West Yorkshire Police are a Mindful Employer
<a class="break-all" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:4YPwhuQU1a0J:www.westyorkshire.police.uk/about-us/inclusion-and-equality/inclusion-and-equality/external-partnerships-and-support-organisations+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&client=safari" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:4YPwhuQU1a0J:www.westyorkshire.police.uk/about-us/inclusion-and-equality/inclusion-and-equality/external-partnerships-and-support-organisations+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&client=safari
The Mindful Employer organisation is an organisation of extreme concern to me.
According to their website:
"MINDFUL EMPLOYER® is a NHS initiative run by Workways, a service of Devon Partnership NHS Trust. Workways supports people with a mental health condition to find or remain in employment. MINDFUL EMPLOYER was developed by employers in Exeter and launched in 2004. Initially intended as a purely local initiative, it has since developed throughout the UK and has been launched abroad. MINDFUL EMPLOYER has been recommended as good practice by the UK government and other national organisations.
MINDFUL EMPLOYER is a Registered Trade Mark of Devon Partnership NHS Trust and the logo can only be used by Charter signatories and Partnership Organisations (see below). If you have any concerns please read our comments and complaints procedure or contact us to discuss."
<a class="break-all" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190426105131/www.mindfulemployer.net/about/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">web.archive.org/web/20190426105131/www.mindfulemployer.net/about/
Devon Partnership NHS Trust (DPT) is of extreme concern to me on a number of levels. The reviews of the trust from patients and from employees, easily found via google, speak volumes about the appalling state of affairs at the Trust.
One part of the DPT that concerns me to a significant degree is Workways, the part of the trust that runs Mindful Employer.
according to its website:
"Workways is a service of Devon Partnership NHS Trust . The staff team comprises of Employment Specialists who come from a variety of backgrounds and who bring a mixture of experience and expertise, and administration staff who provide support for the service.
Workways uses the evidence-based Individual Placement & Support (IPS) approach and is a Centre for Mental Health Centre of Excellence for IPS. This means our service is open to people who want to work and is focussed on what each person wants to do. We help people who have a recovery coordinator to look for work, offering signposting to benefits advice and also work closely with other healthcare professionals and employment advisors. We also provide support for people who are employed and have talked to their GP about their mental health to remain in their job and work with their employer as appropriate. In all cases, we offer as much or as little support as is needed for as long or a short a time as necessary. We also run a Support Forum for people who use Workways to provide mutual support and help develop our service.
We are based on the outskirts of Exeter at New Leaf, which is part of Vocational Rehabilitation Services and offers a supported work environment to aid progress towards or in retaining employment. We are also actively involved in the Devon Recovery Learning Community which provides a range of courses.
We also run a UK-wide initiative, MINDFUL EMPLOYER® which offers easier access to information and support for employers in recruiting and retaining staff who experience mental ill health. "
<a class="break-all" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180723173327/www.workways.org.uk/index.php/about-us/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">web.archive.org/web/20180723173327/www.workways.org.uk/index.php/about-us/
The Devon Recovery Learning Community is of significant concern to me and should be of concern to anyone interested in the abuse of vulnerable populations by cults and predators.
For example, here is a cache of a PDF file of a leaflet detailing the courses available to vulnerable people with ongoing mental health problems in Devon
<a class="break-all" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190606134958/devonrlc.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/DRLC-Autumn-Winter-2018-Web.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">web.archive.org/web/20190606134958/devonrlc.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/DRLC-Autumn-Winter-2018-Web.pdf
scroll down to page 36 and you will see Yoga for Recovery and Wellbeing, which, according to the text is something called Transformation Hatha Yoga offered by a Mr Paul Beard.
Mr Beard's website is here
<a class="break-all" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180823032546/www.sherpa-epp.co.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">web.archive.org/web/20180823032546/www.sherpa-epp.co.uk/
Beard's qualifications to teach yoga and meditation are thus:
"Paul Beard (Dip. THY&R [Transformation Hatha Yoga], Dip P. Couns.Coach & OPRC Registered Teacher of Pure Meditation Foundation) is a qualified Yoga instructor, Mindfulness & Meditation Teacher and Coach.
Since 2001, Paul has been training and teaching individuals and groups in self-development, well-being and stress management practices.
Paul is also an Approved Foster Carer"
source:webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:tmO0fUhJwoQJ:www.learndevon.co.uk/course-details/course/WL8220/+&cd=13&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&client=safari
The following page on his websites fascinating as it shows where he trained in yoga and meditation and that he is a devotee of a guru, a certain Mata Yoganadaji, who owns the Self-Realisation Centre in Somerset and various other branches of the same spiritual movement internationally.
<a class="break-all" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180816135643/www.sherpa-epp.co.uk/yoga/the-enlightened-source-of-the-sherpa-training/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">web.archive.org/web/20180816135643/www.sherpa-epp.co.uk/yoga/the-enlightened-source-of-the-sherpa-training/
In fact Transformation Hatha Yoga and Pure Meditation are taught exclusively by Self-Realization Centres owned and run by Mr Beard's guru Mata Yoganadaji.
Mata Yoganadaji (aka Mata Yogananda - real name Rena Denton) is a multi-millionaire who has amassed a significant international property portfolio by encouraging her followers to donate all their worldly possessions to her spiritual movement.
source:
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8290374/Gurus-multi-million-pound-spiritual-property-empire.html
also see
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8283649/RAF-officer-who-lost-faith-in-his-guru.html
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/5778549/Doctor-sues-former-guru-after-giving-away-all-his-possessions.html
So it seems that the Devon Recovery Learning Community (an organisation with significant links to Mindful Employer via WorkWays) feels it appropriate to refer some of the most vulnerable people in the community to yoga classes run by Paul Beard.
Paul Beard's training in yoga and meditation is via a controversial spiritual movement with form for persuading highly educated people including a doctor and former military intelligence officer hand over all all their possessions and assets.
There is so much more to tell about Mindful Employer, Devon Partnership NHS Trust, and WorkWays and don't even get me started on the Devon Recovery Learning Community. I could be here for days if I get started.
This will do for now.