I’m back from the SHAC. My first impression is that the consumers are infantilized, they didn’t want to engage the medical director, they wanted to squabble with each other about soda and pizza. Not much dialogue, lots more when is the pizza coming? God! One consumer asked if there could be MORE surveillance, some kind of ID card that says “mentally ill” so that when he’s picked up by the cops they’ll treat him better.
The medical director, Jim Van Norman, who seems like a nice guy, said he didn’t think that would be such a good idea, we are about mental health, right, not Homeland Security.
One consumer did pipe up and say she disagreed with her DX and was told about an appeal process.
Until I raised my 3 questions toward the end, there was no discussion of the shift to a medical model as the rationale for crises redesign. Van Norman was stunned to hear about the fingerprinting proposal and said he would not support it. He said he also doesn’t understand the director’s wish to remove the word stigma from the mission statement, but thinks his rationale has something to do with focusing more on the positive. He emphasized that these are just proposals right now. Think I’ll compile some recent news reports on institutionalized stigma and give that man a packet.
I’m waiting on a call-back from our Protection and Advocacy people so they know about my concerns with the fingerprinting.
We need meaningful, critical consumer involvement in this state. I left wondering how it’s possible for things to be more real in the blogosphere, but it is, and that’s the virtual truth. People like us need to get online.
Meanwhile I ordered some consensus statement brochures from SAMHSA’s website, which should be memorized, handed out injudiciously, and held close to the breast for much needed enCOURAGEment.
Okay, before I comment, is the pizza here yet?
Ugh. Any possibility of doing a little self-help and advocacy training for the SHAC members?
I’m thinking about doing a “peer training” on using the Internet for advocacy, but hey I just heard from Protection and Advocacy here. They are pissed and gearing up to stop the fingerprinting. They were very grateful and serious and are going to call me tomorrow and build a connection.
My name is out there, I found a couple searches with “Robin Plan” on my blog for the first time today, after coming home from the meeting where I spoke truth to power. I installed sitemeter to help with that.
I have to admit, I am beginning to struggle with self-doubt and fear. Confronting authority always does this to me. I mean, the Chair was just musing in committee last week, and casually put it out there “can we see about getting law enforcement to fingerprint these folks to establish identity?” I did hear that, I know it, but everyone acted like he said nothing so I just wonder if I’m over-reacting or did I misunderstand. I’m thinking about what they will try to do to embarrass or hurt me, but so far no one knows where I work, that’s the standard way of stopping bloggers, get them fired. When the mental health policymakers find out I am a legislative reporter they will watch me I guess. But I am pretty neutral in my stories, but still, it’s just anxiety, baby steps.
The advocate on the phone told me not to fret, we’ll just nip this right in the bud before it gets off the ground. They are sending one of their people out to the next meeting to address it. And I am to expect a call from the Dep’t of Health and Human Svcs, tomorrow, that’s how they have to do it, go to the top and make a legitimate complaint.
This is actually kind of fun.
You’re really making a difference there. It’s no wonder they push that kind of thing through unnoticed and unprotested so often. It’s really not possible to overreact under the circumstances. This is big. What a timely response from the P&A. You might actually be able to remove the barriers to effective treatment and preserve rights at the same time.
You know all that work you did in therapy? It really gets in the way in advocacy. Seriously. Because I went through (avoidable and unneccessary) pain there times a week for 4 months last year, some of my dissociative skills came back, and it has been a real boon for my ability to confront authority. Not so good for me personally, but hey, it’s all in a good cause, eh?
.
So said the iatrogenic to the hysteric. My conversion disorder takes the form of falling down with a dose of vocal chord paralysis for added humiliation. Hasn’t happened in years but I’ve gone out of my way to avoid stressors. BORING. No way to live.
Oops. Never mind
. Note to self, stop projecting…
I get searches with my name a lot, but I don’t have a job. I don’t know how well I would cope with it if I did. But since we’re not getting national health insurance and I will always need my Medicare, it isn’t ever going to be an issue for me. I really admire you for putting yourself out there.
I often turn it around and wonder why the people around me are under-reacting to what I just heard in a meeting. Sometimes I even stare at them in wonder. Probably creeps them out….
it’s interesting about the person wanting the “mentally ill” ID, and other people maybe thinking that fingerprinting is a good idea, that it would keep them safe. this stems from a naive trust in the soundness and rightfulness of power that must be dismantled first thing, don’t you think?
i’m thinking at the conversation on psychiatric abuse that took place at the the memory artist’s blog yesterday and today. the woman who started it seems to be incredibly traumatized from having been abused in the hospital because these are the people who are supposed to help us. well, yeah, in theory, though, er, no.
if consumers understand that the powers that be (from the police to the mental health professionals to the ER personnel to the judicial system) do not intend for the most part to help us at all, that seems to me to be a great step forward. first, it would eliminate the blind trust in authoritarian measures of any kind, and, secondly, it would lessen the trauma of abuse. this second point may be moot for consumers, as the people who get badly traumatized are first-timers; you learn that hospitals are not there to help you very fast. but if there is public awareness, say among psychotherapists, that psych hospitals and ERs are places of torture for mental patients, and that police and paramedics are routinely abusive to the mentally ill, i’m sure things would get better for everyone. i have yet to encounter a therapist in private practice who was not surprised to learn about routine psychiatric abuse on the part of just about anyone with power.
maybe a good educational first step is to get the stories out.
i echo hymes’ admiration for your courage, fp. all the best of luck to you, and godspeed.
There is such a division in Georgia’s consumer movement, too. One camp is still medical model-ish while the other is all about self direction and recovery. The primary difference between the two (that I see) is access to the internet. Disempowered consumers who get online fianally see that there is another way of thinking. I’ve seen transformations happen on simple Yahoo groups. There’s still a long way to go, but I’m seeing more and more changes thanks to the internet.
Hang in there. They need you to be that “other voice.”
“Meanwhile I ordered some consensus statement brochures from SAMHSA’s website, which should be memorized, handed out injudiciously, and held close to the breast for much needed enCOURAGEment.”
Please enlighten me re:specific brochure and how/where I might obtain it. Thanks.
http://nmhicstore.samhsa.gov/publications/ordering.aspx
Toward the bottom of the page; National Consensus Statement on Mental Health Recovery.