Make an Impact this Mental Health Awareness Month

[Ru-bee]

Hello wonderful forums community!

With Mental Health Awareness Month underway, we would love to have some more discussions about what advocacy is needed in mental health. As a group, we have all had some interaction with the system and now is our chance to try and make it better for the next person.

So, to get this going we'd love to know: 

What's the one improvement you'd like to see in the mental health system to make the experience better?

[Ainjoule]

Haha....pick just one?! Ok, here's my pet peeve...A lot of the services in my local area are gate kept behind case management. For example, in my area you can't go and stay at the PARC unit unless you have case management with the local area health service. I know from my advocacy work that the local mental health service case managers are overrun with extreme case loads. And it's extremely difficult to get case management.

TW: suicide

Content/trigger warning

In spite of having schizoaffective disorder and BPD, I didn't get case management until I had a suicide attempt in a delusional state in which I acquired a major spinal injury. I can walk now, but it was a long road back. This is not an ideal situation.

 If they are going to gate keep services behind case management, then there needs to be more funding for people to acquire case management. They have threatened to exit me from case management because I have been doing better, but this means I would be cut off from a range of services in the local area. 

[Bow]

I totally agree with you @Ainjoule ! I had a very similar experience to you, in that I had to wait until I had numerous suicide attempts and hospital admissions until community mh took me on as a regular client. I was then given access to a psychologist, a pdoc, case management, referrals for sensory programs, DBT and then referrals out into the community for other services. There definitely needs to be more funding for people to access community mh support. 

Id really love to see peer support in hospitals more. Especially in the emergency department when people first come in. In my experience, if I’ve come in physically ok, I have often just been dumped in the ambulance bay, amongst other mh patients with security guards around. I’ve had to just sit there for hours until mh professionals are available to see me. It would be so nice to have peer workers around to talk to. To advocate for us. 

TW

I would have also really appreciated someone to talk on the numerous occasions that I have woken up in icu after a serious attempt. It has often been the case that they send mh registras very soon after waking up or even when medical devices are still in use so you can’t talk. They then leave and I don’t see anyone for days. It’s terrifying waking up in that place. Nurses and doctors come in and do things and I have no idea what is going on and I don’t wanna be more of a bother. 

[Ainjoule]

Couldn't agree more @Bow ! Interestingly, in my local health service they are opening soon an assessment unit for people with mental health and drug related problems in the local emergency department. It's designed to stop what you are talking about with people sitting in bays in emergency without support. It will be interesting to see how it goes. They have Peer Workers as part of the service, but it's not staffed 24/7 with a Peer Worker which I think it needs to be. But a definite improvement. 

[The-red-centaur]

One thing I'd like to see changed is getting more awareness into the importance of gender equality and trans-rights informed care. 

I'm unwell and can't word that properly.

In other words, there isn't much effort put in by some health professionals to understand how transgender issues and gender affirming care has on us. In other words the importance of using right pronouns and things. And gender affirming care, like medical transitioning. 

I was told i couldn't transition initially because I had bpd and mental health issues. I've been kn hormones 6 years now and it's the best thing that happened to me. But so many professionals still don't get it.

There should be some more awareness in how ones identity affects us. 

[Eden1919]

making community care more available so that people dont have to get to the point of needing hospital in the first place. also more awareness of how gender plays a role in how doctors treat you. so many times i have seen AMAB people getting taken way more seriously than AFAB people females are seen as attention seeking and troublesome and men are seen as having serious mental illness that needs help. there are even often many more male beds on psych wards than female beds as it is thought that men are more likely to need them when that is not the case. also i want education in how race impacts your treatment in mental health because just like gender POC are treated far more terribly than white people in the system. 

other important things are offering therapy in psych wards all too often there is no therapy in psych wards and all they do is adjust meds which is not what everyone needs and also makes psych wards a lot more boring as there is nothing to do. 

another thing is how you are treated as a mental health patient in emergency they treat you like dirt and like you are a bother and that there are "real sick people" who need their help more than you who is just complaining about being sad. 

ugh i could go on for days about all the things that are wrong with the system but i will stop there for now unless i think of something else i want to say in which case i will make another post. 

[Bow]

@Eden1919  I like what you said about therapy in public psych wards. I’ve had way too many admissions in n my life time and I always struggle with the fact that they basically just drug you, feed you and keep you safe. I know there are a lot of barriers to therapy in the public wards, some folk just aren’t interested, they are probably there against their will so don’t want to participate, some are very very unwell and would just not be able to engage in therapy, others aren’t there long enough. I had a stay in a private facility last year and they do a 3 week program cause that’s generally how long patients are there for, you usually pay to access these private facilities, so you want to be there and want to engage in therapy. But something in the public system… something, anything, would be better than nothing. 

and yep… better training for emergency department staff would be amazing. Actually I think nursing and doctors in general. I’ve had admissions to medical wards too and have had some pretty horrific experiences with health staff. We are sick too. You just can’t see our sick. And we have every right to ask for help and to receive the care and support we need. I think that is why peer worker advocates would be an amazing addition to emergency department staffing. 
Id also add specifically training in eating disorders. It has the highest death rate of all mental illnesses, yet the lowest understanding. 

[chibam]

Awesome topic, @Ru-bee !

Like @Ainjoule , I struggle to pick just one improvement I'd like to see in the system. But when pressed, I'd say my #1 definitely has to be the development of a serious anti-loneliness system, to set patients up with their kindred spirits, be it for romance, or a plutonic friendship.

Ever since I first discovered that the mental health system wasn't set up to provide this service, it has boggled my mind why it isn't. It seems like such an obviously necessary measure.

I mean the MH system encounters pretty much all the people who's minds don't work in the mainstream fashion, doesn't it? So you'd think that if anyone is in an ideal position to spot two alienated, abnormal minds who are on the same page as one another, and to bring them together, it would be the mental health system!

I guess their just too committed to beating us down into submission, to bring us together with a supportive presence who will allow us to thrive as ourselves.

[Oaktree]

Hi there @Ru-bee 

Please see the Hospital Admissions and Early Discharges thread for my answer to what I would like changed about the public mental health system.

Thank you for your consideration.

[Oaktree]

@Ru-bee 

It would be useful to government and services to have a proper count of the exact number of people that have mental health issues as well as the number of carers. This would better inform government as to how important funding a better mental health system in this country is. Until there is a survey to find out these numbers we really are only guessing as to how large the issue is. A lot of people are being missed in current government numbers as they are not seeking help due to stigma and self denial. Also there is no outlet for help unless you are really sick. You can’t get into the community clinics and even if you are a client they are constantly trying to discharge you. I have complex mental health needs as I have bipolar and I have been discharged or attempted to be several times. Now I cannot be discharged because my GP refuses to treat my mental health as my case is too complex.