This is an extract from the Summer 2014 newsletter of Being Alongside:
It is a great honour to be appointed Chairman of any organisation , let alone one so inspiring as Being Alongside / APCMH. For those of you who have never heard of me I was born in 1954 , brought up in the Cotswolds , educated at Eton and Christ Church , Oxford. Such a gilded youth was squandered by a predeliction for marijuana which led to several psychotic episodes involving stays at The Priory and Springfield – whilst my peers were prospering I was running an organic bakery , then a drop-in centre for Hammersmith & Fulham MIND and latterly mini-cabbing.
An avid reader at an early age
I first came across the wonderful work of APCMH in Autumn 1995 , meeting Jeremy Boutwood , Pam Freeman and John Vallatt at a Guild of Health seminar. Jeremy lent me his copy of Jean Vanier’s The Broken Body . May I quote from my thank-you letter to him at that time …
‘ It beats me how so very few people within the Church really want to know … APCMH should be a vast concern with a cast of thousands ! There is so much emotional / spiritual distress in our world that committed Christians could address … If the Church fails you – God help you ; which fortunately He does ! ‘
Although never successful as a businessman I have managed to walk hundreds of miles across the United Kingdom , have journeyed overland from the top to the bottom of the Americas , from London to Nepal and back through Iran and Afghanistan . As a result I now speak four languages passably plus a smattering of many others.
At Glastonbury, having walked from Winchester via Salisbury
Whatever you do in life do it to the best of your ability . I shall endeavour to live up to that maxim as your new Chairman.
Jamie Summers Incoming Chair
All my sisters and cousins after my christening at Bourton-on-the-Hill, Gloucestershire
Are these girls immediate siblings or 1st cousins or 2nd cousins ?
Hello Robert,
These girls are my sisters Anne, Carole and Katherine (Kitten), full cousins Jennifer and Clarissa Hammond-Maude and I suppose half-cousins (different grandfather) Sarah and Tessa Smyly.
Jamie
Thanks for your Christmas card. Just wondering whether or not you still have your email account which starts ajpsummers? I sent you a festive e-card, did you receive it? Best wishes. Mark & Michael.
Hello Mark,
Yes indeed, my email address is ajpsummers@gmail.com.
Apologies for this late response,
Jamie
Good on you for sharing. I too have been in The Priory and Springfield as a result of psychosis and anorexia. More recently my physical health failed me. I am writing my memoirs and trying to get my successful fundraising career back on track. I have discovered that the mental health services in the UK are woefully inadequate and staffed by people with no imagination and narrow horizons.
Dear Charlotte,
Thanks to you too for sharing. I couldn’t agree with you more – services remain lamentable.
Let’s keep hammering away at at the system.
All the best for your memoirs and getting back into your career,
Jamie
There seems within NHS f mental health over-reliance on medication or chemicals. Not enough use of counselling is made . A lot of NHS resources are thus wasted .
Schools & businesses do not invest enough in mental welfare let alone people .
One is not forced, unless one is placed under some Mental Health Act Section or two something that shouldf be used as a last resort & less of a first resort .
There seems within NHS f mental health over-reliance on medication or chemicals. Not enough use of counselling is made . A lot of NHS resources are thus wasted .
Schools & businesses do not invest enough in mental welfare let alone people .
One is not forced, unless one is placed under some Mental Health Act Section or two something that should be used as a last resort & less of a first resort .