Care in the community?
| Published date | 23 November 2012 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/20428301211281087 |
| Pages | 211-213 |
| Date | 23 November 2012 |
| Author | Susan Gray |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
Care in the community?
Susan Gray
Abstract
Purpose – This article aims to highlight how people with mental health problems are ostensibly in the
community but can still ‘‘feel’’ excluded.
Design/methodology/approach – The author reflects on her own experiences and uses examples to
demonstrate the above.
Findings – The article highlights the need for service users to be consulted and listened to by all in the
community.
Originality/value – This article increases people’s awareness of the real experience of service users,
drawing upon the experience of someone with long experience of mental health services.
Keywords Social inclusion, Care in the community, Day centres, Institutionalisation, Mental illness
Paper type Viewpoint
Are people who suffer with mental illness really being included and cared for in the
community? Certainly we are not, as in my younger days, locked up in the wards of mental
institutions, out in the country, away from the general populace. However, my aim is to
question the reality of this so-called social inclusion.
My name is Susan, I am 60 years old and have been using mental health services since
I was 17. My first memory of this world was of hearing a voice telling me to do something
when I was two years old. At 17, when I was taking my A levels, the voices I heard became
aggressive, threatening and terrifying, and so began my contact with mental health
hospitals, day care provision, other people with mental health diagnoses, and of course
mental health professionals. Therefore, I have had 43 years of some very good and some
very bad experiences and a lot to say about the mental health systems.
Traditional care of psychotic people
Whenever I became ill, I used to be taken to Barnsley Hall, a rambling, old former
workhouse, and put out of harm’s way. But whose harm? They used to tell me I needed
‘‘a rest’’ and maintained I needed to be ‘‘safe’ ’. In reality, who were the ones being
protected? Us loonies being tortured by voices in our heads or the ‘‘sane’ ’ people of society
afraid of the dangerous people we obviously must be?
My daily hospital routine
In the 1970s this is what my ‘‘rest’’ consisted of:
5 am – Get up to boil water for other patients’ early morning tea.
6 am – Wash, dress and make own bed.
DOI 10.1108/20428301211281087 VOL. 16 NO. 4 2012, pp. 211-213, QEmerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 2042-8308
j
MENTAL HEALTHAND SOCIAL INCLUSION
j
PAGE 211
Susan Gray is based in the
West Midlands, UK.
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