For the last few years I’ve been holding off on buying Nick Cave’s double-CD Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus until I do something sufficiently awful that I don’t have to but probably should if I’m to get along with my better self. I’ve met my share of challenges since the CD came out, and each time decided I hadn’t endured enough hardship to justify the purchase.
Just like doing something, holding back on doing something creates its own unique set of memories. I remember the night I felt like offing myself but realized I hadn’t heard the CD yet, and the day I quit posting at the lovely Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds message board because I couldn’t keep from reading the threads praising its wonders. Welp, it’s playing right now and Oh Momma, the opening track itself was worth the wait.
Friday I attended a mental health strategic planning session where no one knew I was among the same fucks who declined my participation on the state citizens planning committee last month, but that was the extent of my secret shits and giggles since they took all of 90 minutes to set policy back fifty years.
Proposals: Fingerprint consumers who participate in Assertive Community Treatment. Take the word “stigma” out of the mission statement. Scrap all pretense of a Biopsychosocial framework.
Texas DSHS calls for a transition to the medical model within services. Bio. Move everything but ACT from Behavioral Health to Medical Services. Bio. Place Crisis Service directly under the Medical Director. Bio. Goddamn the next person who uses the word biopsychosocial with a straight face, they are either lying or sick with the kool-aid. Biopsychosocial is a propaganda term used to appease people who advocate the trauma model of mental illness and recovery. Don’t look for these people, evidently there are no advocates anymore, only “advocates”. Seeing the Chairman use finger scare quotes while invoking the term “advocates” was chilling.
So, the redesign boils down to erasure of stigma, advocacy, trauma, and all is biology. From then on all I could think was this is only discourse, they’re framing their discourse, I have to learn about how to frame mine, and discourse is free and getting to the Lyre of Orpheus.
Our consumer run drop in center is called the SHAC for Self-Help and Advocacy Center. They took our consumer run drop in SHAC away from the clueful Austin Mental Health Consumers Org. and hired the former director of NAMI to take over running the place. Thursday the Board will visit the SHAC to discuss this redesign plan with psychiatric service users. I get to talk at this one and believe me I will.
I’m curious to know what their official justification is for fingerprinting ACT participants.
I’m thinking back on my time at a community mental health clinic, when they were insisting on photographing the members of their social club, which consisted mainly of the most severely disabled patients who could not participate in the more rehabilitative programs. There were some who protested being photographed, or who at least questioned the need for such a thing, and they were met with threats that they’d be excluded from the program. The official story was that it was for the charts, but why?
The insertion of the former NAMI director, how does that go along with the “Nothing about us without us” motto? Is that going to be rewritten? Interestingly, that motto was mentioned in my community psychology class as being central to the values of community psychology, which is supposed to promote a high degree of consumer involvement. The students are being fed these high-minded ideas that are clearly little more than lip-service. The ideology doesn’t translate well to the real world. It’s disappointing.
There she goes my beautiful world…fitting tag…
The rationale given for fingerprinting is to establish a record of identity. I doubt that all people in ACT have no social security numbers. So why not do it on a case by case basis? Maybe some people don’t want the sheriff taking their fingerprints, and what if someone has an SS card or drivers license, will they be exempt? That no one even thinks to ask these questions is sickening. It’s like old times, rounding up and branding niggers.
NAMI claims to BE the “us” in “nothing about us without us”, they’re the nations voice on mental illness dontchaknow. So it was quite surreal hearing the Chair lecture the ex-NAMI director and new leader of the self-help and ADVOCACY center about the need to improve relations with advocacy groups. Why would an advocate need to improve relations with advocates? Strikes me as almost a backhanded admission that some advocates are not what they claim to be.
A record of identity? I’m confused. Why can’t they help people apply for a social security card instead? And if they don’t have an SS card, how do they get insurance coverage to cover the cost of ACT. Here, that kind of thing usually gets paid for by medicaid, but people don’t qualify for that without identification and a mailing address. If people don’t have an SS card, they can’t get SSI or SSD. How do they get by without income? Isn’t ACT case management SUPPOSED to assist people with that kind of thing? It all sounds assbackwards to me. They’re handing out a pack of lies.
…yep, it’s a round-up. Next they’ll need to tattoo everyone with an ID number.
and NAMI…
Not
Advocating for those with
Mental
Illness
Shit. If NAMI can’t improve their relations with advocacy groups, it may have something to do with their fascism.
What has been the reaction from Mental Health Consumers.org?
…or is the fingerprinting for the purpose of getting them SS cards? I’m just wondering what prevents Joe Schmoe from saying he’s Jack Shit and establishing a new identity. The fingerprinting isn’t going to verify who anyone really is, unless of course, their prints are already identified in a database somewhere. It’s sounds like it’s really more for future tracking purposes, but hell, maybe I’m just paranoid. I’m betting everyone gets fingerprinted no matter what.
Those questions are on my list for Thursday. Mental Health Consumers are upset, the SHAC was their thing here and they’ve basically been run out of town, and are moving operations to Dallas where they can get some real work done.
[...] is the wrong direction to take regarding the previous post. It’s not important what I believe. I don’t need you to believe what I do. What’s [...]
Sheesh, we aren’t even seeing these kinds of proposals in Virginia! The fingerprinting has to be for the state police, not for MH system identification. They are assuming people in PACT will commit crimes and the fingerprints on file will be useful to the police. I bet it’s unconstitutional, but do you have any lawyers who will take it on?
Eliminate stigma so they can pretend it doesn’t exist or what? Even the most regressive folks here admit there is prejudice and stigma against csx. Heck, I was just on a training teleconference with SAMSHA on internalized stigma today listening in, so even the feds. believe in stigma!
Do they mean to eliminate therapy entirely and only give drugs or PACT?
I am actually shocked for once.
Today’s the day. I called the SHAC and they said they have 700 members, all are invited. I asked if that includes CSX advocates too and she said, Oh no. No, no, no. But…you’re welcome to come! I have my questions, just hope the voice comes with. And shit, Hymes, I was thinking about joining that SAMHSA teleconference, but got cold feet.
You can listen to it in the archive. If you don’t have the link, let me know and I’ll send it to you. Pat Deegan was great. They do come on the phone and ask you what organization you are with but it isn’t a public question, it’s an operator. So you might want to be prepared for that if you join one in the future. But you don’t have to say a word, you can just listen, I did.