The main purpose of this blog is to share ideas on mental health recovery through self-directed care. The public mental health system in the United States has historically fostered dependency; giving its "clients" messages that there is no cure for mental illness, that they will be ill the rest of their lives and that they must hand over the reigns of their lives to the mental health system in order to get by in life.
New Directions is established to challenge the status quo in mental health delivery. Hosted by an ex-mental patient who works as a state mental health bureaucrat by day and challenges the status quo by night, it is hoped that an audience will gather here and share ideas to promote the peaceful takeover of the mental health system. This takeover would replace symptom management with supporting people's pursuit of their hopes and dreams; dependency with self-reliance and self-responsibility; power and control with freedom and self-empowerment. In short, this takeover would replace the old way of doing things with a new and proven system that helps people recover from what has become known as mental illness.
Take nothing for granted in entering here. "Knowledge" and "facts" will be challenged. If you take a close look at the paradigm based on the alleged facts that lay at the core of "treatment," you too may find that the resulting modes of treatment perpetuate illness and stifle recovery.
How can I say these things? As I said, I'm an ex-patient. I was court committed 3 times, placed in state mental hospitals 9 times and hospitalized in private settings 11 times. I've been diagnosed with paranoid type schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder, schizoaffective disorder and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). I was told by mental health professionals that I would probably never have meaningful employment, would not benefit from an education because it could not be applied, would be on medications the rest of my life and would do no better financially than a Social Security check. Not one of these predictions turned out to be true. As I write this, I am looking forward to a day at work tomorrow when I organize my recommendations on the development of some 25 residential treatment programs - how the state can best use funds allocated by the legislature to create living situations in the community for people who would otherwise be in the state hospital. I am married to a beautiful woman. And I, along with most people I know or work with, believe that I have recovered from mental illness. Oh, and I am no longer on Social Security Disability.
Recovery is possible. If you are on board with this, stick around and share. If you are skeptical, you are welcome stick around and defend your opinions.
My next post will involve a treatment model that does not exist... yet.
