Sally Berry obituary

My friend and former colleague, Sally Berry, was a psychotherapist who spent many years engaged in two pioneering projects in London – at the Arbours Association, where she lived and worked with people with emotional difficulties, and at the Women’s Therapy Centre, where she provided counselling to women experiencing struggles in their personal lives.Sally, who has died aged 85, began living and working at the Arbours Association in one of their homes in Crouch End, north London, in 1971, and eventually headed up one of the Arbours houses elsewhere in London while also serving as chair of its training committee, which oversaw the mentoring of therapists and residents alike.In 1976 she also joined the Women’s Therapy Centre, where I was a co-founder with Luise Eichenbaum, as a one-day-a-week psychotherapist, juggling that role with her continued presence at the Arbours community and becoming the centre’s part-time clinical director in the late 1980s. The Women’s Therapy Centre closed in 2005 and she retired from the Arbours Association in 2018, after which she ran her own small private practice until 2021.Born in Oklahoma City in the US, Sally was the daughter of Alma (nee Payne) and Max Berry, a broker for a grocery store

I help people with psychosis off the streets. Sometimes, their minds won’t let them leave

The apartment came up on the city’s alert system: a studio on a leafy street, one block from Prospect Park in Brooklyn.The location is extremely desirable – it would be a score for any single person hunting for their first New York rental, let alone someone who had spent years in the shelter system.But Diane, my client, rejects it outright.“As I’ve told you,” she says, “the prophecy apartment is on 40th and Amsterdam.”I remind her again that the intersection of 40th Street and Amsterdam Avenue does not exist in New York City

Tell us: how is the meningitis outbreak in Canterbury being handled?

A meningitis outbreak in Kent has been linked to a strain that most young people are not routinely vaccinated against, with two people confirmed to have died and 11 more in hospital. Health officials have offered antibiotics to those at risk, as authorities work to contain the spread.We want to hear from people living in Canterbury and the surrounding area whether the outbreak is being well managed by the authorities.How is it affecting you and your community? How has the response from the university, schools and health authorities been handled? How are people around you feeling, and what support is available? Have you or someone you know been affected?You can share your responses with us in the form below or by messaging us. We will contact you first before we use your submission

Women feel coerced during maternity care in England, charity says

Women feel put under pressure to have medical procedures such as caesareans during their maternity care, according to a report.The charity Birthrights collated the experiences of 300 people in England who said they had felt or witnessed coercion within a maternity setting.It said caregivers used authoritative language that undermined the idea of women being able to make informed decisions regarding their maternity care.Experiences shared in the report include healthcare professionals telling women they must accept a vaginal examination or they will not be able to be admitted to the birth centre, and women feel put under pressure to accept an induction without it being explained why it was necessary.One woman recounted feeling forced into have a caesarean without having the reasons why it was necessary explained

Cannabis is not an effective treatment for common mental health conditions, says review

Cannabis is not an effective treatment for common mental health conditions despite the global surge in patients using it for that purpose, a review has found.Researchers concluded there was “very little evidence for its efficacy” in treating anxiety, anorexia nervosa, psychotic disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder or opioid use disorder.Experts from universities in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne in Australia and Bath in England undertook the largest and most comprehensive analysis to date of the evidence for using cannabinoids – cannabis-based therapies – to treat substance misuse and mental health disorders.Their review was prompted by the legalisation of cannabis as a treatment for both types of condition by countries including the US, the UK, Australia and Canada.Evidence from clinics that dispense cannabis for medical purposes say mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression are the main reasons cited by patients, followed by chronic pain, with some suffering from both

‘The videos are terrifying’: students describe spreading panic amid Kent meningitis outbreak

On Monday morning, nine days after a night out at Club Chemistry, a nightclub in Canterbury, Joe Bradshaw realised he had been linked to the meningitis outbreak in Kent that has killed two people, a university student and a sixth-former.He ran through the week in his mind, beginning to worry about those he had been in contact with.“I’m less concerned about my own health than spreading [the infection] to other vulnerable people,” he said. “My mum’s just come out of surgery so her immune system is relatively suppressed.”Bradshaw, 23, is one of the many young people in Canterbury shocked by news of the outbreak