What is the European convention on human rights? Do we really need it? What’s the big deal anyway? The convention has come under attack in recent years. Opposers see the ECHR and the UK’s Human Rights Act as preventing them from ‘dealing with’ those who are different. For example they think that it gives citizens from other cultures, races and religions equality under the law – and they’re absolutely right, it does. That’s one of the things that the convention was designed to do shortly after the end of the second world war. In fact, when exploring the purpose of the ECHR and the way that it affects us today it’s almost impossible to avoid considering the atrocities of the Holocaust, the pressure of the jackboot on occupied Europe, the treatment of disabled people or those from ‘non Aryan’ races and the political violence of Nazism. Many UK citizens oppose the ECHR without ever realising just what they are arguing against. The European convention was and still is a direct response…

Latest episode of Stuart Sorensen

This is the third part of a lengthy keynote speech I gave to a group of care providers at their conference in Walsall, UK. The remit was to fill 1hr and 45 minutes with a single break which was quite a big ask. Fortunately I'm always most at home interacting with my audiences which was definitely a big hel…

This is the second part of a lengthy keynote speech I gave to a group of care providers at their conference in Walsall, UK. The remit was to fill 1hr and 45 minutes with a single break which was quite a big ask. Fortunately I'm always most at home interacting with my audiences which was definitely a big help…

This is the first part of a lengthy keynote speech I gave to a group of care providers at their conference in Walsall, UK. The remit was to fill 1hr and 45 minutes with a single break which was quite a big ask. Fortunately I'm always most at home interacting with my audiences which was definitely a big help.…

Hatred isn't just damaging to the target of hatred - it's a real threat to the mental health of the hater as well.

Stuart Sorensen, mental health nurse and trainer explores the relationship between environment, anxiety and mental disorder in general. View the video version on my Youtube channel here... https://youtu.be/Bw2znzIJKrY

Stoicism is brilliant! We like to think we’re all ‘ever so advanced’ in the 21st century but the ancients weren’t exactly stupid either. Well over 2,000 years ago Stoic philosophers began laying the foundations for good mental health and the principles they established are still in use today. This stuff won’t cure serious mental illness but as a strategy for mental health promotion it’s a damn good starting place! Click the link below to leave a comment on my blog or to access and comment on the video version click the Youtube link from there to my Youtube account. https://mindthecaretraining.com/2017/07/08/stoic-rules-for-mental-health/…

I've been a qualified mental health nurse since 1995. Throughout the intervening years I've always tried to face the ethical and conceptual challenges of my work head on. That hasn't always been comfortable and from time to time it's seen me at odds with some of my colleagues which is never a nice situation to be in. There's a lot wrong with modern psychiatric practice and we have an awful lot to learn (it is only 2018 after all) but there's a lot right too. Here I explore the notion that personality type is nothing to do with psychiatry at all and contrast it with the practice of psychiatry itself. We have come a long way since the Victorian and Edwardian 'asylums' but that doesn't mean we should get complacant. That doesn't mean we should throw the baby out with the bathwater. I'd be interested to know your thoughts on the issue. Please leave me a comment on the blog or follow the links from there to my Youtube channel to comment on the video version instead. https://mindthecaretrain…

Hello and welcome to my podcast. Here you will find a mish mash of things that capture my interest. Sometimes the entries here will be ripped from my youtube channel and sometimes they wll be created specifically for this project. In this first episode I hope to let you know a little about me, my roots and the traditions of my culture - a culture that has been hijacked in the last few years by far right racists and xenophobes who pretend to speak for us.…