Openmind closure fear

By Sunil Peck

Survivors of the mental health system say that the demise of a magazine published by the charity Mind would represent a big loss to the mental health movement.

Openmind was first published in 1982 and has been read and contributed to by survivors and service users, psychiatrists and professionals in the field of mental health.

Andrew Roberts, secretary of the Survivor History Group, says that the magazine has played a crucial role in the movement by championing the voices of survivors and service users.

"When Openmind came into being, Mind was very much a professionals' organisation. In its early years, Openmind began to reflect and give more respect to users' views. Users began to get a platform in the magazine, on their own terms and writing in their own language."

One survivor, Peter Beresford, who has had articles published in Openmind and is a regular contributor to Disability Now, agrees with Andrew Roberts.

"Openmind has been somewhere for discussions based on a social rather than a medical approach around issues like responses to distress, people's lives and their accounts of them, living a better life, benefits, alternative therapies, violence and homicide."

As an example of other topics covered by Openmind, the November December 2008 edition contains twenty eight pages with pieces on the impact of the Mental Health Act, mental health care and the internet, the Survivor History Group, a first person account of psychosis, homicide by mental health patients, unusual beliefs as well as opinion pieces on welfare reform and sensationalised media reporting of mental health issues.

At its peak, the magazine had around 4,000 subscribers. But subscriptions have been declining and are closer to 2,500 now.

In a document dated January 13 2010 to Openmind contributors, the executive editor and editor said that Openmind would be replaced by a membership magazine as part of a strategy to strengthen communication between Mind and its members.

Alison Faulkner, a subscriber and survivor researcher, has written for the magazine, including a piece on different perspectives of disclosure. She says that she would be sad to see the demise of Openmind because it's style and content are more accessible to survivors and service users than other mental health magazines which are often aimed squarely at professionals.

"It's always very lively and has a mix of topical issues and people's experiences. I get the membership magazine for Rethink but I hardly read it and just put it straight into the recycling bin. Openmind has much more of an independent voice."

Vicky Nicholls, a survivor who has written articles for Openmind on spirituality and mental health and user-led research, has read Openmind since the early 1990s, and has written to the chief executive of Mind, Paul Farmer, to express her dismay about the future of Openmind.

She said: "What Openmind has had that's unique is that it's been grassroots up and profit-making has never been part of it's ethos. So for a lot of people who wouldn't even feel that they could start to approach a different publication where there might be barriers to having articles published like peer review, that's not been an issue with Openmind, and because of its ethos it's been able to include radical perspectives that you wouldn't necessarily see in other print publications."

The contributors and readers Disability Now has spoken to about Openmind appreciate the cost of producing a glossy high quality magazine. But they are still frustrated that they have not been consulted by Mind.

Openmind reader Peter Barham, a psychologist, says that other magazines dealing with mental health do not publish high quality and accessible articles and do not reach such a diverse audience.

"I feel that there hasn't been enough discussion about this. I've been a member of Mind for more years than I care to remember and I feel that more could have been done to promote it and increase the subscription base."

Speaking to Disability Now, the chief executive of Mind, Paul Farmer, said that he was not sure when the final edition of Openmind would be. But that the last edition in its current format would be in spring.

He said that Mind was looking at a range of options for Openmind's replacement with a view to making sure that Mind communicated clearly with users and survivors.

But he said that no decision had been made about whether Openmind would be replaced by a members only magazine.

He also refused to rule out retaining Openmind in its current form and added: "The financial situation was a factor but that's not the only factor. We know that we're operating in a multi media world and people want to be able to access information and opinion in a whole variety of different ways. We also want to ensure that some of the really high quality work that has been done in Openmind is also available to more audiences."

He said that an announcement about the future of the charity's newsletters and magazines, including Openmind, would be made in a few weeks.

* For more on the Survivor History Group, visit http://studymore.org.uk/mpu.htm