Meeting Room shines a powerful searchlight on a controversial moment in recent Dublin history. In early 1982, residents of Hardwicke Street called a meeting to address the epidemic of heroin use in the flats and the lack of action from the authorities to address the impending catastrophe. The parents of the area decided to take matters into their own hands and soon had formed a group known as Concerned Parents against Drugs (CPAD) to confront the dealers and drive them out of the neighborhoods. Checkpoints were set up and patrols put in place; soon, large crowds were publicly evicting unrepentant pushers, and a mass movement was born. Using film, newspaper and photographic archives, Meeting Room reconstructs the social history of ‘the most important social movement in Dublin since the 1913 lockout’ and charts its rise and fall during the 1980′s.

For more background on the film click here

Watch the film here

Turning point is a new stabilization service in Sankalpa for anyone from the Finglas Cabra area seeking support to stop using illicit drugs and manage on their prescribed medications.  I will be up dating this post with more information over the weekend.

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Abstract

This paper critically examines methadone treatment from the perspective of adult and community education and questions the absence of rehabilitation. It identifies biomedicine and the methodology of evidence based medicine as the discourses that determine our understanding of addiction and treatment. It is especially critical of psychiatry for the over medicalisation of addiction treatment and the communities uncritical acceptance of the assumptions of medicine. The paper then looks at the Crinan project, as a model of good practice in drug treatment and asks what makes adult and community education an effective component of treatment that works uniquely in a way that medical model does not?

Follow this link for the full article;

http://drtomobrien.ie/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Is-there-a-way-out-of-this-Clinic1.pdf

Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add colour to my sunset sky

-Rabindranath Tagore

Addiction and mental health for some, at times can seem like a dark cloud blocking out vibrant sunshine.  But for many this does not have to be the case. Small efforts regarding the promotion of positive mental health, sleeping and eating well will help in an individual’s everyday life.  Efforts may not abolish these dark clouds but can add some colour to an already dull sky.

A more contemporary way of reaching out to those with addiction and mental health concerns is through the means of mobile phone applications. This means individuals can discover so much more from their mobile phones to help them along which ever path they are on.  I have selected apps which I feel will be useful for those who are on different stages of an addictive journey whether it is using, stabilization or recovery.

Breathing techniques

BellyBio

BellyBio is a free app only available for iPhones and cannot be received on other play stores. It teaches deep breathing techniques which help fight anxiety and stress.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

eCBT Calm

Many apps based around Cognitive Behavioral Therapy exist so whatever one you choose to download, they all seem useful. This one in particular is for the iPhone and is used for eradicating personal stress, anxiety and distorted thoughts.

Depression CBT Self-Help Guide

If you do not have an iPhone, Depression CBT Self-Help Guide is available to you. This app is based also on managing stress and other factors which may contribute to depression.

Help with sleeping

Sleep is a huge factor which can impact an individual’s mental health. Because of this I have included a few apps covering different aspects of helping with sleep and sleep patterns.

Deep Sleep with Andrew Johnson

This app has been recommended by its reviews but it is not for free. It is useful for those with sleep issues. This app uses a gentle voice to guide individuals into sleep.

Help me to sleep.

This is a free app available from the Google play store with advice on how to sleep from natural sleep aid to information about insomnia and CBT.

Nature Sounds Relax and Sleep.

There are many apps with different sounds which you may find relaxing to listen to. This one contains a list of 6 nature sounds and a relaxation timer. This one may not be useful for you, but there are a huge variety of free ones to explore.

Sleeping Record.

This app records the sleep you get every night with a timer. I found this useful as you can chart your sleep on a calendar so as you can observe the routine or what may be triggering sleep issues daily.

Mood tracking

Optimism

Optimism is another app which is only available free for iPhones. Its reviews display its popularity and use for tracking moods and tracking progress

T2 Mood Tracker.

This app is available if you don’t have an iPhone. It tracks anxiety and depression by the individual rating their emotions. It is useful as it produces a graph so you can see your results and what may be affecting you daily. This could also be valuable to become aware of triggers for drug use connected with your emotions.

Current drug use

Opiate Overdose Response.

For those who may be using opiates or around family or friends who are this app can be very useful. This app can be valuable to gain knowledge on overdoses and how best to deal with one.

Suicide

G.R.A.S.P (Greater Responsibility and Awareness in Suicide Prevention).

Grasp is an Irish run foundation which provides free profession help to those who suffer from mental illness and suicidal thoughts as well as their families. This app can be used by individuals or families to help assist in a time of need. This app locates where the individual is located and provides information of services in that area while also providing helpful advice on prevention.

Meditation, Yoga and Reiki

A lot of apps can be found about meditation, yoga and Reiki. Each has different elements which can be useful from beginning to useful tips to symbols, images and music. I have attached a link to meditation music which I personally found relaxing. Meditating relaxing music has three different tracks to select from which are good for meditating or self reflection.

Healthy eating

A lot of apps can only be found around healthy eating so it does depend on which one you find best. These can be helpful for advice on getting healthy, diets and new recipes. Spark Recipes has healthy recipes available for free.

Nicki Kileen

Researcher at Sankalpa

Last week some of the team from Sankalpa, Dublin Simon Community, the Tolko River Project and Tiglin TCI in Wicklow, had the pleasure of taking part in a two-day training workshop in the Community Reinforcement Approach (CRA), run by Gerry Ryan project manager at the Tolko River Project.  Gerry who was an early advocate of this approach was one of their first to become an accredited trainer of CRA in Ireland.

The Community Reinforcement Approach is a comprehensive behavioral program for treating substance misuse problems.  It is based on the belief that environmental contingencies can play a powerful role in encouraging or discouraging drinking or drug use.  Consequently, it utilizes social, recreational, familial, and vocational reinforcers to assist clients in the recovery process.  Its goal is to make a lifestyle of recovery and being drug free, more rewarding than drug consumption and dependence.

The two days training was a huge success, not just in terms of the learning, but the opportunity to work with other professionals from organisations with a great track record of innovation and quality service delivery.  It was nice to hear some positive feedback on our own service Sankalpa, in particular their interest in knowing more about herbal medicine.

To find out more about CRA click here

This achievement is a recognition for the work the participants of Sankalpa with the support of our tutor Sinead Drew who has a real passion for gardening and teaching. We are now in the regional finals with an opportunity to win €3,000 in prize money. Imagine how many seeds we could plant in in the Finglas Cabra area with that prize money!

Its just amazing how much positive feedback the participants give us on their time spend in the garden. Nature is really special and it can play a central social and therapeutic role in empowering people to over come their addiction.Sankalpa Garden Award 2012

What is the Recovery Walk? The recovery walk is an all day free family event that starts with a 1.4km walk through the Dublin Docklands and ends with music, food and activities at the Recovery Village on George’s Dock.

Come walk and play for a day and help us to celebrate recovery…

…one step at a time

The Recovery Walk starts and finishes at George’s Dock in the Dublin Docklands.  It follows the North Wall, crosses the Samuel Beckett Bridge, returns along the City Quay, crosses the Sean O’Casey Bridge and finishes back in the Recovery Village on Georges Dock next to the CHQ Building.

The Recovery Village is a day full of family activities;

• Music
• Food
• Face Painting
• Yoga and Zumba Dance
• Clowns and Stilt Walkers and Balloons

The Recovery Village is a beautiful day out for the whole family

I am delighted to announce that the Sankalpa Social and Therapeutic Horticulture (STH) garden programme have given themselves a name; it is the “Garden Of Growth”. After thirty tense minutes of suggestions and voting, it was decided. It has been a long time coming but sometimes you just can’t rush things. We did venture previously to name the garden but it never came to fruition. As I say I am very happy for the group, you could recognise the sense of ownership, the sense of fulfilment and pride they all have in what they are doing and what they have achieved. Giving the garden the beautiful name of “Garden Of Growth” says it.

The company will pay $3bn (£1.9bn) to settle a slew of charges in the US after admitting a multi-year criminal scheme to hide unhelpful scientific evidence, manipulate articles in medical journals and lavish gifts on sympathetic doctors.

The drug at the centre of the scheme, the blockbuster pill Paxil, which is branded Seroxat in Britain, has since been banned for use by children because it can make them suicidal.

Company managers, all the way up to GSK’s chief executive, Sir Andrew Witty, will have their pay and bonuses clawed back if there is any further wrongdoing, under the terms of a wide-ranging settlement with the Department of Justice.

GSK admitted illegally marketing several of its drugs for uses that had not been approved by safety regulators, and documents released by the Justice Department detailed the luxurious conferences in exotic climes where paid-for scientific speakers hyped up the conclusions of dubious academic papers.

GSK held eight “Paxil forum” events in Puerto Rico, Hawaii and California, where hundreds of doctors were treated to snorkelling, horse-riding, sailing, deep-sea fishing, balloon rides and spa treatments, and given an “honorarium” of $750 in cash. The company knew it was worth paying for these kinds of boondoggles; it monitored the doctors who attended and found they significantly increased prescriptions of Paxil in the months after the event.

Paxil, once GSK’s best-selling drug, was never approved for use by children but because doctors were free to use their discretion, the company had a strong incentive to steer the medical profession to scientific studies that suggested it might be helpful to under-18s diagnosed with depression. Those studies were paid for by GSK itself. Sales reps for Paxil even called on paediatricians to highlight the studies.

The company pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to the marketing of Paxil for use by children between 1999 and 2003, when it:

* failed to reveal the existence of two scientific studies that showed the drug was ineffective in treating childhood depression;

* cut out important caveats to the conclusion of a third study which suggested it may improve a small number of symptoms in children;

* over-hyped the conclusions of that study, after it was published, in marketing materials at conferences and distributed to doctors.

GSK also illegally promoted Wellbutrin, another antidepressant, for the treatment of adult impotence, obesity and attention deficit, according to its guilty plea yesterday.

James Cole, US Deputy Attorney General, said: “We are determined to stop practices that jeopardise patients’ health, harm taxpayers and violate the public trust – and this historic action is a clear warning to any company that chooses to break the law.”

The settlement – $1bn in criminal fines, $2bn in civil penalties – also resolved claims that GSK billed government-run healthcare plans too much for many drugs.

“Whilst these originate in a different era for the company, they cannot and will not be ignored,” Sir Andrew said. “On behalf of GSK, I want to express our regret and reiterate that we have learnt from the mistakes that were made.”

GSK had already set aside more than $3bn to cover the costs of the settlement, and its shares rose 1.75 per cent yesterday, more than the overall market, to reflect the end of a period of uncertainty.

The company will submit to a “corporate integrity agreement” with the US government that involves a shake-up of its remuneration plan for senior managers and executives, and reflects changes already made to sales practices. The 100 top managers in the US business and the executive board will have to set aside a portion of their annual pay for three years in case they are found to be complicit in future wrongdoing, and the company will be able to claw back up to three times their annual bonus and long-term incentive pay.

Danger Drug: suicides linked to antidepressants

Sara Carlin, 18, was a talented student who dreamt of becoming a doctor, only for her to take her own life back in 2007, a little over a year after being prescribed anti-depressants. She was found hanging in the basement of her family home in Oakville, Canada.

The country’s health authorities put out warnings in 2003 and 2004 that prescribing newer antidepressants such as Paxil to teenagers could lead to behavioural changes and self-harm, but Sara brushed off her mother’s attempts to warn her off such drugs, saying her doctor had said they would lift her mood.

Colin Whitfield, 56, died just two weeks after he began taking the antidepressant drug Seroxat. The retired Welsh teacher was found in the garden shed of the family home having slit his own wrists in 2002.

At the inquest the coroner said that he had “grave concerns that this is a dangerous drug that should be withdrawn until detailed national studies are undertaken.”

Kathryn, Colin’s wife of more than 30 years, said that she had noticed a profound change in her husband’s behaviour once he started taking Seroxat, and the drug may have contributed to his unexpected suicide. “It didn’t fit the picture of who he was and we have no doubt that it was the drug that caused him to do it. He was a very caring, very protective father,” she said.

(This article was published in The Independent on the 3rd of July 2012)

Ian has been busy edging all the beds, making the garden look very tidy and formal. I think this particular task really appeals to Ian’s nature and his determination to do things right in his life.

I learnt some thing this week; onions are a great method of displaying delayed gratification! Odd as it may seem but planting onions is a fantastic, fun and enjoyable exercise in learning patience. Since we planted them every one has been looking forward to eating them. I have lost count of the number of people who have said “are the onions ready yet?” I do have to admit our onions look great and you would be forgiven for thinking they are ready but no, they wont be harvested until the end of this month. Spring-sown bulb onions take 12-18 week to mature and since we planted them the end of February you will be glad to hear they are due harvesting 27th of June. Yippy at last!!!! And as they say all good things come to those that ask!!

All this is the determined hard work of the gardening group at Sankalpa, I really hope they are very proud of themselves and recognise what it is they have achieved.

In the last blog accidently called our new member Paula, Pauline. I have extended my apology in person to Paula but I feel it is only right to but it in writing too.  I would also like to welcome Steven and Dao (AKA Damien, I hope I have that right!) to the garden and thanks all the other participants who came up last week and helped out.

Until next time the garden teaches me some thing about life, I’ll leave it at that.

P.S. Every one is welcome to write on this garden blog, I’d love to hear other peoples thought. It could be a poem, a verse an essay, anything.

P.P.S Happy Gardening and good night.