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This paper reflects on the experience of an integrated multi‐disciplinary team over three years. We argue that initial anxieties about dilution of professional identity have not been realised in practice, partly because they were over‐stated in the first place, partly because of good planning and partly because the benefits of integrated working are so evident to professional staff that their confidence in their contribution is enhanced. We also suggest that new roles can make a substantial contribution to integrated working. The evidence for these conclusions is mainly the views of the staff involved. The article concludes with two individual case studies which highlight improved user outcomes.

Rates of co-morbid substance misuse are high within forensic populations. Addressing these problems should be a priority as mental disorder with co-morbid substance misuse is associated with worse outcomes, including rates of re-offending and violence recidivism. A study undertaken in 2006 by the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Research and Training Unit concluded that the provision of substance misuse treatments in medium-secure units (MSUs) at that time was inadequate. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how services may have developed since then to inform discussion over future development and best practice.

A postal survey, supported by the Quality Network for Forensic Mental Health Services, was sent to 62 MSUs across the UK and Ireland. This questioned prevalence, interventions and staff training in substance misuse.

In total, 41 units responded (66 per cent). The data suggest rates of substance misuse within MSUs have reduced and provision of treatment has increased in recent years. The majority of MSUs provide a variety of interventions to address substance misuse and are internally resourced, in tune with current national guidance. However, the data suggest many MSU staff are not receiving adequate training in substance misuse treatments and some MSUs do not appear to have a cohesive strategy that would be consistent with best practice.

This study provides an up-to-date overview of the provision of treatment for substance misuse within MSUs.

There is no other source for this information, which will provide an invaluable reference point for services seeking to develop or improve their clinical services.

Discourses on ageing and childlessness coalesce around the notion that childless women will experience regret and loneliness in old age. In the United Kingdom, the idea that children (mostly women) will provide care in old age tends to be normalised and underpins social care provision. In recent times, media coverage of childless women has also tended to sustain and promote this. This discourse occurs within a context where childlessness is on the rise and where there is little academic interest in the topic.

Our chapter will report on a constructivist grounded theory study with women who choose not to have children. A key aim of the study was to explore the consequences of participants’ choices on their lives. Twenty-one women aged between 45 and 75, from across England, Scotland and Wales participated. The age criteria were chosen to reflect the category that is used by the Office of National Statistics to denote that women’s reproduction ends at 45. This also helps to construct a social norm that women aged 45 and over are seen as older women. Findings reveal that most participants experience no regrets following their choice not to have children. Some express ‘half regrets’ while all challenge the societal expectation that without children there will be no one to care for them when they are older.

This supports the limited, mainly autobiographical literature, on loss and regret. It also refutes the unquestioned and widely believed assumption that women who choose not have children will live to regret it. For participants, the choice for motherhood was but one choice from a menu of many others. Their choice was for something more meaningful for them rather than a choice against motherhood. Consequently, participants had no reason to experience loss or regret. These findings also question the discourse, which implies that children will ensure care in older age. It presents a challenge to the myth that the family is a haven of happiness and support in an ever-changing world. Crucially, it supports calls for more inclusive policy making to address the care needs of all older people.

The purpose of this paper is to present a systematic literature review of empirical studies into online platforms for political participation. The objective was to diagnose the relationship between different types of digital participatory platforms, the real possibilities of participation generated by those initiatives and the impact of such participation on the decision-making process of governmental representatives.

A systematic literature review was conducted using pre-defined terms, expressions and criteria. A total of 434 articles from 1995 to 2015 were gathered from the Web of Science database. And, 32 studies were selected from those articles for meta-synthesis, and the cases investigated were evaluated according to the e-participation ladder model (Smyth, 2001).

The results indicated that online political participation worldwide remains timid both in quantity and quality. We have witnessed the growth of a kind of “rhetorical participation” promoted by policy-makers and the rise of a “participatory despotism”, in which only the privileged partake, while the majority remains silent.

The solutions found to promote increased participation and ensure its effectiveness ranged from shaping the platform design in accordance with citizens’ capacities and interests to a need for profound political–administrative change, which includes the world’s public agencies adopting a more transparent, inclusive and collaborative approach to decision-making.

This paper proposes a systematic review, mapping the studies on online platforms for political participation, analysing the questions, methods and conclusions found by the authors and evaluating each case study with a participation ladder.

The ideational connections between social democracy and basic income is the theme of this article. Social democracy is not a fixed doctrine, but as a movement it shares some key ideas with the policy of basic income, like solidarity, equal opportunity, freedom and social security. Due to current challenges emerging from waves of digitalisation, globalisation, etc., the support for a universal basic income has taken off, but not among social democratic politicians. The article argues that the social democratic policy of full employment implies an increasingly tough work orientation that is challenging to reconcile with de-commodifying social rights, which has characterized social democratic welfare states. It is further argued that a strict reciprocity-based policy has not proven effective in getting people into work on a permanent basis, and that the current challenges require new policy ideas. Two alternatives are discussed: guaranteed jobs and a basic income. The article argues that the lack of enthusiasm for the last option among social democrats is based on the misconception that a basic income will harm people's motivation to work, their self-respect, the social economy and the principle of justice. The article sheds light on this misconception. In the closing remarks, the proposal for an ‘emergency basic income’ is considered in view of the current global corona crisis.

The purpose of this paper is to describe some of the basic features of attachment theory, and explore how they relate to the development of the “social mind” and the work of therapeutic communities (TC).

The author describes the essentials of attachment theory in humans; and the development of both secure and insecure states of mind. The author will set out how insecure attachment systems are associated with deficits in mentalising processes which are fundamental to the activity of the social mind.

The author suggests how attachment to a TC can promote mentalising processes. The author draws on the work of other speakers in the conclusions about how to “grow” secure minds and societies.

This paper is a brief over view only and does not address attachment process to TC in any depth.

Attachment theory could help both service users and therapists who work in TCs understand some of the difficulties people have in engaging at the start. Attachment theory also gives a guide to what a “good enough” experience in a TC might look like.

There is little existing discussion of the application of attachment theory to TCs.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how public policies may influence the way members of virtual communities linked with social movements perceive the legitimacy of their leaders and governance structures.

This paper is based on qualitative research (in‐depth interviews) with three Brazilian environmental education virtual communities. It adopts an interpretive approach, grounding the analysis in institutional theory.

The paper shows that a public policy of funding the studied communities has reinforced the legitimacy of some leaders and legitimated more centralised decision‐making structures. The influence of the funding has endured even after the end of the respective contracts.

Although the paper is limited to three virtual communities in a very specific context, its conclusions may inform other studies on the institutional instruments (sanctions mechanisms) governments may appropriate to influence the virtual interactions among members of social movements and civil society organisations and which impact their offline interactions as well.

The paper calls attention to the need to discuss public policies with stakeholders, especially to permit social movements and civil society organisations to have a say in policies that may affect their social structures.

The paper contributes to understanding how public policies impact interactions in virtual environments and in a broader sense, and the relevance of considering the influence of institutions in online interactions.