The Consultation & Advocacy Promotion Service

What We Believe

CAPS believes that there should be an end to large psychiatric institutions which do not care for the needs of the individual, and welcomes the move towards smaller units. Following from this, we support the principle of people receiving care and treatment in the communities where they live, but know that it has been vastly under-resourced.

We acknowledge the need for respite and asylum, but believe that this could often be provided more effectively by 24-hour crisis services, including crisis centres, than by hospitals.

While we recognise that there is still a role for drugs, hospitals, ECT, and involuntary admissions and treatment, we believe that these are too often used simply as convenient ways of dealing with cases rather than considering the best way forward for the individual.

If someone has been in hospital, then it should be the duty of the people responsible for the care and treatment of that person to make sure that any problems the individual has with their housing, support needs and benefits are dealt with before they can be discharged.

We believe that there should be a place in the care and treatment of mental health difficulties for alternatives to drugs, and that there should be free access on demand to counselling, other forms of therapy, complementary medicine and meaningful and attractive day activities.

Further we believe that wherever possible the individual should be involved in deciding on the form of care and treatment or services they receive. If this is to happen then everyone should have the right to access individual or collective advocacy at any time.

We believe that the problems faced by those with mental health difficulties living in the community are made worse by stigma and discrimination, caused by ignorance and the unjustified fears of those around them. As with other forms of discrimination, the way to counter this is by education and understanding.

Priorities

People with mental health difficulties should have the right to:

  • decent housing with as much or as little support as they need, support which should attach to the individual and not to the place they live;
  • meaningful employment suited to their abilities, and for a decent wage;
  • where, because of health problems, it is not possible for the individual to work, then they should have access to disability benefits;
  • access to the information necessary for them to make decisions about their lives in partnership with service providers;
  • above all people should have the right to be listened to, and they must have access to independent individual and collective advocacy.