The meeting on the 15^th October was held in a different venue – in the upstairs room at The Plough, on Museum Street.

Positive feedback was given by people who attended conferences organised by Outcry and by Rethink.

• There is going to be a demonstration by the Health & Community Issues Party on 28^th October, 12 – 3pm, at the Department of Health on Richmond Terrace – "Stop the NHS cover ups".

• The Survivors Speak Out AGM on 22^nd November, 1pm, at the Diorama Centre, Great Portland Street.
• 21^st November – an event organised by Maca, featuring Richard Bentall. If you are interested in attending, contact Maca.
• Some time in December there is to be a talk at the British Institute of Human Rights on mental health and human rights – more details will be available at a later date.
• On January 28^th there is a conference in Coventry called "Critical appraisal of genetic theories in psychology and psychiatry", with Mary Boyle, Richard Bentall & Jay Joseph.

• Group ground rules were circulated for discussion, and were agreed with. It was suggested that we add to these the rule that alcohol should not be consumed during the meetings. This was voted on by those attending, and has now been added to the ground rules.
• Following on from last month’s discussion about the pernicious influence of the pharmaceutical industry, a draft letter was circulated that people can adapt to send to their MP. If people individualise the letter to make it more personal, this is more effective. It was suggested that we involve MIND, asking them to circulate the letter as part of a campaign.
• There was a discussion about venues for the CMHF meetings. The room at the Plough was smaller than the YMCA room, but had better acoustics. It was acknowledged that holding the meetings in a pub may make some people less likely to attend. The next meeting will be in the Plough, but several people are going to look into possible alternatives in central London.

Alison Faulkner, a freelance mental health researcher, talked about crisis services and the evaluation that has been carried out on these projects.

Speaker: Jim Read will be talking about drug free mental health.