Meeting for Sufferings: The Retreat
The Retreat presented its triennial report to Meeting for Sufferings
The Retreat presented its triennial report to Meeting for Sufferings.
Clerk to members, John Miles, read Advices & queries 22, explaining to Sufferings that it captures the essence of the Retreat’s approach: ‘Remember that each one of us is unique, precious, a child of God’. He added that The Retreat is fundamentally concerned with healing ‘in the widest sense’.
Sufferings saw a film on the work of The Retreat, where staff spoke of their holistic approach to mental health treatment. They also referred to the facility as being ‘like a great, big home’ rather than a hospital.
Following the film, a Friend asked whether the work of The Retreat is scalable and whether best practice guidelines could be rolled out to other NHS practices. Medical director Dan Anderson said: ‘We’re talking about 216 years of culture. I’d like to be able to say that we could roll it out. Most NHS organisations now talk about values we hold dear, but they do not have that history.’
Another Friend said she was thrilled that the NHS is still funding The Retreat, but wondered whether enough money would be found to maintain its work.
Retreat chief executive officer Jenny McAleese told Sufferings: ‘That’s the real challenge for us. My worry is whether we can continue to provide that level of service’.
Jenny added that her team is looking into the future of The Retreat. They are considering whether there is an ongoing need for inpatient services, or whether other services are more important today. These could include working in the community, or teaching young people to be more resilient.
A Friend asked what proportion of The Retreat’s patients had been detained under the Mental Health Act. Dan said that these patients accounted for twenty per cent of the overall figure. A further five to ten per cent came to The Retreat through The Mental Capacity Act Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards, he added.
A Friend mentioned that patients at The Retreat include both those with mental illnesses and those dealing with the after-effects of trauma. She spoke of the increasing popularity of the term ‘mental distress (a sane response to a mad world)’ to encompass both categories of patients. She also asked whether The Retreat was wedded to the medical response to mental illness.
Dan said that through his own research into what constitutes mental illness he had begun to think of treatment as education. This process is not just about learning skills, he added, but about self-education.
A Friend mentioned a reference in the report to Meeting for Sufferings having been asked earlier this year to freeze appointments of new members of The Retreat. John said that the organisation had embarked on a governance review and was inviting Sufferings to lift the freeze.
‘We have taken heart at the very warm response to our activities this year. And we will be delighted to fill any vacancies that come along. Watch this space’, he concluded.
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