(no subject)
Just to follow up on my storm and power cut adventures of the other night, I arrived at work the next day, wearing dishevelled clothes from the day before and with big bags under my eyes, only to be dragged off to a observe a big meeting between all the major players in the mental health field in New York City. I had to stand up and introduce myself to everyone and talk a bit about what I was here to do. Great!
Anyway, more about the work I'm doing here. I'm working for an organisation who provide supported housing and services across the city for people who are homeless. The unit that I am working in is based in an area called Hell's Kitchen (which is now much gentrified from the state it was in when they named it). Its a supported housing unit which homes 59 people who have been homeless and also have mental health problems. I was quite nervous about what it would mean day to day to work with both of those issues. In fact, I've found that the work is really interesting and not too difficult or stressful. The staff are lovely and I've also had a good reception from the residents.
While I'm here I'm going to be helping out with the roof garden that they have been developing, which has tomatoes and herbs growing in it, aswell as flowers and shrubs. I'm also getting involved wtih their 'wellness' (ie healthy living) work, which encourages clients to take more responsibility for their overall health, including their diet, maintaining a healthy weight, cutting down or giving up smoking etc. My idea is to tie the two areas together and do some cookery classes where we cook some healthy meals and use some of the herbs from the garden. I'm also helping out with lots of admin stuff, and preparing some stats based on residents' feeback.
I've been learning a lot about mental health and psychiatry. Up until this point in my work, I've only really encountered what I would call mental health problems with a small 'm', ie. depression, anxiety, self harm etc. And those problems are serious enough and can wreck people's lives, I know because I've also suffered from them myself. But what I'm seeing here are Mental Health Problems with capital letters, such as schizophrenia, psychosis etc., which is a whole new ball game to me. There are also many people living in the unit who have been in the mental health system so long, that its hard to tell whether its their illness or their institutionalisation that makes them completely disfunctional. As a psychiatrist so delicately put it to me, they're 'stewed'. I had no idea either that shock treatment continues to be used as a treatment in psychiatric hospitals (at least here in the US), which seems completely barbaric.
Anyway, more about the work I'm doing here. I'm working for an organisation who provide supported housing and services across the city for people who are homeless. The unit that I am working in is based in an area called Hell's Kitchen (which is now much gentrified from the state it was in when they named it). Its a supported housing unit which homes 59 people who have been homeless and also have mental health problems. I was quite nervous about what it would mean day to day to work with both of those issues. In fact, I've found that the work is really interesting and not too difficult or stressful. The staff are lovely and I've also had a good reception from the residents.
While I'm here I'm going to be helping out with the roof garden that they have been developing, which has tomatoes and herbs growing in it, aswell as flowers and shrubs. I'm also getting involved wtih their 'wellness' (ie healthy living) work, which encourages clients to take more responsibility for their overall health, including their diet, maintaining a healthy weight, cutting down or giving up smoking etc. My idea is to tie the two areas together and do some cookery classes where we cook some healthy meals and use some of the herbs from the garden. I'm also helping out with lots of admin stuff, and preparing some stats based on residents' feeback.
I've been learning a lot about mental health and psychiatry. Up until this point in my work, I've only really encountered what I would call mental health problems with a small 'm', ie. depression, anxiety, self harm etc. And those problems are serious enough and can wreck people's lives, I know because I've also suffered from them myself. But what I'm seeing here are Mental Health Problems with capital letters, such as schizophrenia, psychosis etc., which is a whole new ball game to me. There are also many people living in the unit who have been in the mental health system so long, that its hard to tell whether its their illness or their institutionalisation that makes them completely disfunctional. As a psychiatrist so delicately put it to me, they're 'stewed'. I had no idea either that shock treatment continues to be used as a treatment in psychiatric hospitals (at least here in the US), which seems completely barbaric.