A Country Social Worker: Narrative Notes ... from 2012

A Country Social Worker: Narrative Notes ... from 2012: Recently when tidying up my resources, I came across some notes I made at some narrative training at the Dulwich Centre a couple of years ag...

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cautious, careful people ... Susan B Anthony

"Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputation and social standing, never can bring about a reform. Those who are really in earnest must be willing to be anything or nothing in the world’s estimation, and publicly and privately, in season and out, avow their sympathy with despised and persecuted ideas and their advocates, and bear the consequences.”

— Susan B. Anthony 1820 - 1906

UnRecovery _ Recovery In The Bin

Recovery In The Bin

"This User Led group is for MH Survivors and Supporters who are fed up with the way colonised ‘recovery’ is being used to discipline and control those who are trying to find a place in the world, to live as they wish, trying to deal with the very real mental distress they encounter on a daily basis. We believe in human rights and social justice!

We want a robust ‘Social Model of Madness, Distress & Confusion’, from the left of politics, placing mental health within the context of the wider class struggle.

We consider “UnRecovered” is as valid and legitimate as “Recovered”, and we accept and respect the political and social difference. So some of us have accepted a new word / signifier “UnRecovered”. However, this doesn’t mean we want to stay ‘unwell’ or ‘ill’ (whatever that means), but that we reject this new neoliberal intrusion on the word ‘recovery’ that has been redefined, and taken over by marketisation, language, techniques and outcomes.

We recognise that the growing development of MH ‘Recovery’ in UK/US, during the past decade or so has been corrupted by neoliberalism and capitalism is the crisis!. Some of us will never feel “Recovered” living under these intolerable and inhumane social pressures.

We believe that there are core principles of ‘recovery’ that are worth saving, and that the colonisation of ‘recovery’ undermines those principles, which have hitherto championed autonomy and self-determination. These principles cannot be found in a one size fits all technique, or calibrated by an outcome measure.

We ask that mental health services should never put anyone under any pressure to ‘recover’, by over emphasising or even imposing ‘Recovery Stars’ or WRAP’s. We stand opposed to mental health services using ‘recovery’ ideology as a means of masking greater coercion.

Recovery In The Bin’s 20 Key Principles can be found here.

Recovery In The Bin Group is non-religious, and unassociated/unaffiliated to any mental health organisation. We’d like to keep it that way…"

https://recoveryinthebin.org/

Narrative Notes ... from 2012

Recently when tidying up my resources, I came across some notes I made at some narrative training at the Dulwich Centre a couple of years ago. I believe that I intended to print these out and keep them close by in practice. I'd like to share some of my notes:

• Active listening is not enough: move people to places of change and be accountable.
• Discover what is not known and familiar.
• The ideas of "norms" can be diminishing: who established them anyway?
• Consider the politics of people's lives: culture, gender, class... away from the individual.
• A good story is about a number of events strung together over time.
• Research different stories other than the dominant story.
• Look at "the problem" rather than be defined by /as "the problem."
• Relationships are multi-storied.
• When people come to us "in consultation," they come with or are accompanied by problem-saturated stories.
• Be a supportive audience rather than empathic.
• Empathic responses come from "the expert."
• Be invitational rather than interpretive.
• Be curious & inquisitive!

Our Consumer Place - an excellent resource

Welcome to Our Consumer Place

"Our Consumer Place is a resource centre run entirely by people diagnosed with "mental illness" (we choose to call ourselves "consumers"). We provide information, training, support and advice to consumer-developed groups and projects. We also support what we call "consumer perspective" recognising that the lived experience of "mental illness" provides a crucial source of insight that is of value and must be respected. We believe that we are part of an important cultural shift, towards valuing and respecting the lived experience of "mental illness."

Those of us diagnosed with "mental illness" have a unique perspective to offer. Our lived experiences are rich and varied: some of us experience madness, psyche-ache, emotional distress, hearing voices, mental breakdown or "mental illness" and we don't all make meaning from our experiences in the same way.

Many of us have experienced prejudice, exclusion and trauma. Many have used or survived mental health services, others haven't. Many of us have hidden our experiences, some of us share our experiences in various ways.

We all share the ability to reflect on our lives, our communities and the 'mental health system' from the perspective of having been through these experiences. Our Consumer Place is a resource for our voices to come together and become stronger.

We are based in West Melbourne (Victoria, Australia). We are funded by the Department of Health (Government of Victoria) and auspiced by Our Community. We are unique in Australia, but there are many similar services in Europe and the United States."

http://www.ourconsumerplace.com.au/consumer/index

Quote - Pat Deegan

"Our greatest challenge is to find a way
to refuse to be dehumanised
in the age of managed profit,
and be bold and brave
and daring enough
to remain human-hearted
while working in the human services."

Patricia (Pat) Deegan
Recovery as a Journey of the Heart.
Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal
Winter 1996 Volume 19 No 3.

Even more relevant today I reckon, 20 years after publication!