
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Uniting Church opens a conversation about growing its mission of support to mental health consumers...more...

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New Synthesis

PARTNERSHIPS:

What are they and how can we build them?

Click here for PDF flyer to find out how this book by Allan Pinches highlights many ways that positive changes in the mental health field can be facilitated through New Synthesis partnerships -- a skilful blending the best consusmer and service provider knowledge.

In times of challenge in the mental health field there is much to be gained by exploring new ways of communicating, sharing visions, developing strategies, building quality services and keeping processes under ongoing review. Consumer participation and New Synthesis partnerships could make a big difference to doing these things well.

Click for PDF flyer and order form.

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Still an essential report on readings from a consumer compass...
PATHFINDERS:
Consumer Participation in Mental Health and other services: evidence based strategies for the ways ahead.
Pathfinders book cover

Click here for a preview summary from a leading journal.

PATHFINDERS: Consumer Participation in mental health and other services

An essential research report from Allan Pinches, a Consumer Consultant for Mental Health, for anyone with a vital interest in the progress and further challenges of consumer participation in mental health and other services.:

Achievements of mental health consumer participation: including 18 key result areas. A huge range of achievements, despite many challenges.

Factors which have promoted the success of the many local Victorian projects.

Barriers and constraints -- identifying key problems such as: resourcing issues, systemic barriers, impacts of service cultures and environments, personal strains on Consumer Consultants in often difficult and demanding roles, and expressed needs for better resourcing and enhanced support systems.

Practical problem solving examples.

More than 55 suggested action strategies for a major strengthening of consumer participation projects.

Case studies on several outstanding and innovative consumer participation projects.

Rich contextual quotes highlighting major themes from Consumer Consultants in interviews and workshops, including hoped for future developments in consumer participation and supportive observations from service providers.

Click here for a flyer and order form for PATHFINDERS.........or contact alpin@alphalink.com.au.....or postal mail PO Box 85 Kingsbury Vic 3083.

Welcoming a major new research report:

"Lacking Insight" -- Involuntary Patient
Experience of the Victorian
Mental Health Review Board________

Allan Pinches sets out a detailed and solutions-focused commentary here about the new "Lacking Insight" report, which came from a qualitative and consumer-collaborative research project at the Mental Health Legal Centre.

Pinches’ commentary, developed from his talk at the MH Legal Centre's AGM in November 2008, as a consumer stakeholder rep for the project, suggests some additional conceptual tools, aimed at easing the implementation stages of the research report titled: "Lacking Insight" -- Involuntary Patient Experience of the Victorian Mental Health Review Board.

Key suggestions in Allan Pinches’ commentary include: Placing a strong focus on a myriad of ways to improve actual consumer experiences when facing the Mental Health Review Board; seeking to improve the capacity and configuration of mental health services; and exploring some new visions and alternatives in mental health services, based on expressed needs and wishes of consumers over a long time.

A link to the Mental Health Legal Centre’s "Lacking Insight" report is contained in the following PDF file.

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In search of true
PLANETARY SANITY

In these times of global challenges -- environmentally, economically and politically -- the strong, almost prophetic wisdom emerging from some of our key thinkers in the community should be embraced. _

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TheMHS Conference workshop
September 2007:
"Primary Consumer Participation: Putting the consumer in control"

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Consumers as Educators in the
Mental Health Field:
a thought provoking discussion paper

(PDF file)

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Our Little 'Oasis' in Heidelberg West

A story about friendship-led recovery in a sometimes all too uncaring world.

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"Making it Real" -- some consumer considerations in developing employment related programs.
Extended version of article from March 2004 issue
of New Paradigm the journal of Vicserv as a guest associate editor (PDF file)

recovery heading with springtime pic

Talking to clinical rehabilitation service staff about
what the consumer movement
says about recovery
(PDF document - click here)

Practical Ways for Consumers to Get The Most Out of Mental Health Services: Changing Maps and Making Different Roads to Recovery.(Updated version for 2004, as PDF file)