The post-legal age for experts

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So he we are; 3 years ago I was so busy doing family court reports I could not stop to think. Now I do hardly any. Quite a lot of enquiries; quite a lot of ‘beauty parades’. Some litigants in person, some private law work but the public law stuff is down to a trickle…. Read more »

Legal Aid Cuts and Family Experts

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From the point of view of an expert, the legal aid cuts are affecting us in a number of different ways.  Firstly 10% of the Consortium of Expert Witnesses to the Family Courts have closed down their offices already.  Secondly we can expect a significant number of experienced experts to cease work over the next… Read more »

Are schizophrenics dangerous?

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The short answer is that the vast majority of people who suffer from schizophrenia pose absolutely no danger to anyone.  However, as we all know from reading the papers, the very few who do harm people get huge amounts of publicity.  So why do people with schizophrenia sometimes harm others (or indeed themselves)?  Very often… Read more »

Treatment Service

Allen Associates has been around since 1992 in one form or another. But did you know that we have a ‘sister’ treatment service? Formed in 2009, Phoenix Mental Health Services, www.phoenix-mhs.com operates out of the same premises and has over 20 practitioners across the entire field of mental health. As well as traditional outpatient psychiatric… Read more »

Stress – what can I do about it?

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One person’s stress is another person’s reason for getting up in the morning.  In other words stress is a very personal thing.  Some people we know seem to thrive on tight deadlines, last minute meetings and the like yet that same person might find a visit to their mother-in-law terribly stressful.  In order to try… Read more »

Insomnia – does medication help?

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Insomnia means literally not being able to sleep but the term includes a whole range of difficulties associated with sleep. For most people having a bad night’s sleep is not the end of the world but some people seem to ‘need their sleep’ more than others. The body usually adapts to a single bad night… Read more »

St. John’s Wort – Does it work?

St. John’s Wort or Hypericum Perforatum is an herb that has been used for many centuries as a treatment for depression. It is very popular in Germany and in recent years people have done trials looking at whether it actually helps people who are depressed. People who are depressed in the clinical sense are generally… Read more »