Back-to-work schemes are 'making mental illness worse' says charity

The government's back-to-work schemes are ineffective and damaging for people with mental health problems, according to campaigners. The charity Mind says unemployed people with mental health problems should be moved from mainstream programmes onto a specialist scheme. Mind surveyed 439 people supported by the government's Work Programme. The government says it has helped thousands of people with mental illnesses into work. The coalition government introduced the Work Programme - a key plank in its welfare reform agenda - in 2011. Participants are given support but can face sanctions if they fail to comply with certain conditions. According to Mind, 83% of people they surveyed said using the programme and the government's job centre services had made their mental health worse. Three quarters of those polled said they felt less able to work as a result of being on these schemes, the charity said. At the same time, the schemes were ineffective for people with mental health problems, as only 5% of people had been helped into work, campaigners claimed. 'Perverse' The charity is calling for the government to introduce a specialist scheme for people with mental health problems. The Work Programme is a government welfare-to-work programme introduced in Great Britain in June 2011. "It's perverse that programmes which are supposed to help those who are unwell and struggling to get into work are having the opposite effect, damaging their health," said Paul Farmer, Mind's chief executive. "These schemes are not appropriate for people with mental health problems. If someone is out of work because of depression and anxiety, simply asking them to attend a CV writing course is a waste of time and money, as it doesn't address the real problems they are facing. "Forcing people to engage in these activities, and cutting their benefits if they struggle to do so, is inappropriate and counter-productive. "This approach assumes people don't want to work and the only way to motivate them is to withdraw financial support, which only causes greater anxiety and stress, and makes returning to work less likely."read more-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-30415243

MERLIN IS A HOOT.

An escaped European Eagle Owl  has been perched  on top of a house in OLD TOWN area  of BIDEFORD,DEVON for several days. The  bird is called MERLIN  and is 13 years old. EUROPEAN Female Eagle Owls  can grow to 30 inches -76cms in length and a wingspan of 74 inches -188cms ,males afre slightly smaller. Their nortunal predators and hunt small mammals ,birds,reptiles,amphibians,fish,large insects,earthworms.

BEES CAN HELP?

If you need help with hair growth,treat tumours,inflamation and wounds,fungal and bacterial invasions.Try out a natural sealant used by bees called PROPOLIS could be your answer ,tried on mice by DR.KEN  KOBAYASI,JAPAN.

NORTHAM HISTORY GROUP NEWS.

If you like to see archive  history of Northam,Devon a new room at the Bideford and District    Community Archives.From 1856 to present day and housed at council offices in Windmill  Lane.Run by volunteers and is OPEN MONDAY,WEDNESDAY 9.30 AM TO 1.00 PM Worth a look.

We found an ancient lake on Mars — a sign the planet may have once been habitable

Earlier this week, the scientists running NASA's Curiosity rover announced the mission's latest finding: evidence of an ancient Martian lake that appears to have formed over the course of millions of years and has since dried up. Naturally, this has a lot of people asking the obvious question: Was Mars once home to alien life? This is a difficult question, and one that scientists still don't have a full answer to. But by collecting more and more data with Curiosity and other probes, they're getting a better idea of what Mars looked like billions of years ago. http://www.vox.com/2014/12/11/7376103/mars-curiosity-lake Here's what we know — and how the new finding changes things.READ MORE AND SEE PHOTOS LINK-

D.I.Y FUNERAL?

If struck about paying for  an average  funeral it could cost  3,551 so you could go D .I .Y.Its legal to have home burials as long as the bereaved owns the land freehold .You cannot put the body too close to water  and must be at least 2 feet  below the surface .This seems unlikely but it in this era of funeral poverty  a black bag out to the binman would do,only kidding.

GENDER-NEUTRAL?

Its a strange world when you see an article in the paper stating should books be gender neutral?Here is an example if say Rapunzel escaped her tower  using brawn and brains or a boy or girl cannot be either.This is due to publisher Ladybird plan to make all its titles  gender-neutral.Confused i like boys and girls to make own choices and if not careful in future all kids will be clones of each other its already started.