tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2743746633913926150.post4933291506229548365..comments2024-03-12T07:00:44.143-04:00Comments on CHILDMYTHS: Attachment Disorders Versus Depraved Hearts: Further Adventures with Unconventional Mental Health PerspectivesJean Mercerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14619393019771381980noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2743746633913926150.post-57699642911511910292015-04-20T09:11:03.145-04:002015-04-20T09:11:03.145-04:00This also told me more about QUNO-- I am thinking ...This also told me more about QUNO-- I am thinking that's a good direction to try because AT/HT are becoming worldwide problems, between what's happening in the U.S. and Canada, problems created by Jirina Prekopova's followers in the Czech Republic and Germany, and the infiltration of U.S. methods into Russia disguised as "modern treatment". Jean Mercerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14619393019771381980noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2743746633913926150.post-69962196907904961872015-04-20T09:04:26.485-04:002015-04-20T09:04:26.485-04:00Thank you for QUNO! I will pursue that.
Yes, ther...Thank you for QUNO! I will pursue that.<br /><br />Yes, there is a UN Convention on the Rights of Children, proposed perhaps 30 years ago. Most or all UN members have ratified it, except for the US and Somalia. The objections in the US are from parents' rights groups and the military, who like to be able to enlist 17-year-olds.<br />Jean Mercerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14619393019771381980noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2743746633913926150.post-6566112232722703642015-04-20T09:01:44.409-04:002015-04-20T09:01:44.409-04:00You are helping by forcing me to define my goals!
...You are helping by forcing me to define my goals!<br /><br />I hadn't thought of the Surgeon General, but only of NIH. I think the SG issues reports and recommendations, but very slowly... although slow is better than not at all. The present one seems to be concentrating on vaccination, and I would certainly agree that that gets top priority.<br /><br />I think my goals right now involve getting APA and NASW to pay attention to AT and related issues and to advise their practitioners not to do these things-- and ideally to make it possible for state licensing boards to revoke licenses of people who did do them. I am thinking about throwing myself on the mercy of Scattergood, to ask what are the best approaches here.<br /><br />A major problem is terminology and the definition of the potentially harmful treatments. Following the death of Candace Newmaker, Holding Therapy morphed into Attachment Therapy (and what could be bad, if you combine two good things?). Now, the organization ATTACh says they do not hold a child unless he or she consents to be held-- although what choice the child has is beyond me. All this means that a regulation using a particular name or definition could be evaded by changing terminology or by minor changes in practice.<br /><br />You mention regulations limiting the purposes of restraint. I agree strongly that those have been important, but really I think that it's even more important to document every incident of restraint and to note the events that preceded and followed it. That opens discussion about what may have triggered the restraint, and what its outcome was.<br /><br />One difficulty currently is that although NIH has regulations about the use of restraint in mental health facilities, DOE is just trying to catch up about its use in schools. The Miracle Meadow School in West Virginia, now apparently closed, managed to escape consequences of restraining kids by arguing that the regulations did not apply to schools. You might be interested in Googling the various claims and lawsuits about this.Jean Mercerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14619393019771381980noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2743746633913926150.post-17993013814510616832015-04-18T11:31:01.793-04:002015-04-18T11:31:01.793-04:00http://www.quakersintheworld.org/quakers-in-action...http://www.quakersintheworld.org/quakers-in-action/165<br /><br />Useful link. Quaker view of child versus Calvinistic view. Current and historical actions taken by Friends regarding the child. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06808555575637215126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2743746633913926150.post-20736184617906287132015-04-18T11:27:42.891-04:002015-04-18T11:27:42.891-04:00Also, did you know that there is an official Quake...Also, did you know that there is an official Quaker office in the United Nations? It is called QUNO. Doesn't the United Nations have some kind of "rights of the child agenda"? Is there some kind of international bill of rights for children that has been proposed? The QUNO works on various projects, and I haven't seen them mention anything regarding children and mental health on their website, but just one more link that I am throwing out there. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to write a letter to the QUNO. Quakers sure love their letter-writing! Also there are Quaker groups that focus on opposing torture, specifically QUIT. This means in the political sense ,but perhaps someone among them would be interested in torture in the guise of parenting and therapy. There is an organization called Quakers in Pastoral Care and Counseling. I don't know much about their activities, appear to be mainly nurturing activities for the members, but that could be a resource for meeting people in the field. There is an agency called "Friends Outside". It was Quaker founded and has Quaker values. The agency works with prisoners and families, and places workers in the prison setting. I know they sometimes offer some kind of parenting classes, so talking with someone in that group about recommended programs or offering the programs for free might be good, that is giving this agency a grant to implement one of the appropriate parenting programs, to train their staff in one of the programs. . That's all I got in my head for now! Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06808555575637215126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2743746633913926150.post-82495165566141567172015-04-18T11:14:13.652-04:002015-04-18T11:14:13.652-04:00I don't know if you saw the publications on th...I don't know if you saw the publications on the Scattergood site, me interesting issues are brought up, concerning adults and children. Such as whether it is ethical to vaccinate against addiction, (don't know if some thing like that is in development, but perhaps so.) A book on children's views of medication. Other issues regarding compulsory treatment. <br /><br />What I am wondering though, what are current goals for you regarding these concerns? My activity has been to alert friends in clinical practice. I am on a break from practice at the moment, but in the past I would often be the only therapist in the setting with extensive child development background and extra training in child therapy modalities. I would then perhaps be the lone "fanatic" regarding the rights of the child and related issues. I knew that this type of "therapy" was "out there" but I didn't know it was being promoted openly. I did become aware of cases where I suspected a child was being subjected to practices that I now know are openly recommended by the AT camp, but I didn't often have enough information to make a report. I also have been aware of certain instances where it came to my attention that restraints were used improperly by individuals and even in by staff in poorly regulated settings (e.g. shelters for the homeless) that were using our mental health services. In the latter cases I advocated for training for staff. Most places I have worked for have required a training in one of two emergency restraint methods, emphasis emergency! Only to prevent harm to patient or others, for absolutely no other reason. Not the destruction of property or to change their attitude or anything! Just for immediate safety. There used to be a group, the Coalition Against Institutionalized Child Abuse, but I am no longer finding their website. Also one of the things that I would always advocate for was developing parenting programs for agencies. I notice that the ACT website links to one in particular that I haven't yet looked into in detail. Something about dinosaurs I think.<br /><br />I hope your latest book is being used as a text in clinical training programs, and one strategy seems to me to be in communication with educators of clinicians in training. Since you are all ready teaching at a University, that's kind of obvious. . . but to be in communication with a network of frontline educators, perhaps. I have all ready alerted people I graduated with. <br /><br />I have some broader ideas that I have kicked around for years. The idea I have is perhaps at the state level and then at the national level, to offer a tax credit for participation in approved parenting classes. This could be highly problematic, first, who approves them? I don't like Big Brother much but I hate child abuse more. I see this as being more of a very basic safety class, designed by pediatricians, NIH or something, perhaps even something online, and that one focus would be to alert the parent to resources for more help. I thought of calling it something like the Informed Parent Tax Credit. I know, I know. . . hugely complicated. Also, just occurred to me, has anyone written a letter to the Surgeon General about these practices? Could the Surgeon General issue a statement of some sort? I am pretty sure the SG issues statements now and again. Anyway that's all I can think of now. But again, I don't know what your goals are at this point. General I know, specific I don't. <br /><br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06808555575637215126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2743746633913926150.post-87388031318514110122015-04-17T13:28:09.823-04:002015-04-17T13:28:09.823-04:00I had a look at the Scattergood site-- Art Caplan,...I had a look at the Scattergood site-- Art Caplan,hmm? Lots of famous and helpful people there. I will try to figure out a good approach to them-- thanks!Jean Mercerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14619393019771381980noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2743746633913926150.post-48986773204876626332015-04-17T11:40:49.507-04:002015-04-17T11:40:49.507-04:00Cool! Maybe we can have an old McDonald's sing...Cool! Maybe we can have an old McDonald's singing competition, I will get my girls going and we can compare notes. Okay so here is the parent organization of Scattergood Ethics, the Scattergood Foundation:<br /><br />http://www.scattergoodfoundation.org/<br /><br />I think you will get along famously with the Scattergood Ethics folks! Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06808555575637215126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2743746633913926150.post-32676450979443313382015-04-17T11:33:54.178-04:002015-04-17T11:33:54.178-04:00http://scattergoodethics.org/
Hi Jean, before ...http://scattergoodethics.org/ <br /><br />Hi Jean, before I forget I wanted to make sure you knew about the work of Scattergood Ethics. This scholarly group offers publications and seminars and is rooted in Quaker values regarding mental healthcare, although no longer an entirely Quaker enterprise, which is probably for the best. There are two organizations, Scattergood Ethics, and Scattergood Foundation. (my penname is actually Laura Scattergood, but it isn't directly related to the foundation. I found out about the foundation after I chose the penname) So, if you haven't visited this website, this organization may be a resource. Hope it is helpful.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06808555575637215126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2743746633913926150.post-61313435240461669752015-04-17T10:36:35.611-04:002015-04-17T10:36:35.611-04:00That's funny about the Quakerly issues! This o...That's funny about the Quakerly issues! This one is certainly not minute, anyway. <br /><br />Actually, I know someone from the Atlantic County NJ meeting who might be amenable.<br /><br />I am going to one set of grandchildren this weekend, the other set next weekend. Naturally they live in opposite directions from where I live, so there's no getting to both in one trip, at least during the school year. My sons seem to have adopted my exhausted parenting principle of just doing what the kids want right away rather than hoping they'll forget about it. Of course, for one set, the present issue is how many times in a row you can sing Old MacDonald.<br /><br />E-I-E-I-O until later.Jean Mercerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14619393019771381980noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2743746633913926150.post-75633704819509004782015-04-17T10:21:00.656-04:002015-04-17T10:21:00.656-04:00This will take some thinking certainly. Let this ...This will take some thinking certainly. Let this sink in a while. I have several ideas about possible actions or activities that I personally would like to initiate, and I don't think we need an official "Meeting" to get going. Friends often create small groups that are not within the official province of the larger Meeting, as Quaker Meetings are notoriously, proddingly slow, for good reason, that sanctioned activities such as perhaps something like an "epistle against torture", (in the political sense) arises from group meditative waiting, and must arise from that collective experience of the Light, and not the "notional" crusades, however worthy, of individuals. (I love your use of the word "notional" and will be sprinkling it in whenever I can!)<br /><br />The odd thing is, I was so happy to discover this website as I was weary of discussing minute Quakerly issues on the Quaker website! Good joke on me! <br /><br />I will frame up some of my suggestions when I get a chance to organize my thoughts some. And also, I will think of some links to groups that are associated with Friends, where there may all ready be some related work being done. (As I mentioned, there can be a Quaker interest group or action group that is not officially connected nor endorsed by the actual Meeting. That's why there exists the possibility of organizing individuals. )<br /><br />I am going to be with my grandchildren for the next week, which is a nice exercise for my theoretical positions as they are at times inclined to test the limits of my compassionate and child-centered yet authoritative grandparenting style! <br /><br /><br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06808555575637215126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2743746633913926150.post-32426530495633749732015-04-17T06:19:41.293-04:002015-04-17T06:19:41.293-04:00You certainly hear Quaker leanings-- I live a blo...You certainly hear Quaker leanings-- I live a block from the Moorestown NJ meetinghouse and my younger son and one of my stepsons went to Friends schools. When confronted with extravagant and frivolous actions, I have been heard to explain why I don't like something: "it isn't quakerly". <br /><br />However, I haven't been able to get any meeting, including the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, to take any interest in attachment therapy. (Same thing goes for the Unitarian-Universalists.) I feel as if some support from the liberal churches and humanist groups would give impetus to the fight against systematic child abuse, but I haven't succeeded in organizing it.<br /><br />Individual Quakers are sympathetic and interested, but it's the group that I can't get moving. Any thoughts? Are you a member of a meeting that might be responsive?<br /><br />Unfortunately, because of charismatic support for AT, the whole thing contains the makings of a fairly ugly culture war. Jean Mercerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14619393019771381980noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2743746633913926150.post-24307689626544749162015-04-16T23:06:38.404-04:002015-04-16T23:06:38.404-04:00Hello, Free Thinker? Clearly you are, , but, Di...Hello, Free Thinker? Clearly you are, , but, Did I hear Quaker? At least Quaker leanings? What do you know! Guess what? Me too. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06808555575637215126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2743746633913926150.post-21506343903161971812013-09-07T11:09:43.533-04:002013-09-07T11:09:43.533-04:00I never saw anything like this either... and I ne...I never saw anything like this either... and I neglected to thank Linda Rosa who found it and forwarded it to me.Jean Mercerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14619393019771381980noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2743746633913926150.post-43301768959366287472013-09-07T11:06:22.582-04:002013-09-07T11:06:22.582-04:00Wow. That is fascinating. I've never seen a r...Wow. That is fascinating. I've never seen a religious critique of "attachment therapy" like this. Though it misses the mark, perhaps it would be a shoehorn into the evangelical communities who have latched onto the Nancy Thomas-style abuse. I'll have to read the source material and ponder. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com