Adults with mental health problems in Wales are given a new voice

Care Forum Wales has created a new group, where service providers for vulnerable young adults with complex mental needs, will be supported and given a unified voice in Wales.

The aim of the group is to drive up standards of care providers who protect the needs of adults between the ages of 18 and 65. The Special Interests Group has been set up by Care Forum Wales, the main representative body of the social care sector for Wales.

Care Forum Wales has already created bodies dedicated to helping sectors for those under 18 and over 65. The new Special Interests Group will allow care providers to share ideas and present their views to the Welsh Assembly Government.

Michelle Martin, a psychiatric nurse from Wales, is a primary mover for this group whose company runs five specialist care homes in South Wales, providing specialist residential and community support for those with mental health, drugs and alcohol problems, offending behaviour, personality disorders, complex needs and learning disabilities.

Ms Martin and Debra Seldon run M and D Care Ltd and have created homes, which treat vulnerable adults with respect and dignity.

Ms Martin said "My career has always been about moving away from very large institutions and out into the community. When I started we had wards of 40 or more patients who did not even have their own clothes, they had what we called stock clothing. I had a passion to make a difference; I wanted to see people treated with respect and dignity, which was impossible in such circumstances even though there were a lot of good people working in the sector.”

She feels there is no one in authority communicating with organisations like hers on how services can be improved for vulnerable people aged 18-65. She specialises in the dual diagnosis fields of mental health, learning disability, substance misuse and forensic care.

Care Forum Wales policy officer, Melanie Minty, believes the creation of the Special Interests Group is an important development. She said: "Care Forum Wales is an umbrella body and the creation of the group for adults with complex mental health needs means we have all the specialisms covered.

"Most of the focus of society seems to be on children or the elderly, yet it is an area of increasing impact through drugs and alcohol misuse.”

Ms Martin added: “I have to say Care Forum Wales have been very supportive about how we can set this up.” She hopes to be able to work with the NHS and other care providers to improve services across Wales. “We have to be realistic and not naïve, thinking we can make everybody well. But there needs to be joined up thinking about how the sector can truly help and break down some of the rivalry we have with each other to survive in business.”

Anyone interested in finding out more about the group can contact policy adviser Melanie Minty at Care Forum Wales by emailing her at melanie@careforumwales.co.uk