Designing Places of Inclusion

Some of the most thrilling moments of my life have been co-designing places and programs of inclusion.  It takes to research and involvement to create quality environments of inclusion- it's not merely as bureaucratic stroke of the pen.

I will never forget the legendary moment in Georgia when my colleagues included me in a discussion on how to spend budget dollars on innovative projects.  Gwen Skinner didn't have to invite the Office of Consumer Relations and Recovery Section to that table, but she knew the value of inclusion.  What would happen next with a discussion with the Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network turned out to bloom into something beautiful.  I had a friend that had great success with visiting friends homes during times of crisis to mitigate crisis; and that success turned into discussion of how that could be replicated.  This discussion followed with a call to Sherry Jenkins Tucker and she suggested something better.  She suggested we seek out Shery Mead and learn more about respite programs in the United States. 

Shery Mead is an amazing woman that understands the meaning of the word inclusion.  Power becomes equalized in the process of creating a crisis respite because people share in the responsibility of the innovation.  Like a potluck everybody brings some kind of expertise to the table.  Some crisis respites and include people from the community and may or may not be living with a condition. 

This element of not really knowing who is and who isn't the person living with a disability is a piece of true inclusion.  Environments of true inclusion also invites the stories of the people.  Those stories are equally valued.  One simply doesn't have to hide their struggle because their struggle is excepted and honored.  The challenge lies in programs get designed based on funding isolated to serve a specific group of people with a specific condition.  Programs can easily get sidetracked in designing real inclusive environments that speak to innovation , if they get wrapped up around this fact of life.  Designing places and programs of inclusion isn't easy, but is one of the most fulfilling challenges of our time.

To learn more about crisis respite style programs, visit www.gmhcn.org/wellnesscenter .

Behind the Veil of a Diagnosis

Many of us live our lives behind the veil of a diagnosis. It's an easy place to be in in a society that is so quick to describe us as 'the mentally ill, the bipolar, or the manic'.  But when you lift the veil, you find a real stories and real people often impacted by great trauma. When you realize the prevalence of trauma among people with mental health diagnoses, you may quickly uncover the reason so many people are unsettled with the care that they receive.

I have been escorted to the hospital in handcuffs and leg shackles, and to treat a woman that has been traumatized and victimized in our culture in this manner does not seem to make sense to me.  I gave a lecture recently on my art while telling my story, and it's interesting that this treatment still does not make sense to me after so many years. I've only had seven hospitalizations but these moments wound me.

It's like in these moments when I am handcuffed that I'm no longer a mother and a wife, I've become this entity that must be moved and cannot be allowed to move- and that's what is so triggering about it. It painfully reminds me of the moments in my life I have not been able to escape situations of abuse and harm- times when I've been objectified as a person and had my humanity dismissed. We would never handcuff the person with a heart condition or with diabetes to take them to the hospital.
 

 To me it is as if the presence of a mental health diagnosis is license to treat people differently in our culture. As advanced as we are as a culture, I believe we can do better. 

Pushing Forward Despite Yourself

There are times in my life that I have believed that certain rites of passage wouldn't come into my life.  I stood with this belief and then pretended that more would come my way, just simply walking in two directions at the same time.  Its not an easy dance, but its become a way of not only surviving- but also achieving. 

I never believed that I would find a marriage partner.  I simply thought I had too much baggage for anyone to put up with me for longer than temporarily.  I pressed forward and hoped against all hope.  I wrote an online ad and went on a ridiculous number of dinners in public places.  If you do advertise online, its good to be very cautious.  This wasn't the way I ended up meeting my husband, but I think stating my intention of defying the past helped.  I ended up meeting him by accident at a salsa club, doing something I love.  So, I am a firm believer in meeting people based on activities that you have in common, that just makes sense.

I never believed my relatives would come to my wedding.  I thought that with all the years I had lived with a mental health condition that this would be too much for them to consider me as an equal.  I didn't let it stop me from inviting them and throwing a big wedding party.  To my surprise almost everyone was there.  It was an awesome moment and I will never forget the beauty of that moment.

I never believed that I could find a job that fit me.  I didn't think I held the skills to work as the Director of Consumer Relations and Recovery Section in Georgia, but I just pretended my skills were good enough.  I ended up interviewing and my supervisor said it was the 'best interview' she ever had.   I was honored to be selected for the position, which became a whole new career direction.

I never believed I would get the opportunity to have my own child.  I mentored other people's kids with love, but thought the moment would never come for me.  I still believed against all hope and searched diligently for the right psychiatrist to assist me with preparing to have a child.  It took lots of research and hope.  I never got an opportunity to thank my psychiatrist for changing my medication regiment, because he his practice closed after his ethics were called into question.  I was lucky that I transferred the clinical supervision of my condition to a clinical social worker during that time.  My son today is a beautiful, precious light in my life. 

Its so easy to have self-defeating beliefs, when you face the serious challenges with a behavioral health condition.  My best advice, is to not let your own thoughts stop you.  Continue to reach out and push forward.  Sometimes the outcomes we desire don't happen on our own clock, but with hope dreams are an absolute possibility in my experience.