Silberston , Dorothy , 1921-2006 , mental health worker The National Schizophrenia Fellowship x Rethink

Silberston , Dorothy , 1921-2006 , mental health worker The National Schizophrenia Fellowship x Rethink

In 1965 Dorothy Silberston convened the first meeting of the Relatives of Mentally Ill Patients in Cambridge. Up until 1972 she was secretary of this organisation whose members aims were to learn more about mental illness, support each other and to campaign for health service improvements. Her involvement originated from personal experiences, her daughter Catherine having been diagnosed and hospitalized with schizophrenia in 1961. Dorothy was one of the 400 people who contacted John Pringle after reading his article, 'A Case of Schizophrenia', in The Times, May 1970. She went on to become one of the founder members of the National Schizophrenia Fellowship. During the 1970s she contributed to the NSF publication Living with Schizophrenia by the Relatives and helped draft NSF comments on the DHSS Review of the Mental Health Act 1959 and their memorandum to the Royal Commission on the NHS (1977).

Between 1982 and 1997 she was member and later chair of the NSF Medico-legal Committee and Honorary Parliamentary Officer and did significant work on the Mental Health (Amendment) Bill introduced in 1981 by Lord Mottistone. Between 1982 and 1995 she held positions as an elected NSF Council member, co-opted Council member and Vice Chairman. From 1996 to 2001 Dorothy Silberston was Honorary Vice-President of the NSF. She resigned from the Fellowship after it changed its name to Rethink.

Dorothy Silberston was very active in local politics and the community. In 1960-1961 she helped establish the Cambridge Association for the Advancement of State Education and from 1969-1973 she served as a Cambridge County Councillor (Labour). She was awared the MBE for her work in connection with the NSF.

From 1973-1980 Dorothy Silberston held the post of Keeper of Nuffield Place, former home of William Morris, Lord Nuffield. In her latter years she continued her involvement with the house (designed by Oswald Partridge Milne in 1914), its history, and survival as a place of historical interest open to the public. She died in 2006.

The National Schizophrenia Fellowship, a registered charity, was founded by journalist John Pringle in 1972 with the aim of acting as the national organisation for all matters concerning people with experience of schizophrenia and related conditions, their families, carers and dependants. Its origins dated back to the public response to an open letter by Pringle to the Times in May 1970 in which he described his own experience of dealing with schizophrenia in a family member. The letter, as well as describing the huge difficulties faced by carers, highlighted problems caused by the closure of large hospitals and lack of adequate community services.

The NSF National Office was based at Kingston upon Thames. It was supplemented by regional offices and Regional Committees, Project Commiteees and a network over 150 local groups. The Groups were run by volunteer co-ordinators, mostly relatives caring for an individual suffering from schizophrenia. Local groups met regularly and organised a range of activities to inform local people, provide support, influence local professionals and liaise with other agencies. The NSF was financed by charitable grants and donations, fund-raising, Local and Health Authority contracts, legacies and members' subscriptions, with about 5% of total income received directly from central government.

By the early 1990s the NSF had over 6000 members, ran over 150 regional projects in the housing, employment and day care fields all over the country. An Advice and Advocacy Service was also provided, answering thousands of queries each year on all apsects of the care and treatment of severe mental illness as well as welfare benefits, carers' problems, accommodation, holidays and other related issues.

The NSF campaigned vigorously for the rate of mental hospital closures to be slowed to allow for the proper development of community facilities for mentally ill people, and for more trained social workers and community psychiatric nurses as well as small domestic style units for those unable to cope outside hospital.

National conferences were held regularly as part of a national and regional programme of training to raise awareness of mental illness. Courses were run for social workers, psychiatrists, GPs, police, and the probation service. The NSF changed its name to Rethink in July 2002. At this point the organisation altered its focus to encompass all severe mental illnesses. Rethink currently have a membership of over 8300. The Head office is in Finsbury Square, London.