connecting people with their communities

Connecting people with their CommunitiesCommunities= Social

SystemsRecovery takes place in

the communityMedicalisation of Illness

omits social dimensionIs there a social system

crisis?National, local or

individual?

Crisis Resolution

What is a mental health crisis?

Is it a life event or a life-threatening event?

Is it another term for severe emotional distress? Which Emotions?

Which is the best way to resolve a crisis?

Cheque book vs. Prescription pad

Providing Choice

“The range of interventions offered should be comprehensive”

(Joyce O’Connor, foreword, “a Vision for Change”)

Home based treatment

Where does home based treatment take place?

Who decides on the type of treatment?

What are the priorities of the home-based team?

Can acutely ill people betreated in the community?Why are hospital

admissions needed?

Alternatives to Acute Admission?

Respite Care- what is it and how does it work?

What is a crisis house and is this a form of acute admission?

What is the difference between crisis houses, respite facilities and acute psychiatric wards?

Resource Imitation

“We haven’t the money, so we’ve got to think ”

Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937)

Some things don’t cost anything- justice, honesty, fairness, equality, respect, dignity for all.

Becoming a standard excuse for the lazy

People need a supportive community

In the right environment they will grow and

flourish. In the wrong environment they will

die and wither

“ I know I am amongst civilized men because they are all fighting so savagely” Voltaire

Normalising the Experience

“Sitting down to breakfast with seven men in various states of undress is not a normal experience”

Who bears the Burden

“We must not look awayNot caring for their caresThere is no crazy manwho dwells in Madmen’sGlenWe ought not sit besideAccompanying, whileHe bears on our behalfOur sickness in his mind”

STIGMA and Public Attitudes

Just 41% of thosesurveyed thoughtpeople with mentalhealth problemsshould have childrenif they wished. Only61% believed that peoplewith mental healthproblems had the right tofulfilment through sexualrelationships “Public Attitudes towards people with

disabilities” NDA 2007.

Social Exclusion

“People with a diagnosis of mental illness, as a group, are severely socially excluded in Irish Society”

(Quarterly National Household survey, CSO 2004)

LanguageEuphemismsMedia messagesNegative perceptions

Leadership

Praxis, a term used by Aristotle, is the art of acting upon the conditions one faces in order to change them.

Cultural change is the most important change, and the hardest to make happen

Diversity: An uncomfortable environment?

“Any solution to a problem changes the problem” (R.W. Johnson b.1914)

Conflicting rightsHelp people to cope in a

way that allows preference for their own wishes and behaviour

Involving everyone: Consumer Panels and Link-UpUse resources that already

existEveryone has something to

contributeProfessionals need to go to

meetings that service users organise.”

(A Vision for Change: report of the expert group on mental health policy.)

“We want a few mad people now, see where the sane ones have landed us.”

(G.B. Shaw1856-1950, “Saint Joan.”)

The Lourdes Conundrum

What would happen to St. Bernadette if she came to West Galway?