Andrew Voyce in conversation with Jerome Carson
| Date | 22 February 2013 |
| Pages | 14-18 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/20428301311305269 |
| Published date | 22 February 2013 |
| Author | Andrew Voyce,Jerome Carson |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
Remarkable Lives
Andrew Voyce in conversation
with Jerome Carson
Andrew Voyce and Jerome Carson
Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to provide a profile of Andrew Voyce.
Design/methodology/approach – Andrew gives a short biography and is then interviewed by Jerome.
Areas covered in the interview include the central role of Mrs Thatcher in closing downthe old asylums,
homelessness, education, benefits and digital art.
Findings – Andrew’s recovery from long term mental health problems has seen him return to higher
education. He failed to get his undergraduate degree, but decades later and with the encouragement of
workers in the community,he completed both undergraduate and postgraduate studies. He talks of the
negative impact of asylum care, especially the terrible side effect of akathisia, which resulted from the
depot neuroleptic medication.
Originality/value – This paper shows a remarkable journey of recovery, from a life of being a ‘‘revolving
door’’ patient, to homelessness, to re-establishing an ordinary life in the community. The inmate’s
perspective is one that has largely been absent from narratives of asylum care.
Keywords Recovery, Homelessness, Akathisia, Graphic art, Community careAsylums,
United Kingdom, Mental health services
Paper type Case study
Introduction
Andrew was one of the first people we interviewed for our book on Psychosis (Cordle et al.,
2011). I was partly drawn to his story as we had both attended the University of Reading,
though Andrew was a couple of yearsabove me. I invited him to London to speak to our local
Recovery Group and he spoke about his own recoveryjourney (Voyce, 2009), and also talked
aboutdevelopments in mental health services. His is a remarkable story of recovery from being
a ‘‘revolving door’’ mental patient, to living rough for many years.He went on to rebuildhis life in
the community and returnedto tertiary education, having left university in his early 20s without
getting a degree. It was a member of staffin a community service who helped him develop his
talent for digital cartoons, and it was throughthis medium that he was able to provide a first
person account of his days in asylum care. He lost a leg following a motorbike accident
before he went to university. What follows is Andrew’s story and then hisinterview with me.
Brief biography of Andrew
Recovery is not like winning the lottery. It is not going to make everything okay. Look, I failed
my final exams for my first university in 1974, but got a pass BA with the Open University
(OU) in 1986. Where did that get me? It was the precursor to five years living on trains and in
bus shelters, because the dear old health service had me still on an aversion therapy of
mind-bending and humiliating injections. As multiple times previously, I dropped them off
PAGE 14
j
MENTAL HEALTHAND SOCIAL INCLUSION
j
VOL. 17 NO. 1 2013, pp. 14-18, QEmerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 2042-8308 DOI 10.1108/20428301311305269
Andrew Voyce is a service
user based in Bexhill, UK.
Jerome Carson is
Professor of Psychology in
the Psychology
Department, University of
Bolton, Bolton, UK.
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