Returning after being away for a very long time. Thank you for your kind comments.
Greeetings.
There have been some very kind comments on this particular blog which appears to have touched the lives of a number of people. I hope it has helped some. If it has helped at least one person then it is all worth while. All it takes is one. I started working on this subject in 2007 just after returning from New Zealand. Even on Queen Street in downtown Auckland I did not see the devastation of humanity struck by mental illness, and having no access to health services, as I did in Calgary at that time. And, of course, we have free health care and excellent facilities to care for those who are mentally ill. Hell, we even have ways of "curing" mental illness under certain circumstances. I think we are the only country to actually find a cure, which is written about in the Federal Minister of Health's Report called "The Face of Mental Illness". The report describes more of a recovery process rather than a cure, probably because if you do suffer from mental illness, you've probably had it all your life so there is not exactly a cure but a recovery into a way of life you have not experienced before. A life of sanity and peace. And the depth of character and strength that comes from such a recovery is very special and reserved only for those who have passed through the crucible of tests that come with this deadly and often fatal disease.
So, after being away for a bit, I am returning. Things are a lot different now. Calgary has reduced its homeless population by 46%. That is nothing short of a miracle. They say Medicine Hat has eliminated its homelessness problem, but there is a huge difference between a town like Medicine Hat and a city like Calgary. Not to take anything away from Medicine Hat and the efforts of that town to resolve the plight of so many. Calgary has a lot more people and attracts the transient population. It's what makes Calgary, Calgary. And Calgary does have more money and should be able to provide services to those who are mentally ill and homeless. First off, just because you are homeless, does not mean you are mentally ill. But if you are mentally ill, you are going to end up being homeless. It goes with the territory. People shun mentally ill people. That includes relatives and friends. Mentally ill people are very lonely, which drives them to deeper depths of mental illness. And they can't keep a job and sometimes self-medicate and can't look after themselves and eventually end up on the street because the street is the only place which will welcome them. It becomes home. Mentally ill people are not bad people or in any way evil; they are sick; they have a disease. And there is overwhelming evidence that this disease is the result of trauma in early childhood.
I worked at the D.I., the Drop-In Centre, in Calgary for four months in the winter, night shift, at the front door handling extreme intox -- extreme intoxication. I had to carry a lot of very drunk people to their beds. Shower them. Sometimes sew up knife wounds with a needle and thread. There were never enough bandages or first aid equipment and material. We had a de-fibrillating unit and used it a few times. We lost 12 people frozen to death in the snow within easy walking distance to the centre. As far as I know, everyone in there had been involved with the Children's Foster Program of the Alberta Government. Every one of them had a major trauma between themselves and their birth parents. They were on their own. They were homeless. Some of them, not that big a percentage, were mentally ill. And we had to fight tooth and nail with the provincial health authorities to provide medical services for those suffering mental illness. Eventually the staff at the centre called the bluff of the health authorities. You see, if someone was having a problem with the symptoms of mental illness, or we know of someone who was definitely mentally ill, we called the cops and had them taken to a psych ward. Of course, in about 2 hours the person would be released and back on the street. And the cops would pick them up and bring them back to the centre. So we waited until the cops had gone and then called them again. We kept doing that, playing ping pong with the psych ward using the poor mentally ill person as a ping pong ball, until the health authorities finally caved in and started to provide medical services for the people we sent them. It was a lot cheaper to keep them in a psych ward, where they belonged, than to release them, because they would just end up back with us and we were using up a lot of police time and effort. And the psych wards are actually pretty good. If someone can get in there long enough to have some treatment like regular therapy, like twice a day, and supervision of medications, then they have at least a chance. Just giving someone a prescription for medication with no way to buy it and evicting them onto the street is not an effective way of treating mental illness. It is a waste of public money. It's expensive. In Calgary, the Dickensonian mental institutions of the 1800s are gone. Psych wards are in hospitals and have doctors: psychiatrists even. They are paid to treat mentally ill people. It's their job. Throwing mentally ill people back on the street stops the shrinks from doing their job and is a total waste of money. It's cheaper to treat them and put them on a healing path.
According to The Face of Mental Illness, and I have written about this before, the path of recovery from mental illness requires three things:
1. The patient must accept responsibility for their illness. That does not mean it is their fault; it means they are the only ones who can cure their disease. Everybody else is there to help, but the patient is the one who has to figure out how to cure the disease. And curing the disease can take up to 15 years. It is not going to be cured overnight.
2. The patient must accept responsibility for their medications. The medications do not belong to the psychiatrist or the social worker or the nurse or anybody else; it is the patient's disease and no one else's and it is the patients medications and no one else's. The patient, in consultation with their shrink, must manage and determine the amount of medication. And don't rock your meds. Keep at a steady level of meds for at least three months before making a change and go slow. If there is an obvious overdose of meds, then tone it down but only if the shrink says it's ok to do so. Don't rock your meds. Slow and steady wins the race. And don't argue; you will need the meds. You're not going to win without meds. And you're not going to win without a psychiatrist. A counsellor, psychologist or social worker ain't going to cut it; you need a professional. You need a shrink. Use the shrink and don't dick around about your meds. You may need to take them for ten to 15 years. It is highly unlikely you will have to take them forever, although that does happen but it is rare. Take responsibility, choose to get better, find a shrink and take your meds. Go slow.
3. The patient must have a circle of support. This can be very close friends or family or both. They have to love the patient so much that they will be there for them for 15 years provided the patient has gone through steps one and two. And nobody has to play the fool. If the patient refuses to accept responsibility and choose to get better, refuses to find a shrink to work with and refuses to use meds to get better, you cannot help them; you can only end up being hurt yourself. The patient can get better; it ain't a forever thing.
I have seen a lot of people who have refused to get better. Mental illness can be addictive. It is how people have survived trauma from early childhood. There is no easy answer. It is very difficult. Sometimes you win. Regarding mental illness, no one can cure the patient; the patient must cure themselves. We help by providing a shrink, meds and a place of healing. We can provide a healing path. we cannot walk it for someone else.
There have been some very kind comments on this particular blog which appears to have touched the lives of a number of people. I hope it has helped some. If it has helped at least one person then it is all worth while. All it takes is one. I started working on this subject in 2007 just after returning from New Zealand. Even on Queen Street in downtown Auckland I did not see the devastation of humanity struck by mental illness, and having no access to health services, as I did in Calgary at that time. And, of course, we have free health care and excellent facilities to care for those who are mentally ill. Hell, we even have ways of "curing" mental illness under certain circumstances. I think we are the only country to actually find a cure, which is written about in the Federal Minister of Health's Report called "The Face of Mental Illness". The report describes more of a recovery process rather than a cure, probably because if you do suffer from mental illness, you've probably had it all your life so there is not exactly a cure but a recovery into a way of life you have not experienced before. A life of sanity and peace. And the depth of character and strength that comes from such a recovery is very special and reserved only for those who have passed through the crucible of tests that come with this deadly and often fatal disease.
So, after being away for a bit, I am returning. Things are a lot different now. Calgary has reduced its homeless population by 46%. That is nothing short of a miracle. They say Medicine Hat has eliminated its homelessness problem, but there is a huge difference between a town like Medicine Hat and a city like Calgary. Not to take anything away from Medicine Hat and the efforts of that town to resolve the plight of so many. Calgary has a lot more people and attracts the transient population. It's what makes Calgary, Calgary. And Calgary does have more money and should be able to provide services to those who are mentally ill and homeless. First off, just because you are homeless, does not mean you are mentally ill. But if you are mentally ill, you are going to end up being homeless. It goes with the territory. People shun mentally ill people. That includes relatives and friends. Mentally ill people are very lonely, which drives them to deeper depths of mental illness. And they can't keep a job and sometimes self-medicate and can't look after themselves and eventually end up on the street because the street is the only place which will welcome them. It becomes home. Mentally ill people are not bad people or in any way evil; they are sick; they have a disease. And there is overwhelming evidence that this disease is the result of trauma in early childhood.
I worked at the D.I., the Drop-In Centre, in Calgary for four months in the winter, night shift, at the front door handling extreme intox -- extreme intoxication. I had to carry a lot of very drunk people to their beds. Shower them. Sometimes sew up knife wounds with a needle and thread. There were never enough bandages or first aid equipment and material. We had a de-fibrillating unit and used it a few times. We lost 12 people frozen to death in the snow within easy walking distance to the centre. As far as I know, everyone in there had been involved with the Children's Foster Program of the Alberta Government. Every one of them had a major trauma between themselves and their birth parents. They were on their own. They were homeless. Some of them, not that big a percentage, were mentally ill. And we had to fight tooth and nail with the provincial health authorities to provide medical services for those suffering mental illness. Eventually the staff at the centre called the bluff of the health authorities. You see, if someone was having a problem with the symptoms of mental illness, or we know of someone who was definitely mentally ill, we called the cops and had them taken to a psych ward. Of course, in about 2 hours the person would be released and back on the street. And the cops would pick them up and bring them back to the centre. So we waited until the cops had gone and then called them again. We kept doing that, playing ping pong with the psych ward using the poor mentally ill person as a ping pong ball, until the health authorities finally caved in and started to provide medical services for the people we sent them. It was a lot cheaper to keep them in a psych ward, where they belonged, than to release them, because they would just end up back with us and we were using up a lot of police time and effort. And the psych wards are actually pretty good. If someone can get in there long enough to have some treatment like regular therapy, like twice a day, and supervision of medications, then they have at least a chance. Just giving someone a prescription for medication with no way to buy it and evicting them onto the street is not an effective way of treating mental illness. It is a waste of public money. It's expensive. In Calgary, the Dickensonian mental institutions of the 1800s are gone. Psych wards are in hospitals and have doctors: psychiatrists even. They are paid to treat mentally ill people. It's their job. Throwing mentally ill people back on the street stops the shrinks from doing their job and is a total waste of money. It's cheaper to treat them and put them on a healing path.
According to The Face of Mental Illness, and I have written about this before, the path of recovery from mental illness requires three things:
1. The patient must accept responsibility for their illness. That does not mean it is their fault; it means they are the only ones who can cure their disease. Everybody else is there to help, but the patient is the one who has to figure out how to cure the disease. And curing the disease can take up to 15 years. It is not going to be cured overnight.
2. The patient must accept responsibility for their medications. The medications do not belong to the psychiatrist or the social worker or the nurse or anybody else; it is the patient's disease and no one else's and it is the patients medications and no one else's. The patient, in consultation with their shrink, must manage and determine the amount of medication. And don't rock your meds. Keep at a steady level of meds for at least three months before making a change and go slow. If there is an obvious overdose of meds, then tone it down but only if the shrink says it's ok to do so. Don't rock your meds. Slow and steady wins the race. And don't argue; you will need the meds. You're not going to win without meds. And you're not going to win without a psychiatrist. A counsellor, psychologist or social worker ain't going to cut it; you need a professional. You need a shrink. Use the shrink and don't dick around about your meds. You may need to take them for ten to 15 years. It is highly unlikely you will have to take them forever, although that does happen but it is rare. Take responsibility, choose to get better, find a shrink and take your meds. Go slow.
3. The patient must have a circle of support. This can be very close friends or family or both. They have to love the patient so much that they will be there for them for 15 years provided the patient has gone through steps one and two. And nobody has to play the fool. If the patient refuses to accept responsibility and choose to get better, refuses to find a shrink to work with and refuses to use meds to get better, you cannot help them; you can only end up being hurt yourself. The patient can get better; it ain't a forever thing.
I have seen a lot of people who have refused to get better. Mental illness can be addictive. It is how people have survived trauma from early childhood. There is no easy answer. It is very difficult. Sometimes you win. Regarding mental illness, no one can cure the patient; the patient must cure themselves. We help by providing a shrink, meds and a place of healing. We can provide a healing path. we cannot walk it for someone else.
