Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 2001, 8, 315–321

Mass media, ‘monsters’ and mental health clients: the need for
increased lobbying
J. R. CUTCLIFFE 1 rmn rgn bsc (hons) ph d & B. HANNIGAN 2 ba(hons) ma pgce rmn rgn dpsn
1
Senior Lecturer in Mental Health Nursing and Practice Development Co-ordinator, University of Ulster, Belfast,
and RCN Institute, Oxford; and 2Lecturer, School of Nursing and Midwifery Studies, University of Wales College
of Medicine, Wales, UK

Correspondence: CUTCLIFFE J.R. & HANNIGAN B. (2001) Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health
J. R. Cutcliffe Nursing 8, 315–321
School of Health Sciences Mass media, ‘monsters’ and mental health clients: the need for increased
University of Ulster lobbying
Cromore Road
Coleraine
A review of the limited empirical and theoretical literature indicates that current mass media
Co. Londonderry
representations of mental health service users appear to emphasize violence, dangerousness
BT52 1SA
and criminality. This is despite the empirical evidence that indicates a decline over the last
UK
40 years in the number of homicides carried out by people identified as suffering from
mental health problems. Such inappropriate representations do much to increase stigma,
ostracism, harassment and victimization of these individuals by the public. Furthermore, it
can be argued that there is another repercussion of these representations and that is the
subsequent government position/policy and the resulting legislation concerning care of
people with mental health problems. Consequently, this paper argues that there is a clear
need for psychiatric/mental health (P/MH) nurses to become more mindful of the wider,
socio-political environment in which their practice occurs, particularly if psycho-social
approaches to practice are adopted in their fullest sense, and as a result increase their politi-
cal lobby. Such increased lobbying should occur on behalf of, and in collaboration with,
service users, and accordingly the authors describe a range of activities under the broad
headings of pro-active and reactive lobbying. Furthermore, it is incumbent upon P/MH
nurse educationalists to prepare aspirant P/MH nurses for this lobbying role and equip
them with the skills necessary to do so.

Keywords: lobbying, macro-context of care, mass media, mental health policy, misrepre-
sentation, repair procedures

Accepted for publication: 12 December 2000

policy has taken on an increasingly coercive appearance.

Introduction
It is rare that a single week elapses without some story, or
reference to, users of mental health services or mental
health issues appearing in the mass media. Moreover, a
substantial body of evidence exists to suggest that mental
health issues are poorly represented in the mass media. At
the same time as acknowledging this, it should be noted
that from the mid-1990s onwards, mental health care
This trend has been witnessed most recently in proposals
from the present United Kingdom (UK) government on the
reform of the English and Welsh Mental Health Act, and
on proposals for the management of dangerous people
with severe personality disorders. The authors of this paper
posit an implicit relationship between these two phenom-
enon, and consequently, argue that such a relationship war-
rants further investigation.

© 2001 Blackwell Science Ltd 315

J. R. Cutcliffe & B. Hannigan
As a result, our aims in this paper are as follows. First
we aim to review key evidence relating to mass media
representation of mental health and illness. Secondly, we
consider the complex relationship between mass media
representations of mental health users and mental health
issues and we then argue that these (mis)representations
not only appear to have direct negative repercussions
for some mental health service users, but additionally,
may have been one important factor in influencing the
development of current mental health policy (and emerg-
ing policy initiatives) and law in the UK.
Having done this, we observe how mental health nursing
practice is (and has been) invariably affected by the politi-
cal and sociological context in which it is delivered. Given
this awareness of the macro-context of P/MH nursing prac-
tice, in the final part of this paper, we make the case for
increased social and political awareness on the part of
P/MH nurses. We then suggest a range of practical strate-
gies or ‘repair procedures’ for challenging negative images
of mental ill-health, and for lobbying towards more
accurate portrayals of mental health issues in the media.
Mass media representations of mental
health clients
In 1993, the Scottish Mental Health Working group, con-
cerned about the extent to which the portrayal of mental
illness in the mass media contributed to the stigma felt by
people with mental health problems, commissioned the
Glasgow University Media Group to undertake a study of
the mass media representations of mental health and
illness. A content analysis of 562 items, which were iden-
tified within the local and national media over the space of
one month, highlighted five main categories of themes.
These were titled: violence to others (62%), harm to self
(13%), sympathetic coverage (18%), criticism of accepted
definitions of mental illness (1%) and ‘comic’ images (2%).
They noted that by far the most common type of coverage
was that which linked mental illness with violence to
others. In the second component of the study, over 40% of
a sample of 70 members of the public reported that they
believed mental illness was associated with violence, and
stated that the media was the source of their beliefs
(Glasgow University Media Group 1993).
A more comprehensive study carried out by the Health
Education Authority (Ward 1997) monitored the national
press coverage of mental health issues throughout 1996.
Articles and press cuttings were collected and analysed in
order to address the four questions: what is the quantity
of mental health coverage, what type of stories received the
most attention, how positively did the coverage communi-
cate a number of key messages about mental health, and
316 © 2001 Blackwell Science Ltd, Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing 8, 315–321
what were the language and assumptions about mental
health and illness used by the press. The key findings of the
study indicated that almost 46% of all press coverage was
about crime, harm to others and self-harm, with 54% of
tabloid coverage devoted to these issues and almost 43%
in the broadsheets. Both broadsheets and tabloids made a
clear link between mental ill health, criminality and vio-
lence, and stories that reported this link were given greater
prominence than more ‘positive’ pieces. The key findings
also indicated that 40% of the tabloid articles and 45% of
the Sunday tabloid articles about mental health contained
stigmatizing words, such as ‘nutter’ or ‘loony’.
Other empirical evidence that suggests a link between
media accounts and public attitudes includes the study by
Appleby & Wessely (1988). In this paper, the authors were
guided by two questions: does media reporting strengthen
the public’s tendency to link violence and mental illness,
and, if so, does this attitude make the mentally ill less
accepted in the community? Nine hundred and sixty-five
members of the public said whether they either agreed or
disagreed with a series of statements, including the state-
ments that ‘mentally ill people are likely to be violent’, and
‘people who commit horrific crimes, such as the murder of
children or old people, are likely to be mentally ill’. Three
months after this first round of surveying, Michael Ryan
killed 15 people in Hungerford, a town in Berkshire. A
short time after this event, the same statements were put
to another stratified sample of 998 people, with a final
survey of 989 people taking place some four months
later. Approximately one third of respondents on each
occasion agreed with the statement that mentally ill people
are likely to be violent. Interestingly, whilst the number
of people agreeing with this statement did not change
significantly in the wake of the Hungerford massacre, there
was a significant increase at the second sampling point in
the proportion of those who agreed that people who
commit horrific crimes are likely to be mentally ill. Possi-
ble explanations for this finding, Appleby and Wessely
suggest, include the way in which the media associated
Michael Ryan with mental illness, despite the fact that no
clear evidence of this existed. As they put it, ‘Our results
suggest that either the Hungerford massacre or the media
account of it strengthened the public view of extreme
violence as a product of mental illness’ (Appleby & Wessely
1988, p. 294).
However, it needs to be acknowledged that the relation-
ship between negative media reporting of mental health
issues and public perceptions of people with mental ill-
nesses is a complex one. First, negative public attitudes
towards people with mental illnesses clearly predate the
arrival of the mass media. Bhugra (1989), in a review of
the literature on attitudes towards mental illness, noted

that, historically and in different parts of the world, mental
illness has typically been accompanied by negative atti-
tudes and, often, harsh or punitive treatment. Already
negative or prejudiced public attitudes may, however, be
particularly susceptible to further influence by a powerful
mass media. As those who design and purchase television
and newspaper advertisements are well aware, the media
can be a powerful tool in shaping public perceptions on
any number of topics. McKeown & Clancy (1995) suggest
that the relationship between media images and attitudes
towards mental illness is a circular one. Negative media
images promote negative attitudes, with further media cov-
erage tending to feed off already-negative public percep-
tions. Complex sociological and psychological processes,
McKeown and Clancy therefore suggest, moderate the
effects of the media in shaping individuals’ attitudes.
Although the relationships between media images and
public attitudes are complex, there is nonetheless a
growing literature supporting the view that negative
accounts of mental illness promote and reinforce negative
public perceptions. Glasson 1996) argued that mass media
sensationalization has reinforced the public’s already nega-
tive view of mentally ill people and Repper (1997) pointed
out that the public’s understanding of mental health prob-
lems is developed by national and local media coverage.
The MIND (1997) report Tall Stories from the Back Yard,
a survey of attitudes to people who use community mental
health facilities, revealed ‘shocking’ levels of public
ignorance and misunderstanding. Further, the report noted
that even though local opposition to community mental
health facilities is common and, what’s more, appears to
be increasing, such opposition was not grounded in per-
sonal experiences of violence. The report indicated that
there were no incidents of violence at any of the facilities
against which the opposition was raised. Respondents
could not cite any specific incidents that had led to their
fears and opposition. Similarly, Kelly & McKenna’s (1997)
quality of life research in Northern Ireland discovered that
over half of the community-based long-term mentally ill
population they surveyed reported that they had experi-
enced harassment/victimization. Additionally, Kelly and
McKenna argued such harassment/victimization resulted,
at least in part, from the hyped-up media reports which
focus on negative experiences associated with people with
mental health problems living in the community, thus
serving to fuel existing misconceptions (Kelly & McKenna
1997). More recently, a further study titled Counting the
Cost (MIND 1999a) indicated that negative media report-
ing of mental health issues increased the mental health
problems of people living in the north-east and generated
more social exclusion.
However, it would be inaccurate to imply that the only
© 2001 Blackwell Science Ltd, Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing 8, 315–321
Mass media, ‘monsters’ and mental health clients
images of mental illness portrayed in the mass media are
the stigmatizing, damning or ‘negative’ images described
above, or for that matter that accurate reports of incidents
involving users of mental health services should not be
published. There is evidence of some ‘positive’ images
being portrayed and there are times when legitimate and
balanced reporting of incidents involving users of mental
health services does occur. In Ward’s (1997) study, it was
reported that more than 20% of the coverage promoted
the messages that mental health problems are treatable and
that people with mental distress lead worthwhile lives.
Similarly, stories about politics, funding and services relat-
ing to mental health accounted for 20% of all coverage.
The MIND (1999a) report indicated that the respondents
felt their local and regional media reported mental health
stories in a more balanced way than the national media
and Brindle (1997) reported his gratification in being able
to present an award to a journalist (Euan McGrory) who
wrote a series of articles on the practice of burying people
who die in long-stay psychiatric hospitals in unmarked
graves.
Despite these ‘positive’ examples, however, it is accurate
to conclude that the current mass media representations of
mental health service users appear to emphasize violence,
dangerousness and criminality. Thus, it is important that
people (including mental health nurses and users) continue
to make the case for more balanced, ‘fair’ and accurate
coverage. This is an argument supported by David Brindle,
the Social Services correspondent of the Guardian news-
paper, who states, ‘It is vital, though, that people keep
making the case for positive coverage and keep protesting
when it stigmatises, or when is just plain wrong’ (Brindle
1997, p. 16).
Accurate images?
It is clear, then, that there is a growing body of evidence
indicating that the mass media propagates negative images
of people with mental health problems. In particular, there
is evidence that the media often alleges links between users
of mental health services and violence, dangerousness and
crime. Additionally, evidence also exists that such inap-
propriate representations do much to increase stigma,
ostracism, harassment and victimization of individuals
with mental health problems by the public.
However, there is also another repercussion of these
negative representations. This relates to the effect that the
media’s handling of mental health issues has had, and con-
tinues to have, on the development of government policy
and legislation. Holloway (1996), for example, makes the
point that supervision registers, supervised discharge and
the appearance of a generally more controlling mental
317
J. R. Cutcliffe & B. Hannigan
health policy framework in the 1990s emerged, in part at
least, as a result of media-fuelled ‘moral panic’. Particularly
significant in this respect were the powerful effects of the
media’s treatment of mental health issues in the wake of the
death of Jonathan Zito at a London underground station
and the mauling of Ben Silcock by a lion at London zoo.
Despite the recent European Convention for Human
Rights and the Human Rights Act coming into force in
October 2000 (Grey & Tucker 2000), some developments
in British mental health care appear to be moving away
from the position that upholds, wherever possible, the indi-
vidual’s personal freedom as sacrosanct, towards a posi-
tion more concerned with minimizing risk to others. This
trend is evident in a number of policy and legal initiatives
that have emerged from the present government since its
election in 1997. The consultation paper, Managing Dan-
gerous People with Severe Personality Disorder (HO &
DoH 1999), for example, included the option that new
powers could be introduced to provide for the indetermi-
nate detention of some individuals based on their potential
risk to others (Byrt 2000). This trend towards a more con-
trolling mental health policy and legal framework can also
be detected in parts of last year’s Green Paper on review-
ing the Mental Health Act 1983 in England and Wales (Sec-
retary of State for Health 1999). This document introduced
the prospect of compulsory care and treatment for indi-
viduals living in the community. If enacted, the document
stated that a compulsory order of this sort could:
• stipulate a client’s place of residence;
• define the proposed care and treatment plan;
• oblige the patient to allow access and to be present for
planned visits by identified professionals;
• oblige health and social services to comply with
arrangements set out in the care plans; and
• stipulate the consequences of non-compliance, which
could include powers to:
• enter premises;
• convey the patient to a stipulated place for such care
and treatment as is prescribed in their care plan; and;
• convey the patient to Hospital.
(Secretary of State for Health 1999, p. 38).
In the period surrounding the work of the Richardson
Committee (DoH 1999), which made recommendations to
Government on reform of English and Welsh mental health
law, and in the subsequent period following the publica-
tion of the Green Paper, many professional and service user
groups raised serious concerns over the prospect of com-
pulsory treatment in the community. In a campaigning
leaflet titled 10 Questions about Compulsory Treatment
in the Community (MIND 1999b), produced by and on
behalf of a number of organizations which included
MIND, the Royal College of Nursing and the Community
318 © 2001 Blackwell Science Ltd, Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing 8, 315–321
Psychiatric Nurses’ Association, a series of challenges were
raised to the thinking behind the proposed move towards
increased compulsion in the provision of community care.
One of the arguments in this leaflet which MIND and other
organizations used to challenge the prospect of compulsory
treatment in the community was the lack of evidence that
such a shift in policy was warranted.
Perhaps the most compelling pieces of evidence regard-
ing the dangerousness of people with mental health prob-
lems are the studies undertaken by Taylor & Gunn (1999)
and the National Confidential Enquiry into Homicides and
Suicides by Mentally Ill People (Appleby 1997). Whilst
acknowledging that there are methodological difficulties in
discerning trends in rates of homicide (Taylor & Gunn
1999), both of these investigations indicated that, contrary
to the images portrayed in the mass media, the percentage
of homicides committed by mentally disordered people has
declined over the last 40 years. Taylor and Gunn examined
the statistics collected between 1957 and 1995. These illus-
trated that in 1957, 35% of homicides were committed by
mentally disordered people; by 1985 that percentage had
declined to under 20% and since 1984, the percentage had
further declined to 11.5%. The authors also point out that,
of an estimated total population of 12 000 or 13 000 users
of mental health services, an average of 40 individuals per
year are responsible for a homicide. They draw a parallel
with these figures to the figures for dangerous, drunken or
drugged driving, or aggravated vehicle taking and ‘acci-
dents on the road’ and report that there is a total number
of 3500–4000 deaths per year arising from these incidents.
The researchers conclude:
‘Confining people with a mental illness to Hospital to
save 40 or so lives would be analogous to abolishing
motoring to prevent the 4000 or so road deaths’ (Taylor
& Gunn 1999, p. 10).
If the empirical evidence to support this shift towards a
more coercive and controlling mental health policy and
legal framework does not exist, then alternative explana-
tions for this shift need to be considered. We argue that
the shift towards a coercive policy has, in part at least,
much to do with the Government’s attempts to pander to
inaccurate public perceptions, reactions, and intolerance.
Furthermore, we suggest that, at least in part, the public
may have been ‘whipped up’ into this position of intoler-
ance as a result of misleading, inaccurate mass representa-
tions of mental illness and mental health issues.
What can psychiatric/mental health
nurses do?
Nursing is, for the most part, a discipline that focuses on
micro-level concerns. This is entirely appropriate, given

that nurses typically work with individuals and families in
order to improve their health and well being. Macro-level
concerns, such as the social and political context in which
care is provided, may often seem rather remote – and even
irrelevant – to the practice of ‘everyday care’. We challenge
this assumption, however, and suggest instead that politics
and policy are absolutely central in influencing what
nurses do in their everyday practice, and how they do it
(Masterson & Maslin-Prothero 1999).
This encompassing of a social and political dimension to
nursing suggests a need to re-examine what is understood
by ‘nursing care’, ‘nursing action’ and the ‘nurse’s role’.
‘Nursing’ does not occur, and never has occurred, in iso-
lation (Pearson 1983). Care is organized and delivered in
a wider context. This context impacts not only on the client
and on the individual nurse, but also on the ward they rep-
resent, the unit they work on the community they work in
and with and the discipline of psychiatric/mental health
nursing as a whole (Cutcliffe 1997). Importantly, a ‘macro’
perspective on mental health nursing involves a recognition
that views on how people with mental health problems
should be cared for have a social and political dimension.
We suggest, too, that this awareness of macro-level issues
might usefully be extended to encompass awareness of the
key issue we have been discussing in this paper – the role
of the mass media in (mis)representing people with mental
health problems, and the consequences this has for the
future shaping of mental health policy and law.
There already exist limited examples of attempts to
increase lobbying carried out by mental health service
users. For example, the National Association for Mental
Health, MIND, currently has a media guardian campaign
as part of their Campaign to Complain. In September of
1999, MIND (1999a) reported that the campaign had
already recruited almost 300 ‘guardians’. Each guardian is
contacted approximately once per month and provided
with a media alert sheet that provides details of the pro-
gramme, article or report. These sheets also contain details
of who and where the complaint should go to. Addition-
ally, Harrison (1998) identifies Regional Public Education
Officers of the Royal College of Psychiatrists as being
strategically placed to influence and improve the coverage
of mental health issues in the media. Such endeavours are
laudable and should be supported. However, the authors
of this paper argue that P/MH nurses have the potential
for a stronger and more influential lobby.
Consequently, we outline some suggestions for increased
lobbying activities or ‘repair procedures’, under the broad
headings of pro-active and reactive lobbying, and these are
then discussed in more detail. The authors recognize that
these are preliminary suggestions and hope that they will
stimulate debate and thinking.
© 2001 Blackwell Science Ltd, Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing 8, 315–321
Mass media, ‘monsters’ and mental health clients
Suggestions
Pro-active
1 Invitations should be offered to members of the
local/national press to attend seminars, open days, and
presentation of research findings.
2 Local and national radio and television that feature
news, current affairs and human interest stories could be
contacted by P/MHs and made aware of relevant
research findings, outcomes of reports, and human
interest stories involving users of mental health
services.
3 Local and national television shows that feature politi-
cal and policy debate programmes, e.g. Question Time,
BBC Radio Five Morning Debate, could be contacted by
P/MHs who would be willing to contribute to such
debates.
4 P/MH nurses could consider forming networks
and working relationships with local and national
reporters and media groups.
Reactive
1 Assist clients in writing, or write on behalf of the client,
to his/her Member of Parliament.
2 Assist clients in writing, or write on behalf of the client,
to local/national newspaper, television and radio stations
in response to media misrepresentations.
3 Write to or lobby the Mental Health ‘Zsar’, Louis
Appleby, and enquire how he intends to address the
issue of mass media misrepresentation (and offer
assistance).
4 Write to or lobby the Minister(s) for Mental Health
and enquire how he/she intends to address the issue
of mass media misrepresentation (and offer assistance).
Discussion
Pro-active
Perhaps part of the difficulty of this problem resides in a
felt sense of ‘them and us’ scenario, in that there appears
to be only a limited reciprocal relationship between mental
health care users/workers and members of the mass media.
We posit that one possible way to address this would be
to offer invitations to appropriate members of the media
to seminars, open days, mental health conferences and pre-
sentations of research findings. Not only could this provide
the opportunity for building relationships, but it also has
the crucial advantage of increasing awareness (and hope-
fully reporting) of ‘positive’ mental health issues. For
319
J. R. Cutcliffe & B. Hannigan
example, the ongoing research by the Universities of Ulster,
Sheffield and Newcastle, into how mental health nurses
may bring about a change of heart in suicidal in-patients,
may well have a distinctly ‘positive’ appearance in addi-
tion to the clear ‘human interest’ element and therefore
arguably warrants widespread reporting.
In addition to this face-to-face contact, there may be
mileage in providing local and national radio and televi-
sion that features news, current affairs and human interest
stories with relevant research findings, outcomes of
reports, and human interest stories involving users of
mental health clients. Given the extensive and varied range
of news programmes that currently exist, it is entirely plau-
sible that there may be adequate space and sufficient public
interest in these matters.
There may also be a case for contacting local and
national television shows that feature political and policy
debate programmes, e.g. Question Time, BBC Radio Five
Morning Debate, and making the producers of these pro-
grammes aware of the experts in the field that already exist.
At the moment it appears that the producers of these shows
have one or two ‘well known’ nurses who they call upon
each time health matters arise, irrespective of the expertise
of these individuals in the subject matter. If genuine, well
informed debate is the real aim of such programmes,
perhaps it would be wiser to have a range of individuals,
each with expertise and experience in particular substan-
tive areas.
Perhaps as a ‘spin-off’ of the first suggested repair pro-
cedure, P/MH nurses could consider forming networks and
working relationships with local and national reporters
and media groups. Arguably a more balanced approach to
the reporting of mental health issues is likely to be fostered
in a climate of trust, openness and warmth, and such
qualities perhaps need a working relationship in order to
flourish.
Reactive
Users of mental health services have an equal right to any
other member of the community to be represented by their
local MP and therefore clients could raise issues of mis-
representation with their MP. However, it is rare that
such activity is prompted or encouraged by P/MH nurses.
Furthermore, if the client is unable to do so independently,
then P/MH nurses could provide the support necessary
or alternatively, carry out such activity in the role of an
advocate.
Similar activities, working with or on behalf of the client,
could be utilized to contact and/or lobby local/national
radio/television. The difficulty with this option is that, in
all probability, the editors of the newspaper and producers
320 © 2001 Blackwell Science Ltd, Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing 8, 315–321
of the radio/television still have the potential to censor, edit
or present any response and thus the potential for misrep-
resentation remains intact.
Perhaps individuals who have a vested interest in
national mental health issues and indeed, policy, could
also be contacted. This repair procedure perhaps has the
advantage of involving people who have a duty to respond
to any correspondence in a fair and balanced manner. It
also has the secondary advantage of raising the profile of
such issues further into the attention of these key
individuals.
This shift in role, to one that embraces the macro
endeavours in addition to the micro endeavours, is perhaps
an example of the expanding role of mental health nurses
and is a more appropriate example of role expansion than
taking on board ‘cast-offs’ from medics, such as limited
powers of medication prescription. Consequently, if this
lobbying is to become a more common element on P/MH
nursing practice then clearly there is a need for P/MHN
training/education to include some theory and methods on
how to do this. For example, such training might include:
• simulated debates around a series of related topics;
• awareness raising of local and national media
contacts;
• construction of social/political arguments;
• letter writing;
• sessions on how to handle the media.
Conclusion
It would be indecorous and inaccurate of the authors to
imply that the only images of mental illness portrayed in
the mass media are the stigmatizing, damning or ‘negative’
images; there is evidence of some ‘positive’ images being
portrayed. However, it is accurate to suggest that the
current mass media representations of mental health
service users appear to emphasize violence, dangerousness
and criminality. This is despite the empirical evidence that
indicates a decline over the last 40 years in the number of
homicides carried out by people identified as suffering from
mental health problems.
Consequently, there is a clear need for P/MH nurses to
increase their political lobbying and become more mindful
of the wider socio-political environment in which their
practice occurs, particularly if psycho-social approaches to
practice care are adopted in their fullest sense. Such
increased lobbying should occur on behalf of, and in col-
laboration with, service users. The authors are not sug-
gesting that each P/MH nurse needs to become a modern
day 21st century equivalent of Demothsenes (being a
renowned public orator). However, as Tilley (1997)
submits, perhaps P/MH nurses can already be regarded as

rhetoricians, individuals who can construct and deliver
arguments. Therefore, the movement towards a more bal-
anced and accurate portrayal of mental health users and
issues by the mass media might be facilitated, at least in
part, through the repair procedures described in this paper.
Further, it is incumbent upon P/MH nursing educational-
ists to prepare aspirant P/MH nurses for this lobbying role
and equip them with skills necessary to do so.
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